Interviews - Oscar smokes the leftovers

from Oscar smokes the leftovers issue 3 by Andrew Friendly

I got the chance to talk to Prolapse while at this year's Camden Crawl, and I was lucky to catch them as it seemed there were another half dozen zines as well as MTV (!) wanting a chat. I spoke to guitarist Dave, drummer Tim and Linda, their vocalist. Their other guitarist, Pat, was totally ill and didn't play,while vocalist Mick was hitchhiking, yes hitchhiking, down to the gig after some trouble with the van. Don't ask. I didn't...

They'd been in the US, so I asked them how that had gone.

Linda: We've been to America three times this year, so we've been trying to keep things going. We're between deals just now and we haven't got any money and we're wanting to record, we're just wanting to decide what to do next and it's taking longer than we thought. We had a good time in America though. We played with the Wedding Present, we went to California with Stereolab. It was really good.

Tim: We played in Boston and there were loads of people shouting out for songs from the first album, which hasn't been released out there which was wonderful. There were more people turning up there than there usually is in Leicester, which is where we're from. That was surprising.

You put a lot of effort into your live shows, is it important you engage the audience like that?

Linda: From a frontperson's point of view it's very difficult to play a gig when nobody's paying attention. But saying that we don't play gigs where we're getting ignored, probably because it's so loud.

Tim: I like the physicalness of doing a gig. It's like fighting with the drumkit.

I saw something recently about a Spanish dancer who lost three pounds of weight every time he performed. Do you lose any weight playing?

Tim: Oh God, it all goes back on again afterwards with kebabs and stuff, really crap food.

Dave: Our first gig in New York was really hot. We played this gallery and it wasn't very well ventilated. There was only one big fan and everyone kept on walking out. It was ridiculous. They came in to see what was going on, but a lot of people said Sorry, we just couldn't stay, it was too hot.

Does the 'New Pop Underground' frighten you as much as it frightens me?

Dave: It's a frightening name.

Tim: I mean, for me, I'm getting on a bit now...

Linda: He's got two kids, he's a proper grown-up.

Dave: I honestly think we're not like most of the other bands that's part of 'it'. We'd done so much before we formed the band so it's a bit difficult for us to go Yeah! We're a part of the pop underground!

Linda: Pop's not a word we can associate with really, but people have some funny interpretations of the music you know, like one person's pop is another person's er... er...

Dave: Sore funk.

Linda: I was thinking more like someone else's Brillo Pad rubbing on a table, you know?

Dave: I remember once Mick our vocalist was heckling Bis from the crowd and they said Don't mind him, he's our Dad.

I saw your video for Doorstop Rhythmic Bloc the other day and I thought it was really smart. How do you feel about doing videos?

Dave: Well we've just done one in New York, and it fucked me off completely. So depressing.

Tim: I came around to it by the end but at the start... I mean, it was the full production things, dollies set up and all that. I just remember sitting on the back of this truck thing, zooming around all these skyscrapers and I couldn't believe how depressed I was.

Dave: There's this really funny bit that I couldn't believe they used. It's this bit where I'm just miming along going (sighs through his lips, making a sort of propeller sound) and they used it! And that's what I felt like, like This is supid. Always thought it was something I would never do and now, two years later...
Tim: We had a stylist.

Linda: Called Raffey.

Tim: And he came up to our flat, and it was one of the most worrying moments of my life because he was checking out to see if we had any stylist clothes to wear, and I was just sitting there, dreading it. It was like being back at school again... like Oh no, there's a stylist going through my wardrobe.

Linda: You can look back on it now and laugh but at the time it was a nightmare.

And then they say they're not a pop band. I don't know. Prolapse, the band that want their cake and eat it too.