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RHiG Magazine, Issue 14, Apr/May 1994
Consistently and ignorantly labeled as everything from punk to thrash, industrial and grunge, Prong's latest album, Cleansing, is a diversion from their past, while still retaining their distinctive flavour. Even with the addition of John Bechdel as programmer and sampler, and Paul Raven replacing Troy Gregory on bass (both from Killing Joke), Cleansing is definitely Prong. On their recent stop-over in Toronto while opening for Rob and his psycho crew (better know as White Zombie), I spoke with founder and drummer Ted Parsons. "We've become better players definitely. Tommy and I started in '87 with this project and when I listen to our very first recordings, it's really cryptic. The first album is called Primitive Origins (Spigot Records - 1987) and that's appropriately titled. Number two, we've become better songwriters, and number three we're a lot more wise as far as what's going on in the business. All three points together, we've just become a lot more wise, and we're older too. Hopefully everyone grows as they get older and you make a few mistakes. But I think the new album is the epitome of what Prong is supposed to be like and what we're supposed to sound like. We had a lot of time writing songs on an eight track. We wrote 30 songs, weeded out all the bad ones and recorded the fifteen that we thought were the best. We worked with Terry Date, who's worked with Soundgarden, Pantera and Fishbone. We really liked what he did with the guitar and drum sounds. We just wanted to do something different with this producer; we weren't really satisfied with how Prove You Wrong came out."
Now, after years of driving around in a crappy little van all over the country to play in holes, they finally have a nice "rock star" tourbus and get to play in pretty little clubs like the Palladium. "Whatever it takes for us to go out on tour, we'll do it. We won't go in a stationwagon, but if we have to go out in a van again, we'll do it. It's not like we made it because we got a big bus or anything, you just do what you've got to do to go tour."
Previous to Cleansing, Prong released a 6 song CD, titles Whose Fist Is This Anyway?. "We just really wanted to do it, and Epic wasn't doing that well with Prove.... . We had to keep people's interest and remind them that we're still around. We did it mostly on the road, and gave the tape to Raven and Thirwell (Foetus), and they kind of went nuts with them. Lyrically that album is consistent with the others. There's always obstacles and barriers in people's lives, and if you start getting too satisfied with life, then you lose the hunger and the strife, which is a part of life. It's just the nature of the people that we are; you can't preconceive it. We're always going to have the angst and the aggression."
Virtually ignored by the media, record companies and even indie labels in the past, it seems their stardom now is well deserved. "We made a lot of mistakes before, with management and other things. It depends on what your definition of success is; if being signed on a major label is it, great! My definition of success is making a really goo dliving, and being comfortable at making music. Tommy and I have been doing this for so long that just to get by is not satisfactory anymore. I still love it, otherwise I'd go to school and be an accountant. I still get off playing music and that's the most important thing. I think the climate's right for Prong right now, I've seen a lot of bands get credit for the kind of thing we've been doing all along. We're not bitter about it, but we have a little catching up to do as far as touring and stuff, and the audience has to catch up to us as well."
Most people have not even realized that Prong is now a four piece, with John at the keyboards sampling. "A lot of the samples are not that out front, we wanted to keep them very low in the mix. A lot of the samples that John's doing are actually guitar samples. I've been doing samples from behind the kit for a couple of years now, so with John doing it, I don't have to do it anymore. WIth Raven, he's definitely a great bass player. We've been looking for someone with his mentality for a long time. WHen Tommy played bass on the demos, he kind of played Raven's style and I think he's got the same mindset and attitude. I think Prong is like a much heavier version of the way he would have liked to have seen Killing Joke."
Lyrically, the band likes to leave their songs up for personal interpretation. "If people come to see a Prong show and have a great time but not get any of the lyrics, I have no problem with that. But it they can identify with it in their personal life, that's great too. Use Prong for whatever you want; if it's to go to the show and bash around and have a good time, or if you want to go through the lyrics and identify with them, great. There are no solutions, if youwant to listen to Prong and get some kind of solution, you're not going to. We're not politically correct, we're not preaching, we're not trying to use Prong as our political speaking voice. All we're proving now is that we can make a great record and put on an amazing live show." If you've heard their albums and seen them live, then you know that's something that no one can prove wrong.
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