By Kelley Simms
PRONG: BUILT TO LAST
Prong
A
merican industrial thrashers,
Prong, exploded onto the music
scene in 1990 with the critically-
acclaimed album, Beg to Differ. MTV
exposed the band to a whole new audience
by using some of the Be tracks as a theme
song for their wildly popular Headbanger’s
Ball and in other network segments.
Surprisingly, even after several more
somewhat successful albums, including
1996's Rude Awakening, Epic Records
dropped the band, and they broke up in
1997.
Post-breakup, vocalist and guitarist
Tommy Victor performed with Danzig and
Ministry. Victor re-formed the band in 2002
with what has become a continuously
changing lineup. Since the release of 2012’s
comeback album, Carved into Stone, Prong
has sustained their momentum by churn-
ing out fresh material, leading to the release
of the band's 12th salbum Zero Days last
July. Joined by returning bassist Jason
Christopher and drummer Arturo “Art”
Cruz, the trio makes their way to Bottom
Lounge on May 17 with Helmet.
Mosh: Prong has toured Europe extensively
over the last year with various bands. Is
this the second leg of a North American
tour?
Tommy Victor: This is actually our first
because we haven’t really toured in
America with it. The last big one that we
did was with Testament, and that was still
on X-No Absolutes, which is the record
before Zero Days. We’ve been making
records fast and then sort of catching up by
touring, which is the opposite of how it
used to be traditionally, where you put a
record out then tour. Essentially, we have a
strong base in Europe. That’s where most
of our fan base is, that’s where most of the
action is, and that’s where our label is. So,
it’s really strong there. America is tough
unless you’re a top 40 artist or you’re on
regular radio. 'We take what we can get,' so
to speak.
Mosh: How has the material from Zero
Days been received in the live setting?
Tommy Victor: We have five records out in
the last five years. All the new material is
really strong if you look at Spotify. “Snap
Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck” is No. 1, it’s
got over 4 million plays. Then it goes into
the new material like “Divide and
Conquer,” “Forced Into Tolerance,”
“Revenge… Best Served Cold,” “Cut and
Dry” and “However it May End.” These
are the strong songs that are played more
than anything, and those are from the last
four records. Cleansing material, then
Carved into Stone, Ruining Lives, X-No
Absolutes and Zero Days seems to get a lot of
traction.
Mosh: You’ve performed all over the U.S.
and in Europe over the years - what do you
like most about playing here in Chicago?
Tommy Victor: Chicago is one of the
biggest cities in America, so the population
dictates what kind of turn-outs there are
and the enthusiasm. I always liked playing
the Cobra (Lounge), like we did two nights
in a row with Crowbar. That was a lot of
fun. The people are crazy there. Closing
bars at 5 a.m. has a lot to do with the men-
tality of the place. People there, it seems to
me that they’re not concerned with them-
selves that much but just wanting to go out
and have a good time.
Mosh: Carved into Stone put Prong back
into the swing of things and Zero is your
12th full-length. You've been through a lot
of changes. Are you where you'd planned to
be at this point in your career?
Tommy Victor: You know how planning is
in our lives, I really don’t know. Just to
make ends meet I’ve been in sidebands.
I’ve been a hired gun by playing in Danzig,
and I did a run with Ministry, so I sort of
put Prong on a shelf. We did Power of the
Damager in there somewhere, which was a
sideband. After contributing [creatively]
with Ministry I had all these riffs, and I
asked myself why I’m giving this to Al
Jourgensen for him to take over the pub-
lishing credits. So I wanted to go back into
doing Prong and not fool around anymore.
That’s how Carved… came about. I wanted
to go write a real Prong record that wasn’t
half-assed, to get something solid down.
Based on the success of that, we moved on,
and I kept going with it. We just keep doing
it. Nothing bombastic or spectacular hap-
pens, we just keep the brand out there and
keep making records. I’m always intrigued
about making a new record.
Mosh: You've worked a lot with Danzing
and recently played bass and lead guitar on
Black Laden Crown. From a critical stand-
point, it’s a very polarizing record. What
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