To date, Tommy Victor is still the only musician who has done my I-Ching reading. He is a fabulous musician, appearing in a number of projects, playing regularly with bands like Ministry and Danzig, but his music in Prong has spanned over decades, featuring a number of noteworthy musicians throughout the years. Though he is a great person to converse with about a number of topics, from conspiracy theories to the apocalyptic feel of the upcoming album, we kept the chat mainly to music... after a bit of catch up chit chatting, as it is easy for us to get off of topic sometimes.
He surprised me, having had my number programmed in his phone since 2002, and he could identify me by my laugh, even though I had not seen him in a few years. I remember talking to him back in 2002, and he had asked me what I would like to know about the music industry. When I told him I wanted to see what being on tour was like, he asked me why, and I said I always heard people talk about it, so I wanted to experience it for myself; within a couple weeks, I joined the Ozzfest tour.
Tommy is the nucleus of Prong, but he's one of those musicians who has had his hands in so many projects that people don't even realize. Even with as many famous people as he has played with, he still remains humble, totally approachable, and being down to earth sets him apart from the others. If you ever get a chance to really sit and chat, Tommy's vast knowledge can be mind blowing.
Author Marisa Williams:
It seems like Prong has gone through waves of activity, and with the
recent additions of new albums, it seems as if Prong is in a surge cycle right
now. What brought about the resurgence of
the band?
Tommy Victor of Prong:
The fact that I haven’t been playing that much in other bands, as I was
previously spending time in Ministry, and Glenn hasn’t been that busy, so I’ve
actually been able to make records with Prong and tour.
Marisa: You have
played with so many bands over the years, including Ministry and Danzig. What other irons do you have in the fire at
the moment?
Tommy: I do have two
other projects, very much side projects, that I’ve been working on. There’s so much, but they’re not completely off
the ground yet. They’re still in the
process of getting finished, so I don’t want to talk too much about it. I’m hoping to finalize the one within six
months. The other one, I don’t know,
whenever I have time to do it. We’re on
the road, and the new record is coming out on July 28 for Prong, but I do have
two other things; one’s a metal thing, and the other is more electronic. I don’t know how to explain it, and I don’t
want to be all mysterious, but there are two projects that will be forthcoming.
Marisa: You played
with COC’s drummer Reed Mullin in Teenage Time Killers. Are you still active with that project?
Tommy: That was a
while ago now. I worked on it four years
ago, so I don’t think I’d get involved again.
Marisa: As people in
the music industry age, some musicians have developed hearing loss. Is it a challenge working with musicians that
have such disabilities, and how do you overcome those difficulties?
Tommy: I haven’t had
that experience. If anyone, it’s
probably me. In conversation, I’m a
little bit deaf. I haven’t experienced
it with others so much. My bass player of
Prong wears ear plugs, so it’s not an issue.
Marisa: You had
previously laughingly described your heritage as having a bit of gypsy in it,
and with the popularity of that show My American Gypsy Wedding, would you ever
consider having your daughter have a dress made by Sondra Celli for a sweet 16
or wedding?
Tommy: No, she’s way
passed her Sweet 16. I don’t know. I disbanded that whole thing. My brother tried to get the DNA thing
going. It was inconclusive, but I live
in CA, and I’m more like a Californian really.
If anything, that’s more East Coast, clinging to some heritage. In LA, nobody gives a fuck about the past,
unless you’re Mexican, and even then, you don’t know if that’s their real
heritage either.
Marisa: You have had
a lot of musicians play with you over the years. Who is on this current tour with you, and how
did you decide on this version of Prong?
Tommy: Art Cruz has
been with the band for five years on drums.
Jason Christopher quit, because he didn’t think Prong was big
enough. We got Mike Longworth. He has been in and out over the years, but we’ve
got him back. Mike can play, and he’s
really easy to get along with, which is really important for me these days. I don’t need any antagonists around. I just want to get through the day
peacefully; that’s one of my priorities.
You can’t control things. Who
knows what will happen, but I don’t need a lot of lip – that is what it comes
down to.
Marisa: What are you
doing on this tour, or what can people look forward to on this tour?
Tommy: We switch the
set up every night pretty much. Some
nights play more from Cleansing, other nights, it’s more from Beg to Differ or
more from No Absolutes. We only get 40
minutes on the Testament tour now, but we have headlining shows, which are not
in front of me, but Grand Junction, CO, Big Shots in Indiana, and Omaha are
headlining shows. You can check on
website, and I think there’s Sioux Falls, too.
Those are long sets. We had a
headlining show last night, and those have everything in there. We’ve been playing Disbelief on Primitive
Origins. The John St. Pub in Ontario on
April 25. Doing New England Metal Fest
Friday. We have Richmond and New Jersey,
then we head to Canada and the Majestic Theatre in Detroit. In Europe, we’re playing Hellfest, Poland’s
Woodstock, Wacken Open Air Festival, and a lot of other festivals this summer.
Marisa: You have
played with all kinds of bands in the past, and you’ve had a number of other
members come and go from Prong over the years.
In dealing with all those different musicians, has your approach to
writing your own music changed throughout the years?
Tommy: Yes, I’m more
collaborative these days. There’s only a
few instances where I completely wrote something on the last few records; I
work with other guys a lot more. They’re
all like friends, so I definitely changed over the years. I reach out for help a bit more. Chris Collier played on Zero Days; we work a
lot on song writing and arrangements, do the records ourselves nowadays. Mike Longworth contributed on the new album
and other records. Erie Lock wrote with
me on No Absolutes. There’s one song on
the new album that Fred Ziomeck from Darkest Hour wrote with me. I collaborate a lot, bring people in and out
of the band. Mike’s playing with the
band now, but Jason contributed on Ruining Lives. I put the puzzle together to make the records. I’ll sit around for a year, so I need help
from other people.
Marisa: Was it hard
to give up the reins to your music, allowing other people to step in to help?
Tommy: It was easy to
give up the reins. I still have the reins for all the vocals and vocal
melodies. On new records, the riffs are
mine but with help. I still have a lot
of work, feel unappreciated, and I’ve gotten disgusted with it. I try not to burn out. With Rude Awakening, I put everything into
that, wrote 50 songs on my own, and the record didn’t come out the way I wanted. I basically quit for years, burnt myself out
on it. I have a tendency to do
that. Do all this work, expect to come
out on me, then it’s not the next thing.
I don’t want to carry that load that much. Considering how many records I put out over
the last five years, it is astonishing.
It’s almost like nobody cares. People
have asked me if I’m going to write a book, and part of me worries that nobody
would care. My typing skills suck, and I
tried to strengthen them with a program.
Marisa: Can you talk
more about the new album coming out?
Tommy: The new
Record, Zero Days, I think it’s the first record I did lyrically that is currently
political in a general passion. It
started sinking in. When I start working
on records, I get a lot of sources, read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and Moby
Dick, long books, and they sunk in. I
would read Huffington Post, and I tried to be current, then read thick books,
and sort of meshed all this stuff together.
I’m really happy with the lyrics on the records. It’s eight political, social songs, kinda
cool. I really focused on the lyrics. Obviously, with a name like Zero Days, it’s apocalyptic,
done before the whole North Korean bullshit, but it’s kinda interesting,
current with a good metal fashion, kinda dangerous. We’re still really pushing the No Absolutes
record that came out last April. Zero
Days ends the trilogy of Ruining Lives, No Absolute and Zero Days; it’s a trilogy
of records over the last three years.
Marisa: Any final
thoughts?
Tommy: With Testament
and Sepultura, it’s a really great bill. People are really happy with the show. All the bands are really good, definitely
worth the money, definitely a good tour for Prong. There’s good stuff going on.
For more on Prong:
Marisa Williams earned her Master's in Writing at the Johns Hopkins University and is currently teaching at a college in Florida. For more by Marisa, visit www.lulu.com/spotlight/thorisaz and www.twitter.com/booksnbling.
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