METAL KAOZ met with PRONG’s mastermind Tommy Victor one day after his birthday (and some hours before the Joliet, IL show) to discuss the latest news and the plans for the all-covers album that will be released next year. So, check what he revealed to us.
First of all, happy birthday Tommy, even if this is one day late.
Thank you very much, I appreciate this.
So, how do you feel? Older or wiser?
Oh absolutely I feel way better in my older age than I did when I was younger.
This means you feel wiser, right?
A little bit, yeah.
And how does this additional wisdom reflect to the music or the lyrics?
A lot actually and I think in the last two records there is a more positive message rather than just being ‘I feel horrible’ but doing nothing about it. I feel I’ve gotten more faith and confidence as I get older. And I appreciate things more. I was in Europe twice this year and I thought it was really cool and felt very good about it, but years ago, I was more concerned about what I am doing in business and in music. Also this North US tour feels cool traveling all around.
So, how the shows in the US have been?
We did some headlining shows and the previous night we played with OVERKILL in Milwaukee and everything has been great. The crowds have been very good, plus we like the OVERKILL guys.
Awesome! So what are the rest of your touring plans? I mean, after the US shows, you will be back in Europe and then what?
After that we have Australia and New Zealand and we have the South American tour being booked. Then we have another record coming out with cover songs that will be out in March and will do a tour for that around April.
Are you talking about an EP or an LP?
It will be an LP with ten cover songs but I won’t reveal any titles. Everything has been recorded and what we are doing now is mixing. Chris Collier who did the last PRONG album is working on this.
Have you set a release date for this?
I think they are talking about the first week of April.
Do you have a working title?
No, and this question is also a reminder for me to figure this out.
Cool! PRONG released a video for “Remove, Separate Self”, so how does the concept of this reflect the lyrics?
A lot of PRONG songs like in any other artists are open for different interpretations, so I let these guys to figure this out on their own. So, they thought it was about removing yourself from the world which is a typical PRONG concept just getting away from everything and not paying attention to worldly problems. But this is more about ego deflation. Anyway, I think they went a little bit psychedelic on this, so their interpretation remains and there is an almost Dianetics like an L Ron Hubbard approach to it which is taking away all your psychosis out of yourself and becoming free.
And this is extremely difficult to do…
Of course it is and in theory we’re trying to do that through religious practices, meditation and other things of this nature.
The 7” vinyl edition of this single has a remix or 'demix' as you call it from Matt Heafy; so what exactly did he do?
He stuck to the concept of the song and I really like what he did; he put his own touch on it and this was something he wanted to do. We approved what he did and I think it came out pretty good.
How was he involved in this?
He heard about it and since he wanted to do this, he approached us because he is trying to do more of that.
Are there any plans to release another single for the latest album?
They have been thinking about it but I think the covers record is in the bag, so I don’t foresee another single, even though our management would want to do that. So, I really don’t know; initially the plan was to put out another release before the full album, so we will focus on the covers, but who knows? Maybe there will be another single after all for “Windows Shut” and probably a video.
I’ve read that “Ruining Lives” was the fastest written and recorded PRONG album…
...yeah, there was a heavy deadline on it and we just had to get it done. In the past there was a series of demos, rewriting songs, rearranging things and cutting them again from the initial versions using Pro Tools or Cakewalk, so this entire process was eliminated. So, everything was done really fast and if you listen to the album, there is nothing really perfect and this is cool. Because I had all these ideas and it was a simple process to put them down and then work on more songs in a fast pace without overthinking it.
Did you like this new process? I mean, do you see PRONG working like this from now on?
I really don’t know because everything album is different due to circumstances.
What was the story with “Unleashed In The West”?
I should start mentioning this on the shows that we have this on sale at the merch. Anyway all these PRONG albums were produced differently from the producers and myself, and looking back, I think some of them were over-produced. And when we were playing those songs as a trio without any vocal overdubs or some crazy productions, they really stood up on their own; I think the strength of the songs is highlighted with this bootleg recording, so we decided to release this and it was some kind of an experiment. Plus, nowadays you want to keep things rolling by putting stuff out either on ourselves or through the label.
And the physical format of this bootleg is only as a CD? Or will it be also on vinyl?
Right now is only on CD and there were some talks about doing it on vinyl too but I don’t think it will happen.
What about a PRONG DVD?
You know, there is so much stuff on YouTube but still a lot of people have approached me about this and maybe we should do this. It has to be done right; I mean, I am not interested in throwing things together and doing it cheaply. To be honest, I have no idea how long the DVD format is going to survive because eventually everything is going to be on our phones as digital downloads.
I hope we won’t live to see that… anyways, PRONG have been around since the late 80s, so have you even thought of documenting the story of the band on a book maybe?
That’s another thing I have been approached about doing and if I have the time to do it right, without rushing things, maybe I will. Still, this is not a creative process but documenting the facts and then making a book out of it. Again, this isn’t very interesting thing to do because after all, the past is the past, plus there is so much info online for anyone to see.
Still, it’s not all about getting the information but also getting the insights of the actual artist and I am sure you have seen and witnessed things way differently than these are documented online.
Yeah, but this also sounds like doing after you have retired; then I can comment freely about people I have worked with, without worrying about ramifications.
Last question, Tommy: is there any activity from the DANZIG camp?
You have to ask Glenn about this; he is so unpredictable and I really don’t know about it. This is his deal and I have no participation in working with DANZIG.