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22 August 2002, The Underworld, London, UK
Support: Foe, NeedleEye
Review:
Review and Photographs by Jethro Randolph and Ryan Harkin
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Jethro: The day started somewhat early for me, when as an excitable lad out on the town with time on his hands, I found myself wandering around Camden high street killing some pre-gig time. Who should I bump into at this point, but a certain Monte Pittman, who, having clocked my Primitive Origins shirt (old school - keeping it real!) came over and said, "Hi". Upon asking if any of the other guys were around, I was "smuggled" into the Underworld and back stage, where Tommy and Dan were relaxing.
Well, at this point, I'd like to regale you with sordid tales of rock excess - groupies, drugs, Satanism, firearms etc., but ladies and germs (and you may want to sit down with a weak cup of tea at this point) Prong are clean living and polite gentleman to a man! Only rampant Red Bull abuse and Tommy's steadfast refusal to eat anything "that comes from the ground" were noted.
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Tommy follows through
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"Monte was quite laid back"?!
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I seized my chance to get my entire cd collection signed (they're going to have to deal with my vinyl stuff on their next visit, so if show time is delayed, you know the score!) and got a chance to spend a couple of hours talking to some genuinely cool chaps about everything from music, Prong gossip (I'm sworn to secrecy on this, although I can substantiate the rumors about Brian being somewhat challenged in "the penile dimensions" department) right through to east end criminals, curries and the joys of living near to West Ham FC (respect to the Upton Park massive!). Twenty minutes or so before show time, the atmosphere in the dressing room changes noticeably. Dan starts practicing, staring into space, Tommy becomes very hyperactive, Brian runs through a stretch routine and Monte, well I think, he woke up at this point.
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A quick "photo opportunity" with the guys and although nothing was said to me , I pissed off to let them get ready for what was to be a classic show. By the time the guys went on - the underworld was almost stuffed - and stuffed with die - hards, looking around you could see shirts from all the various tours going way back to the early days plus a couple of fork logo tattoos floating around! Definitely a great family kind of atmosphere.
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Jethro meets the band
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Ryan: At 7pm, just as the doors were opening there was only a small queue and not many people were hanging about. A couple of people bought tickets at the kiosk. They aren't sold out: this is a worrying sign. There has been almost no publicity for this concert, Kerrang and Metal Hammer have made no mention of Prong and there have been no posters or fliers. Prong has been away for a long time.
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Brian, before his head fell off
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After waiting for friends to arrive, we made our way inside and found a spot to view the support bands from. The place was starting to fill out and we decided to take our places on the floor. Any worry about crowd numbers was rapidly disappearing.
At 9:15pm, the venue was packed and Prong ripped the show open with Dark Signs. The eager crowd started jumping as they proceeded to play Beg To Differ, one of my favorites and one of only a few old songs they played all night.
J: What can I say, anyone who has any doubts about "new vs old Prong" would have been silenced within milliseconds of the band launching into Dark signs - despite some dodgy sound, it was heavy as fuck! And Tommy is very different now - grinning from ear to ear all night, interacting with the crowd (getting pulled into the front row backwards on a couple of occasions!), pulling faces and jumping off monitors etc. The whole vibe of the band is different now too, more movement etc - Dan, Brian and Monte are about as good as they come.
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R: A stomping rendition of Close The Door opened my eyes to a song that I previously regarded as playing a minor role on the Rude Awakening album - and now I can't get it out of my head. And as expected, Rude Awakening itself caused a massive surge to the front of the venue. I'm expecting bruises after this gig, and as it turned out I was not disappointed.
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Unfortunately, The Underworld is notorious for its bad sound and Prong made the mistake of not bringing their own engineer. Despite this, the sound quality at the front was excellent, even if the rest of the venue suffered. There were no samples to be heard all night, proving that Prong's music still has as much raw energy as ever. New material in the form of Initiation goes down very well, especially considering it has only been released from the band's website, but it wasn't until Snap Your Fingers that the stage diving started. I caught the first one with my head and I think I have friction burns on my ear now.
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Dan's "stick work was excellent"
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Tommy seemed to be enjoying himself and just couldn't get the smile off his face, even when trying to grimace during the heavy guitar breaks. He jumped around a lot and fooled about on stage, at one point bending over backwards to sing into the mic. He derived great pleasure out of watching Brian struggling with his bass after the strap came off and the tech had to fix it for him. And in turn, Brain, who head banged so much his head was about to fall off, made our day by handing a pick to my mate Robin, who is now a confirmed Prongaholic. Monte was quite laid back and seemed to be getting into the groove. I couldn't really see Dan from the floor, but his stick work was excellent.
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Tommy "just couldn't get the smile off his face"
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J: It's funny 'cause I remember a review of Rude Awakening over here that dismissed it as "unbearably miserable music" or something like that - and yet the band seemed to emanate a real uplifting, positive feel throughout the gig - no tough posturing b.s, just a total party from start to finish. I went to the gig hoping for something that would at least come close to the Prong I remembered - what I got was a new, positive band who surpassed all expectations and literally blew me away.
In total they played for 1 1/4 hours, covering 16 songs. You know the set list by now, they were due to finish with "one outnumbered" and "disbelief"
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but had to close due to the Camden noise curfew - despite the best efforts of a crowd hell bent on forcing them to play through the night.
In total they played for 1 1/4 hours, covering 16 songs. You know the set list by now, they were due to finish with "one outnumbered" and "disbelief" but had to close due to the Camden noise curfew - despite the best efforts of a crowd hell bent on forcing them to play through the night.
R: Closing with Controller, Prove You Wrong, Cut-Rate and then finally Unconditional, we were left with a thirst for more. We will be back in October when Prong promise to revisit these shores.
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That was the best fun I've had in a long time. After the show I went to replace my sodden t-shirt with a garish new (dry) Prong tour shirt but they had sold out. As I turned around, who was standing behind me at the bar but Tommy Victor himself, still wearing his massive grin. I told him that Flips said to say "Hi" and my partner joked: "Is he a mad stalker?!". To which Tommy laughed and said "No, he's my main man, he's one of my best friends". She was disappointed by that.
I excused myself for interrupting his conversation and made my way home for a shower. Nobody would sit next to me on the train.
J: Everyone has classic gigs that they remember forever, this was one of mine - the best metal band in the world is back in a big way, all the years of waiting were worth it!
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Thanks Monte!
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A massive thanks to Tommy, Dan, Brian, Monte, Tech- fella (sorry mate, didn't catch your name) and David for being so cool to me and giving a gig I'll never forget.
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This article first appeared in the November 2002 issue of the New York Tines
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KKKK (out of 5)
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If there's one band in the world that exemplifies the trial and tribulations of being 'before their time' then it's surely Prong. After nearly a decade spent making cutting-edge, forward-thinking metal, they split up in 1996, only to then watch a trillion nu-metal bands rip off their sound and reap what should have been their multi-platinum rewards.
They're back now, though, signed to a new label and with a new album in the works, and hopefully Prong will garner some of that much-deserved credit this time round the block.
Visibly ecstatic at being back in business (and looking suspiciously like comedian Eddie Izzard with a dyed red barnet to boot), frontman Tommy Victor, aided by three new cohorts, pumps out stripped-down industrialised metal with electrifying enthusiasm to a packed Underworld. Classic Prong anthems 'Rude Awakening', 'Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck' and 'Whose Fist Is This Anyway?' have never sounded so hard, sharp or lethal, while new track 'Initiation' pursues a lean, bass-driven assault.
A good performance, then, from a band who clearly still have it in them to knock 90 per cent of today's nu-metallers into a cocked hat.
Daniel Lukes
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