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was it like working with Glenn on the album? Tommy Victor: Glenn has been a solid friend of mine for a long time. He’ s always treated me well. We’ ve had our differences, and I got fired a couple of times. It’ s almost like a learning experience, always, with him. It’ s just the way he operates. It amazes me because he doesn’ t compare to anything else, he’ s so convicted to [ sic ] what he does. I never know what I’ m getting into during a Danzig record, he keeps his elements a surprise. I have no idea what I’ m working on that particular day. He’ s like a Jackson Pollock of a record maker. Whatever he wants to do he does it, and he trusts his instincts. There’ s something to be said about that. Mosh: Did Al ask you to play on the new Ministry album, AmeriKKKant? Tommy Victor: Oh yeah, several times. Al and I have so much in common. We sort of mirror each other in a lot of ways, not with his piercings and his tattoos, but just where we’ re coming from. Like, the bands that we like, or our love of professional sports.
Mosh: With Jason back in the lineup, how’ s the chemistry and camaraderie in the band? Tommy Victor: He’ s not playing with Ministry anymore, so we got him back in Prong. We got like three really crazy people and the chemistry is amazing. It’ s a little bit volatile at times, but anybody who’ s seen the band with this lineup knows that it’ s the greatest Prong lineup ever. It’ s a fantastic lineup. We’ re three bigmouthed, egotistical idiots. Whatever comes with that territory just fits. Mosh: Epic Records abruptly dropped you
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right after the release of Rude Awakening. Did that ultimately lead to the band’ s breakup? Tommy Victor: Yeah, that’ s not a mystery. That was a really bad period. I was a complete lunatic asshole back then, and it was rough. Everyone has these periods in life where nothing freaking goes right. That was the way it was supposed to be. I got really disgusted with the music business. I’ m always disgusted with the music business anyhow, but I didn’ t have the maturity to deal with a lot of those things back then. That led to the hiatus, and that was a really crappy period. Mosh: Zero Days isn’ t even a year old yet, but have you been thinking about new material? Tommy Victor: I have to have ideas going. We did this on Ruining Lives- I just was going to write 12 songs, and that was going to be the record because we didn’ t have any time. But looking back on * Carved into Stone *, we had an unbelievable amount of material to pick and choose from. So with this [ new material ], I’ m getting a head start. With the advances in digital technology and portable home studio options, I can lay down ideas and start formulating stuff on the spot. We’ re probably going to release a series of singles that will eventually be on the record. I’ m looking forward to going in and cutting a couple of tracks instead of a full album right off the bat. Mosh: If Prong isn ' t still around in 20 years, what would you like fans to remember about your legacy? Tommy Victor: I think just [ our ] collection of work, or [ our ] collection of songs. I’ m pretty
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Continued from page 34 happy with the way that it’ s turning out.
As I said earlier, there is attention to the newer records. A lot of bands have their " legacy " records, and they put out a couple of records afterward, and no one really cares about them. Then they got to go out and tour on an old record, playing start to finish, to get any attention. We haven’ t gotten to that point yet. We keep pushing the envelope and saying this is something new and something refreshing. It doesn’ t deny the old material. We try to maintain the legacy aspect of what Prong is, but we modernize it. It’ s good to have a huge collection of records that people can argue about what’ s the best one and keep churning them out. I’ m just happy that we’ ve put out a string of a lot of releases and I’ d like to continue that. I wish I’ d get a little bit [ larger ] piece of the pie from it, but so be it.
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MOSH-WORTHY RELEASES: Shining X-Varg Utan Flock( Season of Mist), Machine Head Catharsis( Nuclear Blast), Ross the Boss By Blood Sworn( AFM Records). MOSH-WORTHY … LIVE: Macabre, The Skull, Whut?( Brauerhouse, Lombard, 5 / 05), Legions Of Metal Fest: Toxik, TKO, Bitch, Savage Master and many more( Reggies, 5 / 18-20). Slayer, Lamb Of God, Anthrax, Behemoth, Testament( Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, 5 / 25). MENTION-WORTHY: Local rockers SOIL will be headlining Day 1 of Amplified Fest in Gloucestershire, England on 7 / 6, while Russian Circles have a two-night stand at The Empty Bottle on 5 / 22 & 24. |