PROWLER Interview

PROWLER (UK) – north london England pissed of hardcore straight from the streets in your face. No love. No mercy. Just pure hate.


Dudes, first we wanna thank you for the time you spent, answering our questions!


What inspired you to play the music you play?

KNUCKLEDUST were the band that originally grabbed our attention .The anger and intensity of their live show, coupled with being more able to relate to the lyrics and the people at the gigs got us hooked. As for our song writing, it's not something we do everyday, or as part of a routine. A lot of the darkest sounding riffs on Strictly 3.5 were written when a couple of members of the band were going through some dark times at home and that vibe really comes through in the music.
Lyrically, Nathan, again is not someone who writes lyrics daily, so every song on the album was written in reaction to an incident or occurance in real life. The lyrics aren't some make believe revenge story invented to make the tune sound harder. Theres tunes written about the scum who used to mug people daily when we was growing up, friendships gone bad, and bitches, but theres a noticable progression in the lyrics from our earlier songs on the album to the more recent .


How would you describe PROWLER? As a hardcore band? Beatdown? Metal? Or a mix? Where can we put you in?

We try to be as individual as possible, and as hard as possible with the music we write. Were heavily influenced by old school style hardcore as much as we are by beatdown or indeed metal, so it`s really a mix of all of the above, but with our own twist to it. One thing we can safely say is that we write music for the dancefloor, that you can listen to off the dancefloor.


How long have you all known each other? How did you meet?

Prowler go way back, we`ve all known each other for at least 10 years, 4 out 5 members have known each other for over 15 years, went to the same primary school! The first time I met Lasselle (drums for us and also TRC), he ended up punching me square in the nose! That was well over 15 years ago, he used to be a right little bastard. But still we got into this thing as a unit and we will finish as one, we aint about changing members.


Did you start your „career“ at RUCKTION RECORDS or was there another label in the past?

PROWLER has always been RUCKTION, we started playing gigs in the london hardcore scene at about 16 years old and the boys from RUCKTION looked after us, always sorting gigs out and encouraging us.
The RUCKTION roster and back catalogue is insane! And when we first started going RUCKTION shows you could see KD ,50 CALIBER ,SIX FT. DITCH, TRC, NINEBAR all on the same bill!
I was checking some forums the other day and read a post saying that all RUCKTION/london bands sound the same -ive never read such bullshit in my life! RUCKTION has some of the most original and quality hardcore bands full stop.


After the split demo with TRC and your track on the RUCKTION Sampler “Time for some Rucktion” there was a long break with PROWLER. Why?

After starting playing gigs at 16/17 we recorded a couple of times etc and spent a couple of years playing shows, and then some of us got a bit distracted. Some were out raving most weekends - popping pills, others following their football teams all around the country getting drunk and chasing girls. We never intended to stop prowler, just disagreements with want we wanted to get out of the band and outside influences slowed us down.
We all listen to a lot of music outside of hardcore, 2 of us dj now and again, and the bassist was in a funk band, so we also spent a bit of time on that also.
But we`ve come back stronger from the break and now that our songs are finally released we're eager to get more releases out there and play more and more shows . we just want more people to hear our music.


What did you do in that break? Did you write songs or was it just a break?

We would write a song every now and again, we never lost the want to smash some instruments up.


And now, in 2010, PROWLER released their first 13 tracks full-length album “Strictly 3.5” on RUCKTION RECORDS. Fans can find PROWLER tracks from the years 2002 till now. Please tell us something about this cd.

We feel the cd is fuckin epic, covering our early more straight up beatdown, dancefloor orientated tunes to our newer darker metallic material .So far weve heard some great feedback from the cd. It`s an album you can listen to all 13 tracks back to back no problem .You can put it on your ipod when your in the mood, and at the same time you can come to a show and spinkick your friends in the face to it.


Furthermore a CLUBBER LANG cover is on that album. Who had this amazing idea?

We have played the CLUBBER LANG cover for maybe 5/6 years on and off at shows, it was just a song off an album that we loved .The song flows so well and yet remains proper heavy. When we first started playing it everyone was a bit shocked that we were covering an old tune, being such a young band .You get a lot of bands selecting the same old covers and it gets a bit boring .
We sent the track to members of CL before we put it on the cd to get their blessing, and then sent them the finished cd afterwards and they were feeling it! So were happy!


The information in the booklet said that Scott Move (SPECIAL MOVE) did the artwork. How is the general collaboration with another RUCKTION bands like AMBUSH, SPECIAL MOVE, INJURY TIME and so on?

Scott SPECIAL MOVE does some absolutely quality pieces of artwork and like most of the RUCKTION bands we've known them for years, so collaborations are always happening .
Weve just been on tour with KARTEL from RUCKTION, who are one of the most raw and original bands out there, check them out when you get the chance.


Could you say something about the next releases that we can expect of RUCKTION RECORDS or especially PROWLER?

There is a new NINEBAR cd in the works and ive heard snippets and it sounds fuckin sick, so watch out for that .We have started writing for our new cd and have got two songs written so far .We're working alot quicker than the last one , less breaks! but its sounding the hardest yet .We want to up the intensity and weight of Strictly 3.5 on the new release and weve also got a video planned for Everybody Soon Dead.


Let`s come to live shows. A few weeks ago, PROWLER hit germany. Was it your first show here? Did you like it?

Friday the 13th was our first show in Germany and it was at the JZE Papestr. Really enjoyed the show , the bands , the beer and the people. Rico and the crew really know how to put on a quality gig and look after the bands .We all got involved during All out War ,so you can tell we was enjoying ourselves .The dancefloor was crazy at points .


In October PROWLER´s gonna hit germany again. Are there any other (tour-)dates?

The 16th of October is all we have booked at the moment with SURGE OF FURY, REDUCTION and loads of other bands ,we are looking forward to smashing this gig, drinking german beer and chilling with all the crew out there.


And what we’re your favorite places to play?

In Germany its gotta be the JZE! Long live the JZE! , its a shame that its going, because even before we went there, all we would hear from other bands in London was how good a venue it was and how great the shows were there and indeed in germany in general.
As for london, we love to play the 12 bar because of how small it is .The vibe in there is great cos of its late licence and the fact that nowhere is safe in the venue, there is nowhere to hide .When you play 12 bar as a band you cant hide behind expensive equipment or sound ,its just raw DIY .


Do you guys know some german HC-bands?

Yeah of course! IN BLOOD WE TRUST, FALLBRAWL! some hard as fuck bands from germany! Big up to all the FWH crew, Rico ,Joerg etc and Big up the DRM crew aswell.


In our interviews it`s usual, so: BRAINSTORMING:

Straight Edge?
We are the polar opposite.

Violent Dancing?
As much as the world outside of hardcore and indeed myself sometimes think "what the fuck is that all about?" We can't resist doing it. It actually makes alot of sense. How the fuck else would you dance to music like this?

Fast Food?
NANDOS

Soccer?
3 Spurs fans , 1 Chelsea fan and 1 Gooner

Facism?
Can get fucked.


Thank you guys again for that interview and see you next month!


For further information check
www.myspace.com/prowlerukhc
http://www.rucktion.com/
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