Interview: Prawn

The second interview of 2010 comes from New Jersey-based act Prawn. They've released one of the best EPs of 2009 (which I reviewed here) and their singer/guitarist Tony Clark was kind enough to accep to answer my questions. You can read them by clicking the link "Read more" below.





[This interview is available in French here.]



Hey Tony, thank you for taking some of your time to answer my questions, could you introduce yourself and your band first, for those who don't know you?

Hey Romain. It's my pleasure doing this! My name is Tony Clark and I play guitar and sing for Prawn. Prawn is made up of Kyle Burns, Andrew Vilchez, Jamie Houghton and myself.


Can you tell us about how Prawn got created? Which bands and motivations made you want to make music?

Prawn got started in the summer of 2007 when Andrew, Jamie and myself started writing songs. The three of us had been playing in and out of bands together throughout high school. We all were, and still are, best friends so it seemed natural to start a band together. Kyle joined later that summer but things didn't really start rolling until the next summer due to the fact everyone was in college and Kyle was still in high school. I know for myself I always was into music and enjoyed going to shows and what not. Explosions In The Sky probably was the band that made me really want to make music. I saw them live when I was 17. They absolutely blew me away.


Is there any story behind the band's name?

Andrew came up with the name "Prawn Prostitutes" originally. When we were playing high school open mics and what not we were called Prawn Prostitutes. After a while we dropped "Prostitutes" and just stuck with Prawn.


It's pretty hard to label your music, is it something deliberate? How would you describe it yourself?

Hm. I guess it’s hard to label our music because we are influenced by a lot of different genres. We listen to a lot of post-rock, pop punk, and 90’s emo. There’s also a lot of music coming out now like Snowing to name one that I listen to all the time. So it’s not deliberate that our sound cannot be described a specific genre. I have no idea how to label our music.


Your lyrics are often described as very "matter of fact". What are your inspirations and do you agree with this statement?

Yeah, I would consider my lyrics “matter of fact.” I just write about what’s going on in my life. A lot of 'False institutions' was written about a break-up and trying to move on with my life.


Are you currently unsigned? Any discussions with labels yet?

We’ve never been signed to a label. Prawn has always gone the DIY route of pressing CDs ourselves. We’ve talked to a few different labels but nothing has been set in stone yet. We would like to try something new and work with a label for our next album.


A lot of people have first heard about you on the dates with Moving Mountains, how was touring with them? Which kind of relationship do you guys have?

Haha, we actually never “toured” with Moving Mountains. We played our first couple shows with them and became friends. When they toured with Pompeii back in January 2009, we played two shows with them. We have a great relationship with them. The first time we played with them we played in front of like 10 people. Now they’re opening for Say Anything and Thursday. It’s awesome and inspiring to see your friends' band get major recognition and success.


You have been starting to write new songs, what can we expect from them? Do you feel like there's a progression in the band's sound?

We’ve been writing new songs for the last few months now. We have all grown personally as musicians and as a band also. The new songs still have our sound but are a bit more mature. Some songs have minimal vocals while others are basically driven by the vocals. We’re definitely experimenting with our sound and still trying to fine-tune it.


You said those new songs would be available for free online and at shows. You also gave your last EP for free. How important is it for you that people have free access to your work?

We don’t really take ourselves too seriously to be honest. We’re more about having fun than making money. It’s always nice to get paid for what you love, but I think in the back of everyone’s head is the realization that Prawn is for fun and not money. Also with so many bands out there, it’s hard for people to actually give your band a chance. With releasing 'False institutions' for free, we wanted to give people the chance to listen to a record and decide if they like it or not for themselves, not by having a ton of MySpace bands asking you to listen to their music.


Is there any date for the songs to be released? And when can we expect a full-length?

No date yet. We might release a three-song demo of the new material for free sometime in the future. The next big thing for us is to write and record a full-length. We’ve never done one so it’s really exciting. Hopefully by the end of the summer we’ll have a full-length out.


One of your songs was featured in an online soap opera series, 'Gotham: the series', can you tell us about it?

One our friends’ mom is the director of 'Gotham: the series'. We’ve been friends with her family for a while so her mom asked us to give a song for the episode.


What's in store for Prawn in 2010? Any touring plans?

We want to put out our first full-length in 2010. I think we are going to do a three or four-week tour during the summer too. This band Merchant Ships (an awesome band) is putting on a summer fest in South Bend, Indiana that we’ll be traveling out there to play.


Do you consider touring overseas anytime soon?

Yes. Traveling to Europe is definitely a goal for Prawn. We are shooting for summer 2011. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that things will line up for us so we can make it overseas.


Any bands you would love to play with?

That’s probably the hardest question on here. I could list over a hundred bands that I’d love to play with. Topping my list though would be Minus The Bear, God Is An Astronaut, Explosions In The Sky and Broken Social Scene. If I could go back in time, playing with At The Drive-In and American Football would be a dream come true.


That is all, thank you very much Tony! We in Europe hope to see you soon!

Thank you Romain. Hopefully summer 2011!


[You can legally download Prawn's latest EP for free here.]



www.myspace.com/prawnnj