San Diego band Pleasure Pill, grew up in the underground scene, spending their young adult years skating together, going to DIY punk gigs, and putting on shows in community centers. Lead singer and project founder Jonah Paz, along with his brother Ethan (rhythm guitar) and friends Luke Blake (lead guitar), Ivan Delgado (bass) and Dom Friedly (drums). “The DIY ethos teaches you at a very young age that you have to do everything yourself because no one else is going to do it for you,” says Luke. “We’re not waiting on someone else to do stuff for us – we would just rather do it ourselves.” Pleasure Pill want to make the best music possible, and be as big as their idols while doing it. But they’re not giving up their values.

The band have been playing music together since they were kids. Pleasure Pill were raised on the 90s British bands and Jonah’s love and devotion of the Beatles. Although the band started as Jonah’s solo project, inspired by punk records and bands like the Prodigy, when this iteration of Pleasure Pill started in earnest, in mid-2021, classicism became a guiding principle. “This is just a rock and roll kind of band,” says Jonah. “We don’t want to confuse people – we just want to be as straightforward with it as possible.” Adds Luke: “All that shit that everyone’s into—we’re into it too. We just seem like one of the few bands right now wearing it on our sleeves.”

“Not Giving Up”, Pleasure Pill’s new Jonathan Rado (Foxygen) produced single. Key to the band’s connection with Rado was his enthusiasm: He was just as inspired to work with Pleasure Pill as they were to work with him. “The first time we even went up to the studio to meet him he was like ‘Man, I wish you guys had all the gear so we could lay down a track right now’,” recalls Luke. “We loved that Rado was so gung ho about jumping in right away.”

First played on the KCHUNG radio show by influential music supervisor Angela Asistio, “Not Giving Up” is a propulsive, jangling indie-rock track that feels indebted to the spirit of the band’s effusive idols while also recalling indie heroes like Real Estate and Beach Fossils. “I like the idea of using the traditions of rock and roll that are already established,” says Jonah. “‘Not Giving Up’ is a song about being optimistic in hard times—it’s a simple notion, but I’m not trying to confuse anyone about it.”

order “Not Giving Up” by Pleasure Pill HERE