Posted on January 29, 2009 - by Halina Rifai
The Cause And Resolve Of Prego
Prego are a London based 5-piece spectacular. The band members are Edd Simpson, Simon Britcliffe, Caspar Williamson, Will Leslie and Paul Jennings. They have been playing for a few years but 2008 brought them to the forefront as an act to watch for. Steve Lamaq, Drowned in Sound and Rocklouder are a few to have praised them.
Their sound is like that of a super sonic jet, a stirring beginning that builds up to an almighty bolt of sonancy.
It is one that you would quite happily compare to standing on the edge of a cliff taking that jump into the rush and then being bathed with a surprise landing of comfort.
They have toured with the likes of The Stills and worked more recently with Guy Massey (Manics, Spirtualized, and Idlewild).
You can find them here:
We recently caught up with Edd Simpson, front man and lead singer who has one of those identifiable and original voices that you can pinpoint immediately.
Halina Rifai: 2008 seemed to expose Prego to this country in a grand fashion. How was the year for you overall?
Edd Simpson: It was a great year for us. We were just really pleased to get a couple of singles out and do some touring. It can be frustrating for a band to be locked away writing and working on tunes and we spent a lot of 2007 doing that, so to get out and get the support we’ve received over the last 12 months has been fantastic.
HR: Live, you create an almighty and anthemic sound. Are there any live performances that particularly stand out for you?
ES: I think both the London single launches were particularly memorable, they were both sold out nights and we gained a really good reception. We also went out on tour with The Stills to promote the second single ‘Answers’ and we all loved that.
HR: Have there been any embarrassing moments on stage?
ES: Plenty, fortunately not too many this year, except for when Caspar’s bass amp just stopped in the middle of playing ‘Cause and Resolve’ at the 100 Club. We tried to carry on, then realised there was a bass solo before the last chorus and it would have just sounded shit, so we just gave up and started again.
HR: Where would you like to play that you haven’t been able to yet?
ES: There are loads of venues, we’re still yet to play King Tut’s which we’ve always heard great things about, then there’s always the bigger venues, Brixton Academy perhaps!
HR: ‘Parachutes and Flying Machine’ is personally my favourite track that the band has produced; it makes me somewhat emotional in places. Is there a track that is a stand out for you? One that makes the emotions rise?
ES: I think the three most emotional tracks for me are probably ‘My Current State (is your latest objective)’, ‘Years, Days, Months’ and ‘This Will Change Us’. All three have moments of light and dark, hope and despair, and I think that’s what grabs me most with music.
HR: The new single is coming out March 30th. Can you tell us what it is called and the story behind it?
ES: The track’s called ‘The Longest Calm’ and it centres around the breakdown of an 8 year relationship. It’s about this one moment in this bar in Paris where discussions of whether things could carry on had gone as far as they possibly could and it all just came down to this really long silence, the end of which would determine how it was all going to turn out. It was just a really poignant moment I remember everything about it so clearly, so much was going on but at the same time, it just amounted to silence.
HR: You seem to be a very solid band when it comes to your relationship and musicianship. Is this the case for the writing process and whilst touring?
ES: We are definitely a really close unit. The writing process is I think one of our favourite parts of being in Prego, despite it having the potential to be both wonderful and to make us all want to kill each other. It usually involves me (Edd) bringing in a song in it’s most basic form and then it really can go anywhere, and often does. We’re pretty democratic creatively, and I think we are very used to writing together now.
Touring has been amazing this year, we all just laugh a lot and make jokes that most people would not find funny but we seem to manage to keep ourselves highly amused. We also have an extended family in Prego with a guy called Adam who does all our driving and tour managing and a chap called Jacko who does our sound, they’re both amazing and we certainly see them as a really integral part of Prego.
HR: At this point in time, who would you say are your musical heroes?
ES: Well we’ve all got the same favourite album of 2008, and that was by the Scottish maestro’s Frightened Rabbit. Their album ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’ is one of the best albums I’ve ever heard, and I’ve listened to a lot of records, it’s just one of those albums that moves you musically and lyrically in a way that very very few records do. Other musical heroes include Aereogramme, Death Cab for Cutie, Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, Sigur Ros, Sparklehorse amongst many many others.
HR: It’s the beginning of 2009 and you are starting with a positive response from the media not to mention gaining a lot of new fans. What are the plans for this year?
ES: Our focus right now is the new single and the album. We’re really excited about ‘The Longest Calm,’ and hopefully it’ll help us make a few more waves, we’ll be playing some more shows around the release, and then it’s fully focusing on getting the album recorded.
We’re doing it with Guy Massey, who’s an incredible producer and has put a lot of faith in us so we’re going back into the studio in February to carry on with that. We’re all so excited about this album, so the sooner we get it done the better!
HR: On behalf of SleepwalKing Magazine and myself, we wish you all the best for 2009 and cannot wait to hear and review the new material.
Prego’s new single ‘The Longest Calm’ will be out March 30th 2009.
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