The Prayers

"Though they feature half of gone-too-soon San Diego envelope pushers the Plot to Blow up the Eiffel Tower, the Prayers' sound ices that band's hot-piss punk attack and relies instead upon clashing, crashing guitar parts and dreamboat harmonies. Their punk's still snotty as a February hanky, only here it's filtered through a new pop sensibility instead of mind-melting spazz-jazz. For now, evidence can be found on the band's God Save the Prayers EP (released via their own Art Fag imprint earlier this year) while a future full-length awaits." - the Portland Mercury

"San Diego's The Prayers may have attracted “normal people� with their sunshine-drenched jangle-pop, but on the eve of their God Save The Prayers EP, Brandon Welchez discusses both the pleasures and challenges of musical departure...

Comprised of members of cult darlings The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower, The Prayers aren't exactly the conventional notion of a side-project. After disbanding in late-2006, much to the dismay of their relentless fans, Plot.. frontman Brandon Welchez and drummer Brian Hill wasted no time exploring unlikely avenues for their now full-time musical venture. "When the time came to do a side project, it just seemed so much more fun and challenging to try to use our influences differently," justifies Brandon, and behold, employing the guitar stylings of Andrew Miller of Gasoline Please, within 6 months the God Save The Prayers EP was born.

"The Plot attracted a lot of misfits and weirdos and I thought that was beautiful because that's exactly what we were," recollects Brandon.

An extraordinarily vast change in The Prayers fanbase now sees "straight-laced people and co-workers" attend their gigs.

You see, where The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower engaged in experimental garage and psychotic freak-punk with filthier-than-thou bass, The Prayers meddle in the type of 60s sunshine-pop which wouldn't disappoint a Belle & Sebastian fan.

Such a switch, though, doesn't come without its obvious difficulties. "Writing pop songs that aren't horrid is actually much harder than writing experimental music. It took us a long time to find our footing."


Yet with such iconic predecessors as The Beatles and Syd Barrett being obvious points of comparison, and current indie heavyweights like The Shins and The Flaming Lips claiming psychedelic pop for the present, how do The Prayers approach the difficult task of embracing influence without sounding like a cover band?

"I don't think it'd be possible to sound like one band," explains Brandon, "providing you're smart about how you apply your influence. Obviously some of our songs wear our influences heavier than others, but we try really hard to not sound like anyone else." Try they might, but there's no denying the surf-rock innocence of "USA" or "Loose Lips", in which The Stone Roses meet The Las and have adorable bastard children together.

And while Brandon asserts that "The Plot were all fans of the music The Prayers are influenced by", The Prayers' harmony-drenched acoustic ditties are about as much of a musical departure from The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower as Radiohead's infamous leap into Kid A.

With the release of the God Save The Prayers EP - a gorgeous exploration of innocence and simplicity à la Brian Wilson – under their belts, The Prayers need only the right distributor to release the two albums they have written and waiting. And once indie and pop fans alike embrace the full atmospheric effect of their harmonic sunshine-pop, it's really only a matter of time before the labels come knocking.

-Aleena Glentis" - Arcady Magazine #4

"The Prayers, which are made from the remains of the arty noise rockers The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower, play a ridiculously infectious updated version of 60’s pop-rock (harmonies included) in the mode of early Beatles and Beach Boys records. Their self-titled debut EP, God Save The Prayers, is twelve minutes of pure brilliance." - Askmeaboutmyinvisiblefriends.com