Interview: Prong
It’s a cool record and I wrote everything back in New York and it has a New York vibe to it where it's pretty aggressive and definitely a tip of the hat to New York hardcore
New York metal masters Prong have just returned with their brand new album State Of Emergency, the band’s first album in 6 years. It shows the band still at the top of their game with songs full of that classic Prong groove and power. Ahead of the albums release, Gavin Brown caught up with vocalist/guitarist Tommy Victor (on a break from playing a show in Chicago with Danzig) to hear all about State Of Emergency and all things Prong as well as how the Danzig shows are going.
E&D: The new Prong album, State Of Emergency is out very soon. How do you feel for Prong to be back with this album?
Tommy: The response is, in general, so far, so good. The process of making the record is done, it’s all the hard parts now, crappy reviews and lack of record sales. The suffering begins.
E&D: This is Prong’s full length album in six years. Did you feel that this was a good time to come back with this album, and was it the pandemic that made it take that long?
Tommy: Yeah, and it was based on some personal stuff that was going on, I had a couple of kids, and then my family moved to Los Angeles, which was locked down pretty extensively. So I wasn’t sure what I was gonna return to or anything for that matter. Then we got a couple of really good tours in there without a record out, and then recuperating from that.
E&D: Is the album’s title a statement of how the world is at the moment?
Tommy: It is partially, it’s that combined with the narrative on the first song, this guy is just in crisis, and he’s fed up with social media and he’s on a downward spiral, so he’s in a state of emergency on the song, ‘The Descent’. After looking at maybe four or five of the lyrics, I came up with the album title, and then therefore, had an opening for one of the songs to have a lyric or maybe the album title. So I wrote that lyric ‘State Of Emergency’ for that song, based on the reflection of the other lyrics because of the theme of it throughout the album. There’s other ones that that tie in other topics. We have the return to New York song ‘Back (NYC)’, and it’s pretty self explanatory. ‘Non-Exsistence’ is more of a positive song. It’s based on on the statement, existence is better than non existence. It’s about having a life of purpose. Most of the other ones are, are reflecting the propaganda, mass media conspiracies. ‘Breaking Point’ is about people’s response to the lockdown.
E&D: How had the new material been received so far?
Tommy: I haven’t got anything bad. The publicist in Germany, sent me a couple of promising reviews and with the fans, it’s been nothing but positive. It’s a cool record and I wrote everything back in New York and it has a New York vibe to it where it’s pretty aggressive and definitely a tip of the hat to the New York hardcore, metalcore style from back in the day. I think your average Prong fan, whoever that is, should be fairly satisfied. It reflects the other older records to a lot of people. ‘Non-Exsistence’ reminds them of a Rude Awakening track and then ‘Light Turns Black’ definitely sounds like a Beg To Differ song, it could could be right off the record. I like that being a legacy band is cool because you could pick and choose where you’re from and what worked in the past and not to completely emulate it, but keep that in mind when constructing songs.
E&D: You mentioned New York and the song ‘Back (NYC)’ and that’s a bit of a different sound for Prong. Did you want to do that as a tribute to your hometown as well?
Tommy: The initial idea of the song, the riff is based on a Led Zeppelin thing. That’s something I wanted to tackle on the guitar more than anything. As far as how do you put a lyric or a vocal on top of that, the one I mentioned before that it sounds like that. It’s a Black Flag meets Zeppelin meets Pantera type song. I’m pretty happy with it.
E&D: How was it being back in New York when you were making the majority of the record?
Tommy: We actually recorded in New Jersey. Close enough, its right over right over the Hudson in Belleville. It’s another very Sopranos type neighbourhood. It was cool because we had moved to New York and we just had to grab this apartment. I didn’t have the studio set up but it was very similar to how I was writing the Cleansing material, I was actually writing those songs in our apartment in Brooklyn, in the bathroom, so this was like the same thing but now I have my son, who was around so I’d have to take him to daycare, come back set up my laptop in his bedroom, and then break it down, pick him up, bring them back, cook dinner and it’s like a nine to five Monday through Friday thing so I was like okay, to write some Prong songs, the thing is you have to just keep doing it till it’s done you know, they ended up getting an idea of what to do vocals. I couldn’t practice vocals in the apartment meant so I had to do them in this room instead where I could practice screaming!
E&D: How much has New York changed from the times when Prong were just starting out?
Tommy: We were in Queens and it’s so crazy populated down town, the ethnicity has changed a lot from where I grew up. It wasn’t so bougie or full of rich people when I was a kid, it was much one desolate and a totally different place. You’ve heard the cliche that it’s totally gentrified. I was living on the Lower East Side for years, and the reason I moved down is because we could afford it, we had a duplex apartments on First Avenue between second and third street and I was paying $300 a month. I mean, today it’d be at least four or five thousand dollars for that place!
E&D: What are your favourite memories of when Prong first formed and you were doing sound at CBGBs?
Tommy: We were just so involved in the band, everything was about the band and getting gigs and partying and the scene. It was before we got signed to a major label. It was cool but as soon as it became like a profession, it started getting more frustrating. Then it’s like, oh, we got to sell records, we need to hit singles, we need a crew, we need this and we weren’t really prepared for that. We were just like art rockers on the Lower East Side, and now we’re pretending that we’re like an international rock band. You can pretend so much until it just doesn’t work anymore, but it was fun, the early days were cool. There was so much going on, so much partying, it was an all night affair. We wouldn’t even concede about going out before midnight, now I’m like in bed at like 10 at the latest! The first band at CBs was on at 10.30, that slot is like the worst. It was one o’clock in the morning when it started happening. There was a lot of drugs but I made it through, it was fun.
E&D: Going back to the album, you cover ‘Working Man’ by Rush. How much fun was it doing that and in a Prong style?
Tommy: It was a challenge, but I thought it was worth it. We went through a different tuning on it, and it was a challenge for me, it was something that I wanted to do, to bring out that classic riff and make it heavier, then add like you said the Prong style in there somehow. I felt it couldn’t be done but I was intrigued by the the lyrics too. I thought it’s such a great basic lyric with a lot of old metal in there or whatever it but it’s like almost like a country and western song to play, its like Hank Williams or something. I thought it was the bookends of the record where ‘The Descent’ is a narrative like ‘Working Man’ which is about a guy who’s like “what am I doing with my life?”. For a song to end the record, I thought that was a good way to do it. The guitar challenges and the arrangements, it was like how do you do this seven minute song but our producer Steve Evetts is a big Rush fan and he helped a lot with it.
E&D: How did you European shows in the summer ago and what were some of the highlights?
Tommy: It was all a highlight. The whole thing was great. I can’t believe the attendance and the reaction that we had especially we were playing ‘The Descent’, ‘Non-Existence’ and ‘Breaking Point’ and at the first show, the response was unbelievable. All these years later and people were stagediving and just it’s absolute insanity so it was really good.
E&D: How was the experience of supporting Metallica in the parking lot of the recent New York show?
Tommy: It was stressful because they had some technical difficulties but you know, it worked out and we were able to play. We were originally supposed to play an hour but we only could do like 35 minutes so that was disappointing. They couldn’t get the generator to work. I think we should have done the Sunday because more people would have been there than the Friday. If you know what New York is like, the New Jersey traffic of people trying to get in there it was just insanity. So between that and the weather, it was a little bit weird, but at the end it was really good and the response was great.
E&D: Are you looking forward to coming back to Europe with Life Of Agony later in the year and will you be making it back to the UK soon?
Tommy: I’ve been trying to get to the UK. It’s always great over there, it’s just trying to financially make it work. I’d love to get over there again maybe just to the UK and not worry about about the rest of Europe again you know maybe just a single run for a couple of weeks. That may not be a bad idea, on the first leg with Life Of Agony it was like pretty much all sold out and it was just absolutely insane. I thought that the shows in France were really good, and then Poland too.
E&D: Is it a difficult task choosing a live setlist with Prong being, as you said, a legacy band and to include new material in there too?
Tommy: Not really and not to sound completely cynical but as long as play ‘Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck’, nobody really gives a shit! I mean, we have these other songs but theres no way we can’t play songs from Cleansing like that because that’s the record people know. ‘Beg To Differ’ we have to do and recently, ‘Revenge…Best Served Cold’ is one of our most popular songs, that’s from Carved Into Stone. ‘Ultimate Authority’ is another popular one. It was easy to fit in the three new songs that I mentioned in a headlining set and they went over really well so I think we’re gonna continue doing at least ‘Non-Existence’ and ‘The Descent’ in the live show.
E&D: Which bands have Prong loved touring with the most over the years?
Tommy: That’s really hard to say, because I see Prong fitting in with anybody. I could say the last big American tour we did with with Black Label Society, that worked out great. I didn’t think their audience would embrace Prong but we sold a ton of merch and the tour was pretty much sold out. I really thought that was a great tour with Black Label Society. That’s what inspired me to continue going because it was at the later end of the pandemic, and I was like, What am I going to do with my life and we got a call to do that tour and I’m like, I guess we should do it. I sort of put the band back together and that was so good. I was like, I guess I gotta keep going!
E&D: With the Cleansing album, celebrating 30 years next year, will Prong be doing anything to mark the anniversary?
Tommy: Somebody reminded me of that recently, andI guess that’s something to think about, that’s for sure.
E&D: What have been some of the most memorable live shows with Prong over the years?
Tommy: There has been some really huge mega highlights. We headlined, the Dynamo festival to like 150,000 people, even though it was pissing rain down that day. I think that some of the crazy old local shows where one of our fans destroyed a disco ball, and we wind up having to pay, pretty much at gunpoint this mafioso guy that ran the club. I had to pay him off, so they wouldn’t kill us. For some reason, we decided to do some shows with the Mentors, and that was hilarious! We play a 45 minute set, and then they come on to play one song and El Duce would just pass out on the drum sets, that was the end of the show. That happened like three times. It’s pretty funny. Those are the ones that come up as memorable.
E&D: You’re on tour with Danzig at the minute, how have the shows been going?
Tommy: It’s been going really good, man. This thing never ends either! After the Misfits reunion and the success of that, there a whole bunch of young kids coming to see Danzig so it’s pretty funny.
E&D: Are there plans for a new Danzig studio album at all?
Tommy: No. As far as I know, he’s done. He’s not gonna do any more records.
E&D: You played in Ministry for a while, was that a good experience for you?
Tommy: That experience total leaves a bad taste in my mouth, for numerous reasons. There was too much debauchery on those tours. I think Al’s a better man from what I’ve been hearing, because a lot of my buddies are playing with him now and they seem to be content but when I was in the band, it was the severe, hard drugs, period and he was an out of control alcoholic, so you know, it was difficult to enjoy the experience because of that.
E&D: How do you feel to be still doing it after all these years with Prong and with Danzig?
Tommy: It’s weird. I have mixed feelings about it. Like I said, for some reason, the way I’m wired, maybe because I’m a little bit passive. I’ve said this for years, but the art gods, I turn it over to them and see what happens. I don’t have the crazy ambition like I did when I first started, where I was just fiercely trying to control everything and wanting certain outcomes. On the other hand, now, some of that comes back when I’m like, fuck this motherfucker, give me a bad record review. So, I still get caught up back into the same thing where I gotta get my ego stroked again. On one hand, I think I’m spiritual and let everything be the way it is but I also get pissed off at the same stuff I did years ago. I do it. It’s a tough business. There’s a lot of great bands out now that you can’t even compete with so that’s the thing too, there’s just so much out there now. I think years ago when we were just a local band in New York and we were selling our own vinyl to record stores. There was something more pure about it. These days everything seems to be cyber world and it’s hard for an old guy like me to compete with that, you know.
