Interviews - atomic fanzine

Linda is not a happy camper. This interview has been put back so many times that I'd begun to lose faith. You see, Linda has wisdom tooth problems and needs a lot of rest. Mercifully she is able to drag herself from her sick bed to talk. Anyone listening to Prolapse's music would have to be excused if they came away a nervous wreck, for their sound is the sort of thing that makes you toss and turn in your bed, a wonderfully monotonous drone, with Linda and her rival Mick vying for shouting space. Linda explains some of the key points as to why many people find their music disturbing.

'Obviously there's Tina this is Matthew Stone. I can't actually listen to it because it reminds me of things I don't really want to remember. It's difficult to say, because there might be people who live very happy lives who can't identify with the song.'

Tina this is Matthew Stone, I should point out, is the last song on Pointless Walks, a sprawling epic of a song which near the end degenerates into a scene of domestic violence between Mick and Linda. She continues, 'They might have been through a really bad relationship split up, so that I think that they can relate to it, and therefore I think that potentially our music is quite disturbing,' she says almost with relish. Linda then goes on to tell me exactly who Matthew Stone is. Apparently he's a character from a 1970s William Shatner film that so enthralled Linda that she fell asleep half way through. On thing that won't make you fall asleep is the vocal attack of Linda and Mick. Like two fighting school kids they spit out their words on to the hapless listener. You've never quite heard anything like it before.

'When Prolapse started I wasn't in the band,' she admits. 'Mick always improvised his vocals on stage, which he still does from books and just makes things up. Prolapse have always been a bit odd and I've got a friend who's my height and looks a little bit like me. Someone came up with the idea that we should stand up on stage like the Brady twins in The Shining and just stand there throughout the gig and psyche out the audience.'

Things get curiouser.

'It came to the night of the gig and my friend didn't turn up, so I got up on stage anyway and improvised vocals as well as Mick. It got such good feedback that everyone said I should come back next time. So I did it again and again and eventually I stayed.

And it is, without doubt, that Prolapse are better for Linda's sardonic screams, but surely all of your lyrics can't be planned.

'We try to keep everything really fresh. When you start recording stuff you go over it so much that when you record that song it puts you in a certain mood, and that mood seems to trigger the same word, so as we perform songs more and more the words tend to stick. Psychotic Now has got its own set of words that people can sing along to and it's really nice to look out in the audience and see people singing along to your songs.'

It's hard to say where Prolapse fit in. A punk Chumbawamba maybe, but then again maybe not. Listening to too much of Prolapse's material you can't help but be attracted to the insistent nature in which they play. So, I give you The Fall...

'Everybody in the band apart from myself and Geordie Mick the bass player are manic Fall fans and have got loads of records by them. Every influence within the band maps on to a few, but not all of the members in the band, and I think that's why the sound is quite hard to pin down.'

For the uninitiated Prolapse are a scary prospect and their gigs are downright surreal. But you can't fail to love a band who put on a good show and Prolapse certainly do that. 'People go to a gig and the band stand on stage, play their music and you check out the singer and the rest of the band to see if there's anyone you fancy and you look around the room a bit and it's all a bit dull,' says Linda without pausing for breath. 'I always have loads of energy on stage and Mick always has loads of energy, so use that energy don't waste it,' says Mrs Motivator. Linda goes on to tell about her and Mick's relationship and that Prolapse wouldn't be what it is without it being 'quite colourful' and also compliments me on my northern accent, which is a first. But then Prolapse are the first band in a long time to come along and present something truly original, so I suppose being leaders of the pack is nothing new to them.

- from atomic vol 1:K