| Prawn Session | |
| Violitionist Sessions |
Session Date: July 20, 2014
Posting Date: October 14, 2014
Artist Hometown: Ridgewood, NJ
Links: PrawnBand.com, Facebook, Bandcamp
Recorded by: Michael Briggs @ Civil
3 QUESTIONS
ONE: Since the band is from New Jersey, were Lifetime, Saves the Day or the Bouncing Souls of any influence to you?
Tony Clark: Saves the Day is one of my favorite bands of all time. Unfortunately I have not gotten into Lifetime or Bouncing Souls, but that’s because of me being lazy. I know Saves the Day always talks about how influential they were to them. I first got into Saves the Day with Stay What You Are back in high school and then I got into Through Being Cool. Both of those records, I listened to on a weekly, if not a daily basis.
TWO: Back in the mid-2000s, when bands like Fall Out Boy, the All-American Rejects, My Chemical Romance and Cartel were very popular, did any of them have an effect on you?
Tony Clark: I would say we slept through it. The only way we were impacted by it was, when we were in high school, one of our best friends’ older brother was Buddy from Senses Fail. We got the dramatic, theatric side of emo when it was really popular. I didn’t not like, but it wasn’t for me. When I was in high school, I was getting into indie bands that were big at the time, like Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, Arcade Fire. I also really liked the Cure. The combination of that led to me to American Football. From there, I went down the rabbit hole of 90s Midwest emo. By that point, bands like Algernon [Cadwallader] and Snowing were around, so I was able to go to those shows.
THREE: When I was in high school and college, people that liked non-mainstream bands felt betrayed if those bands became accepted by the mainstream. Have you seen any kind of protective attitudes with bands like yourself, Empire! Empire!, or Into It. Over It?
Tony Clark: That’s a really good question. I haven’t really thought about it. I would say no. We’ve been a band for six or seven years, so we have gotten to know bands that we’re really happy to see have success. I think most of the people that have supported Into It. Over It and other bands like the World Is… throughout their careers understand that being a musician requires some kind of money. The long-term fans will support them. We’re not at the level of signing to Interscope or Geffen or Island. Seeing Tiny Moving Parts go from playing Macaroni Island to playing Riot Fest, these bands are rooted in such a DIY ethic, they’re so down-to-earth and super-appreciative of anyone that wants to listen to their music. No one really carries a big ego at all, especially people we’ve met.
– Interview by Eric Grubbs.