Wet Leg guitarist Rhian Teasdale got “kicked out” of her GCSE music course before becoming a famous musician.
The 33-year-old star shot to fame alongside Hester Chambers in the indie rock band after their runaway debut single Chaise Longue went viral in 2022.
She may have flunked her music classes, but Rhian believes that great songs don’t require virtuoso chops or a maze of chords.
She told The Cut: “The first song I ever tried to play on guitar was Molly’s Chambers by Kings of Leon – back when the band was super-trashy and fun. It was a real epiphany to learn that you don’t have to be a virtuoso guitarist to enjoy playing music with your friends.
“It’s been a bit of a journey demystifying music-making for myself. I’m not from a musical household, and I even got kicked out of my GCSE music course because I was too far behind the rest of the class, which is kinda hilarious.
“There are so many loser gatekeepers who want you to believe that you need 20-plus chords in a song for it to be worthy. In reality there are so many bangin’ songs that literally are just two chords.”
Reeling off her influences, she said: “I was also a big fan of PJ Harvey before I realised that I could make music myself, and Björk. Everyone in the band is a fan of Big Thief. When I started going to gigs and festivals, it was very much that indie rock era: Alt-J, Mystery Jets, the Wave Pictures. I love the Strokes.”