Interview: Prong
Archived
On Monday, Oct. 17th, Prong brought their Cleansing show to the wonderfully intimate confines of Club DV8. The crowd was upbeat and diverse which, according to Ted Parsons, drummer and founding member of Prong, is par for course.
Prong: This tour has a good mixture with Drown and Clutch. More of the alternative crowd comes out than when we play with Pantera.
SLUG: What audience do you see Prong playing to and fitting in with?
Prong: To be honest with you, we’ve always had a problem with who our audience is. I think we get a crossover crowd: a lot of metal kids, kids into hardcore and people into alternative music, so it’s a good mixture. I personally like playing to a mixture of people. I like it better that way, so we don’t pigeon-hole ourselves.
SLUG: Well, it’s good, too, because I think the alternative scene has definitely gotten to the point now where there is crossover.
Prong: Right, it’s hard to tell now. Alternative music is pretty much mainstream. It’s really hard to figure out. I think when a band starts to pre-calculate their audience and their music, it’s a bad thing.
Parsons and Tommy Victor (the lead singer, guitar player and principal songwriter) are the only original members of Prong. They added Paul Raven on bass and John Bechdel on samples about 18 months ago.
Prong: It was just a logical step. They were brought in after Tommy and I had written the Cleansing album. They came in and helped with arrangements, but they weren’t part of the band, per say.
SLUG: Now they are?
Prong: Yeah. For our next album, we’ll get those guys involved and collectively write.