Jim McDonald: How’s
everything going with Prong?
Tommy Victor: Busy! We’re
getting ready for a tour. We rehearsed last night
for the first time since the record was finished.
No, actually we did a show in Fort Worth a couple
months ago. So we’re back to rehearsing
and we’ve got this tour coming up, a European
tour and the record coming out in October.
Jim McDonald: I listened to
the new CD “Power Of the Damager”
and it’s prime Prong. It holds true to that
Prong sound that doesn’t fit into any category.
It’s not metal or punk or industrial. How
do you describe Prong?
Tommy Victor: That’s a
good description. It doesn’t fit into anything.
It never has and probably never will. In general
it’s loud rock. This record is sort of different.
I think we did some allegiance to the older records
with this release. There’s always a different
approach. I don’t stay the same, I’m
kind of an impermanent person anyhow, so that
reflects in what comes out with the guitar riffs
and the lyrics and the vocals. As far as consistency
goes, my influences are a little different so
it doesn’t come out the same as your average
heavy metal or punk guitar player. I go into a
lot of different influences that normally people
don’t even know. As far as consistency my
favorite groups are like Killing Joke, so that
comes through and a lot of the thrash/hardcore
stuff.
Jim McDonald: I noticed that
the new album really is a throwback to the older
Prong sound. The riffs are brutal and there’s
none of the sampling that used to play such a
large part in the Prong sound.
Tommy Victor: That was eliminated
because it wasn’t necessary. Songs being
the focal point, we found any additional production
techniques to be distracting to the element of
the vocal and the guitar and the beats. With the
addition of an excellent drummer, Aaron Rossi
we were able to combine some things like loopy
elements through drumming we were able to eliminate
the use of electronics just to get the sound we
wanted. To get the pounding nature and to have
it throughout a song, just giving it to the drummer
and letting him create that. When we’re
talking about Prong hardcore you can kind of say
it’s industrial hardcore without the electronic
elements.
Jim McDonald: Who else is in
the current Prong lineup?
Tommy Victor: Aaron Rossi’s
on drums, and Monte Pitman has been in and out
of Prong for the past seven years. I do all the
guitars and Monte’s on the bass and Aaron’s
on the drums. Aaron did the last two Prong tours,
this is the first release he’s been on.
Jim McDonald: Prong seems to
come and go while you’re between other projects.
What keeps you coming back to Prong?
Tommy Victor: Time off between
those. A desire to do my own stuff completely
or to keep the Prong flag flying. I just think
there’s more progress to be made. The story’s
still being written and there’s never been
a definitive moment where it collapsed completely.
It’s always in the back of my head, and
although there have been moments where I’ve
tried to stress that it was over, my phone keeps
ringing. It’s kind of cool in a way. Who
thought I’d be doing it this long? I keep
things open. I don’t have consistent affirmations
of where things are at each day when I wake up
in the morning.
Jim McDonald: Are you currently
involved in other projects as well?
Tommy Victor: Yeah, Ministry
being one. I actually was with Al Jourgensen this
week working, recording and having fun doing this
cover up record which is a collection of Ministry
cover songs. The last two Ministry records I was
involved in as well.
Jim McDonald: I noticed that
younger bands are starting to cite Prong as an
influence. How do you relate to that?
Tommy Victor: I don’t
pay attention that much because it really doesn’t
do anything for me. I don’t need any accolades
or pats on the back. Maybe when I was younger
I hoped I’d be influential, but it never
drives me or the whole experience with Prong.
We never planned it to be that way, it just turned
out. It’s very vacuum packed. Very insulated
from everything and I don’t really pay that
much attention. I don’t hear it that much.
I hear things to the contrary. We’ve toured
with bands that were opening acts that were unfamiliar
with the group. You have to sort of be a discophile
or someone who’s part of the history of
hardcore or thrash metal to know who we are. Your
average guys who start bands, not to be negative,
but they generally try to copy their favorite
artists or bands who are making money. That’s
how you end up with so many carbon copies. We’ve
always tried to keep away from that, even in the
days early on we were like if these guys are doing
this we’re not going to do this. In this
day and age most things have been done. There’s
nothing new under the sun anyhow.
Going back to an earlier question of how this
record was produced one of the things I thought
was innovative was that it’s industrial
metal without the electronics. It’s a stripping
away and getting right down to the basics of the
songs and having songs. It’s not a collection
of riffs and guitar solos, which seems to be very
popular these days. There’s definitely a
concentration on the vocals which some new kids
would flag as new metal. Prong was on the forefront
of that originally, but we decided to get back
to the rock song construction rather than the
long intros and the extended guitar solos that
was associated with thrash metal when we started
out. The lack thereof with hardcore and post-punk,
which Killing Joke was a part of that scene, it’s
all a rooting out of elements other bands are
doing. It’s always been a bit insulated
and now we’ve gotten to where I’m
working within the confines of what a Prong record
should be on this release.
Jim McDonald: It certainly sounds
like a Prong record. You couldn’t mistake
this for something else. Because it’s stripped
down and uses syncopated riffs the end result
is a pretty brutal vibe.
Tommy Victor: I haven’t
listened to the album in a while. I had to listen
to it last night because I’m figuring out
how to play this stuff. From the response of journalist
I’ve talked to it is kind of weird and eerie.
The album cover reflects that whole thing, and
I’m happy with the identity of that nature
to it. I think that side two of our “Cleansing”
record is one of my favorite things that Prong
has done. “Scorpio Rising” our previous
record was a total abandonment of that attitude
and that needed to be regenerated and reincorporated
again.
Jim McDonald: If that was your
plan, you hit the mark with “Power Of the
Damager”.
Tommy Victor: Thanks. It’s
a lot of deciphering which riffs can be used.
Some things are just too happy sounding, or too
reminiscent of recent groups. I don’t really
know if we’ve been influential, but I do
listen to Liquid Metal and what the actual groups
names are I don’t know but sometimes I do
sparing listen to metal these days.
Jim McDonald: What are your
plans for touring in support of the new album?
Tommy Victor: We’re not
playing everywhere. This tour was booked quite
a while ago and there are some important towns
that we’re missing. The actual dates are
at www.myspace.com/prong and www.prongmusic.com.
Next year we’re going go down to Florida
and hit the east coast, which we’re not
doing much. Most of the dates are in the western
part of the country. We go to Europe for a few
weeks. We’re not going everywhere. Just
pockets. The MySpace has a taste of the new record,
so check it out and pick up the new record.
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