Los Bitchos’ Serra Petale on being a different kind of guitar hero
London-based Los Bitchos are the sonic equivalent of a 70s surf movie where everyone gets chased by hurricanes. There’s a whole lot of speed, sound, sudden surprises, and a fantastic dollop of nostalgic drama in their rollicking, reverb-rich guitar delivery.
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Earlier this year, the four-piece dropped their second album Talkie Talkie, produced by Oli Barton-Wood (Wet Leg, Nilüfer Yanya). It’s an adventure in poppy, disco-kitsch, 80s rock that combines Turkish psych, Latin rhythms and retro harmonies. It leaves no doubt as to why their killer sound and live act have scored them gigs at Coachella, Glastonbury, plus support for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Ty Segall, Pavement and Mac DeMarco.
It was back in 2017 that Australian guitarist Serra Petale, Uruguayan keytar player Agustina Ruiz, Swedish bassist Josefine Jonsson, and London-born drummer Nic Crawshaw came together to create something that pooled their transcontinental backgrounds and influences.
With touchstones as broad as umbia, Anatolian rock, punk and 80s pop – plus a dollop Van Halen – their sound was never going to be predictable. That said, it’s the vibe of Anatolian rock – the fusion of Turkish folk and rock music epitomised by the likes of Selda Bağcan, Erkin Koray – that really stands out in Los Bitchos’ proggy instrumental jams.
Petale, raised in the West Australian capital city of Perth, says that listening to her parents’ 1970s Anatolian records, and loving that music, stemmed from the power of memory and emotion.
“Nostalgia has a lot to do with it, because it reminds me of going to visit my grandparents in Turkey every year,” says Petale. “It was always different from what was on the radio in Australia while I was growing up.”
Image: Tom Mitchell
Rhythm’s Gonna Get You
The guitar was far from her first choice of instrument, she admits, but as soon as she could walk, she was reaching for some form of tool to express her musical intentions.
“I started with violin at 4 years old,” she says, but after tagging along with her older brother to a friend’s place, everything changed.
“My friend’s brother was playing Enter Sandman on the drums, and I thought it was amazing. I bugged my parents for a drum kit, and I was playing in high school bands and learning how to play through a new school music program.”
The leap from drum stool to guitar is a well-travelled one of course, but it didn’t hurt that Petale had an instigator showing her the way.
“My brother played guitar, so I’d learn bit-by-bit by myself. Until Los Bitchos, I was doing rhythm guitar based on being self-taught and writing a bit on guitar,” she explains. “When we first started, I was writing the lead lines and playing the melodies. I thought about playing rhythm guitar, but I also thought, ‘How am I going to convey these lead lines to someone else?’ I wouldn’t want to teach them to anyone else because it’s the voice of the band, especially since we don’t have vocals.”
From the drums to lead guitar was Petale’s first leap, but her second was even greater. From strumming a guitar at home in Perth to launching a rock band in London brought us to this sophomore album and international renown.
“I moved to London to pursue music in around 2010 after finishing university in Perth. I’ve got a degree in biomedical science, but I’d always wanted to pursue music. When I came here, I went to a music school because I didn’t know anyone here and I was navigating this unknown landscape. I went to London Music School in Hackney, and I enrolled in the drum course with ideas of being a session drummer. I just wanted to meet people and it was through the school, where I graduated the drum course and ended up teaching there, that I met the people who introduced me to Josie [Jonsson], our bassist, and the other girls.”
Image: Tom Mitchell
Friends Indeed
Petale sounds surprised at being asked if the band are friends outside of rehearsals and recording. It’s just so elemental to the band, it hasn’t occurred to her that they might not be glued at the hip.
“That’s one of my favourite things about this band. Camaraderie and friendship make it really special, we hang out a lot. We really support each other because this is a tough job, it can be lonely and stressful. You can feel really vulnerable.”
Especially in a city as sprawling as London, a far cry from Perth.
“I live in North London near Crouch End. I love it here. It’s a vastly big city, a crazy place, but it’s so rich in diversity and London is the hub of music. The art here, the talent is astounding in the UK. So many of my favourite bands are from the UK… Scottish, Welsh, Irish and English bands… the vast diversity of talent here is really inspirational, and I like that it’s a bit gritty and dark.”
From her North London home, where Petale has set up a studio in her living room, she does a lot of the writing and demo making.
“That’s just how the project started, but that’s not to say the girls don’t contribute. That would be so inaccurate. I have freedom to lay out these well-formed ideas, then go wild on Ableton and demo the hell out of these songs to create a map of where we could go. When I write the song, I’ll do that in my home studio but then we take it into the rehearsal room where Agustina might do some different chord motifs, Josie might have another bass line, Nic might want to change it up a little bit… you can hear a part of everyone on the record. At the end of the day, you want everyone to feel artistically fulfilled.”
Forza Italia
The living room is also home to Petale’s guitars, which are almost as leftfield as the music that she makes with them.
“My main guitar that I use for live [performances] is the Italia Maranallo Speedster II. It’s a pretty obscure brand. The particular tone and feel of this guitar is so powerful with this fullness of sound that cuts through really nicely live. It has a wider neck, and a simple set-up: two humbucker pickups, and just a tone and a volume on it.”
For studio time, she switches to her trusty Fender Blacktop Strat mostly for recording or playing rhythm parts, but her most treasured guitar might be her most humble.
“The first guitar my mum got me is a Lâg, a French brand that my mum picked up for me in Perth. I use that one mostly for recording, and I love the way it sounds. It’s got single-coils with three pickups and I love the tones you can get out of that guitar. There’s an incredible tone you can get using half the bridge pickup and a little bit of the middle pickup to get this bright 80s funk tone that I think is wicked. We used that on a bunch of songs where I wanted the clicky funk tone, such as in Hi! on the choruses and Open The Bunny, Wasting My Time.”
If you’ve heard any of Serra’s guitar playing, you’ll have also heard her favourite effect – one that she hardly ever turns off.
“My sound is always chorus-based,” she concedes. “I love a chorus guitar, so the chorus pedal is always on. It’s my favourite sound, I don’t wanna play a guitar without that effect on it. That’s the bass tone I want. We cycled through loads and loads of pedals. I had my board, [producer] Oli [Barton-Wood] had his. We used a lot of Earthquaker Devices; the range of tone you can get from those is fantastic. There was a weird Earthquaker distortion pedal we used a bunch of times, too.”
Image: Tom Mitchell
Studio Focus
The lush, layered songs that emerge from the album are created without the distraction of considering how those same songs will work live, Petale explains.
“The live performance is a matter of: ‘How do we do this now?’, and the process of how to translate it live comes after the record. Those decisions are taken separately because I don’t want to compromise anything on record for the sake of not being able to play it live.”
Another uncompromising songwriter and guitarist is, fittingly, the first guitarist that springs to Petale’s mind as an incredible live act.
“St Vincent really blew me away a few years ago. She is a flawless, phenomenal guitarist. She had another guitarist on stage with her who was absolutely flawless as well. It’s the execution and the confidence. You want to see people’s personalities come through their instruments like an extension of them. You can have great technical guitar skills, but people who really project themselves through their instruments really stand out.”
Confidence and assuredness has served Los Bitchos well, as musicians and professionals in a male-dominated industry.
“We’re lucky enough to be confident in who we are, and we surround ourselves with like-minded people so we haven’t felt that [we are being undermined]. If that happens behind our backs, we don’t know about it. Visibility in music is paramount, because people want to see themselves up on stage. Representation is so important, and the music scene has space for everyone. It’s not dominated by dudes with backward caps singing nu metal – but there’s nothing wrong with that! I still listen to Limp Bizkit. There’s room for everyone because that’s what people want.”
And Talkie Talkie offers up plenty of what people want, even if they don’t know it yet. “It’s a great ride,” effuses Petale. “There’s such a variety of songs on this album.”
Talkie Talkie is out now.
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