Prong

by Jon Bains

Prong basically started as group therapy for us

When I was about 16, I came into Edinburgh (living out in the stix in Glenrothes), went to Avalanche Records and asked Kevin, the boss, 'What thrash can you recommend?'. He pointed out Force Fed by Prong. I took it home, listened to it and have never turned back.

One cold day in March 1992 I found myself sitting in the Hilton International Hotel in London, drinking double vodka's and orange waiting for Prong to return from an interview on MTV. I waited, and waited and waited and eventually, spying three individuals who looked as out of place as I did, I found them. The next night Prong were to play with Godflesh at the New Cross Venue, a most excellent gig. Of all the interviews that I have done since starting Convulsion I think that this and NomeansNo were most daunting, because I had been 'into' them for the longest.

I talked with Ted Parsons, drummer extraordinaire while Tommy Victor - Singer, Guitarist stormed off to his room, MTV has a way of doing that to you.

Two rather significant things have happened to Prong recently. First why did Mike Kirkland leave the band?

We all started at pretty much the same level, Tommy and I made it to the next level and I don't think that Mike wanted to go to the next level. When we were touring last year Mike was kind of intimidated by performing before live audiences. It was kind of a combination of things. We just sat down at the end of last year, when we were writing Prove You Wrong, Mike wasn't coming up with any ideas, Tommy was writing all his Bass parts and we really needed a third member to be equally as strong as the rest of the band. So we met Troy, he was in Flotsam and Jetsam who we toured with last year. Troy was a good choice. A lot of people will say 'What is a guy from Flotsam and Jetsam doing in Prong', but he has the same mindset, loves the same bands that we do, a lot of the same influences. He was our first choice when we were looking for a new bass player, we called him up and luckily he wasn't doing anything, he came out two weeks before we went into the studio. He helped a lot, he did more in those two weeks than Mike did in two months. It was a tough thing, we had been through a lot with Mike, so it was a tough decision.

What is this next level?

I kind of think that the Prove You Wrong album is more in the direction that we were going with Force Fed and some of the earlier stuff as far as production and sound. We've gotten better at writing songs and honing our instruments. With Beg to Differ, we had songs but we went in with the idea that whatever was going to happen, was going to happen. It was the first time we worked with a producer. It was a different approach, we weren't afraid to take chances. With the next album we hope to take that further.

What about the claims of selling out to the majors?

We didn't really give a shit about that. You are always going to get your earlier punk audience who want you to be their martyr. Who want you to stay at the level you were. Basically, signing to Epic kept the band together. We weren't touring that much before Epic, before Beg to Differ, so it got us motivated. We don't care about the people who say 'Prong sold out', I think that happened a lot over here.

I know you used to be in Foetus Corruptus, is that why he was brought in to remix Prove You Wrong?

I wanted to work with Jim for a long time ever since that tour. We wanted to bring Jim in on some of some stuff on Beg to Differ but that didn't happen. Then on Prove You Wrong we had this idea: Rob Halford from Judas Priest is a big Prong fan, and Mark Dodson who knew him from producing a Priest album said, why don't you come down and sing on a Prong song and Rob Halford was like 'Yeah, I'll definitely do it, if I'm not touring'. Then we came up with this idea to have Jim and Rob Halford sing a song together, which would be completely wild, totally different ends of the spectrum. Anyway, we did get to work with Jim: He did three different re- mixes of Prove You Wrong and they came out great, really demented. Then Raven from Killing Joke, which is one of our favourite bands in the world, was on tour with Pigface and saw some photo's of me wearing a Killing Joke shirt, so he left a note for us so we contacted him, hooked up and he remixed three songs on the EP. That to us is great, just because we have been such great fans of Killing Joke for such a long time.

Did you get to see Pigface?

I didn't see them. I just heard second hand from Al and friends in Foetus because they did some shows in the states with Pigface and Fuse. I'm not really crazy about the first album, I was kind of disappointed because there are a lot of great people on it, Martin Atkins who I love, but it just sounded like a bunch of people jamming, the live one is good though, I would love to hear some of those songs in the studio. I really like Martin Atkins, I admire his integrity for trying to start this whole label and everything he has been doing.

Are you involved in the Waxtrax scene?

We kind of are in a round about way. Actually Paul Raven asked Tommy to play on some stuff that he is doing with Ogre from Skinny Puppy and the Keyboard player from Killing Joke (Welt), he also asked him to play on some of the Murder Inc stuff.

So we are kind of involved in a round about way, but not directly, a lot of the Wax Trax stuff to me is too cliquey.

Are you involved in your hometown, New York scene?

We haven't really had any real association with any kind of New York Scene or NY clique. We played a lot of CB's matinee's and hard core matinee's, that is where we came from, still we were only really accepted by kids that would go and see Agnostic Front, the Cro Mags etc so we tried to pave our own path and got a lot of the noise kind of people, heavy metal kind of people, cross over kind of people which we still have.

It has been our downfall, yet another reason why people don't know where to place Prong, even on a major label that seem to know more about what is going on musically. It is disappointing sometimes. I would like to think we triggered a lot of influences from Force Fed and even Beg to Differ: that stark stubble sound. Not to pat myself on the back but I think we were a fore runner of that kind of sound. Force Fed was really raw, that, more than any other album captured the raw sounding Prong which we wanna get back to for the next album. I think that Prove You Wrong is going towards that a little, but not all the way. I don't think we should be afraid to go into a shitty studio and bust out ten songs and mix them down immediately and do it in like a week.

Who would you like this time as a producer

I wouldn't mind using Paul Raven for the whole of the next album. When you hear the remixes, it's got a raw sound on it, there aren't a lot of effects on it, it sounds kind of Killing Joke ish because he knows we are big fans. I wouldn't mind using Michael Gira from Swans maybe to do a couple of songs. It might be interesting to get in a few people.

How did you get involved with Swans?

I got involved with Swans through Al, it was a time period that I wasn't doing anything, before Prong, and I was disillusioned by most of the nameless bands I had been in and out of, and he just called me up and said 'Swans is looking for a drummer', and I thought 'Oh God, yet another drummer in Swans, they have a list the size of the NY phone book'.

It was great because when I joined it was a 2 drummer band. That to me was a great combination especially in the Swans. I had some great times with Swans, we played some great music, but it wasn't really where my head was at, my head was more into kind of what Prong was doing and so when Prong came along I jumped at it.

Do you have any unachieved goals, something you wish to achieve or learn?

I think you are always looking for that. I don't know what it is yet, probably won't know until the album is done. You can only plan things so much, because they are never going to turn out the way you want them. I have some drum ideas personally. I just started getting into the whole realm of sampling. There is some on Beg to Differ and a lot on Prove You Wrong. So I would like to get a little more involved in that and actually learn how to use my Sampler, I don't know a damn thing about it.

The way we use samples is like a little spicing, a little flavour, we don't want it to be like 'Prong the Amazing Sampling Machine'. I think we could use a sampler as a keyboard player without getting a fourth member. I used to think that sampling sucked, 'it's not real drums', but you use it, it's like using an effects peddle on a guitar or something. Someone like Jim Thirwell knows all that stuff, because that is all he does.

To me, you should use anything you want to make your music. People can see through what is false and what is pretentious or a little too put on. There is a surge of 'Industrial' bands now because it's hip and cool. There is also a surge of Seattle sounding bands around. Be true to yourself, realise what you like and create your own kind of music.

Prong is getting the reputation for being a very negative band: Prove You Wrong and Beg to Differ, why? You seem cheery enough.

It's funny you should say that, because we were making optimistic titles that would be for Prong. Instead of Beg to Differ it would be like 'I totally Agree' or 'You May be Right'. I think a lot of that stems from Tommy, living in New York and seeing the frustrations, and how people mistreat each other, just not being satisfied.

Can you do anything about that?

You can on a personal level, I think it is a lot harder to take on establishment, the major problems like Toxic Waste or what we are doing to the environment. But I think it is a cop out when people say, 'I can't do anything about that, I am only one person'. I think what Prong are talking about is more a day to day personal social level not a big picture thing. It's basically saying: Don't be satisfied with just anything. People are lazy, people are satisfied by things that are pallatable and things that they know. That is why music is so lame, most of the music is the same old shit rehashed, people don't think for themselves, people go on remote control too much, they are pre-programmed.

You wouldn't consider yourself a political band then?

Not really. When you go to a Prong show it should be to have fun and blow off a little steam. If you want to hear Politics go and see Test Dept or Consolidated. We do try to say something interesting in our lyrics. There are a lot of catch phrases in Prong like Prove You Wrong, Beg to Differ. I always say that they are like commercial jingles in a way.

How do you see Prong evolving, would we like to be the next Metallica?

I don't think we have the desire. I think we would like to sell a few more records, I can go on and on about how you have to do that. I think that Prong is an accessable band, I don't think that we are anything more severe, or threatening or out there than a lot of bands. I think we just want to keep writing good songs and challenging ourselves and start making a living doing it.

Can you support yourself?

We are still scraping.

Being on a major hasn't helped?

It has in that it has kept us on the road and got us better equipment, but that is menial. I think Prong would be just as a great with a shitty reverb and an old rogers drumset. The idea of signing to a major is to get your music exposed to more people and if bands want to sell out and change their music, then that is their priority, let them. I don't give a shit about what anybody else does, why should I? It sounds selfish but . . .

So what does the real Ted Parsons do when he is not Pronging around the world?

I have been drawing a lot recently. I want to start tatooing. I've got some body art, a flaming eye ball. I like tatooing, the whole ritual of it, the whole idea. There is some amazing art going on.

Have you seen Rollins?

He's got some really bad tatoos actually. The back one is great, but he's got some real prison type ones. It's like a little hobby, not that I will ever actually buy the tatooing equipment, but it is a little fantasy that I have. The first tatoo I got was on Kings Road about seven years ago, and this kid came in and he had his face tatooed, he had little doodles all over his face like something you would see in a kids schoolbook. It was the creepiest thing, it freaked me out. What would ever possess someone to do that: he's going to regret it when he's thirty.

I watch a lot of movies, drink a lot of beer. Actually my favourite past time is drinking beer and watching the news. It is so ludicrous. I like to cook too, I like to cook a lot of Lebanese food like Tabooli(?), Taheni(?). I'm lebanese, so I grew up eating a lot of middle eastern food.

So that's basically what I do.