the Prize

 

Melbourne five piece the Prize have come a long away in a short amount of time. The band’s first gig was opening for Civic at a sold out Croxton, and there first release Wrong Side of Town has been rereleased after its first pressing sold out. Combining elements of Cheap Trick, the Flaming Groovies and the Divinys, the Prize is a ripping power pop band, with several lead vocalists making them a very unique band both live and on record. Wrong Side of the Track is a strong contender for one of the year’s best releases.

Drummer/singer Nadine Muller spoke to us via the zoom machine

Munster: I just saw online that the Prize’s debut EP Wrong Side of Town had entered its second pressing, congratulations.

Nadine: Thankyou. Very exciting that it sold out so quickly, that first press.

Munster: It didn’t take long for that first pressing to sell out did it?

Nadine: It came out in September, and it sold out online in 24 hours. There available again. Now in a different cover design and different colour vinyl, changed it up the second one.

Munster: I spoke to you two years ago, when your band at the time Mr Teenage had a single out which also sold very well, what do you think you need to do to move units these days?

Nadine: I guess social media helps these days, getting music far and wide quickly. And people are really getting back into rock n roll, and guitar music again seemingly. I guess we’re at the right time and place.

Munster: As my dad says fads come and go but rock n roll never dies.

Nadine: (laughs) Yeah, luckily for us.

Munster:  As I mentioned your last band Mr Teenage, which some members have crossed over to the Prize, also had a great rock sound like this new EP does, what did you want to do with the Prize that was different from Mr Teenage?

Nadine: I guess in this band I’m on lead vocals, which I hadn’t done with any bands prior. So that took a minute to get around, playing drums and singing at the same time. We started during lockdown so had a good eight months to practice and sort of hone in getting confident with doing that. Musically we love big guitar bands like Cheap Trick, so we wanted to go down that route with this band. Mr Teenage was more bubble gum powerpop, where this is more heavy rock powerpop I guess

Munster: How did you get to form a band during lockdown?

Nadine: We were all bored. Kerry and Joe and I, who I played with in Mr Teenage, and really enjoyed making music together, we wanted to keep playing, during lockdown we had time so we just spent that time working on songs. They would work on riffs and they would send them to me. I would chip away at lyrics and work on melodies and stuff. I was living in a share house for those two years with our bass played Jack Kong, who joined the band. We get on well and he’s a good muso and slotted in very easy. And we were able to work on stuff together so that was lucky.

Munster: Was it a deal where someone would have lyrics, or a riff, then you’d send a file to the band and the song evolved why you were all at home during lockdown?

Nadine: Yeah we would write riffs, or different elements of the songs, then when we got together we stuck them together.

Munster: Your first EP is on its second pressing, and your first gig was at the Croxton opening for Civic, so you’ve come a long way for a band that has been around for a short amount of time.

Nadine: yeah we really jumped into the deep end (Laughs). I think that was one of my favourite shows we played. It was our first gig we played since covid, and the first gig I’d been to, and first gig a lot of people had been to. There was a lot of good energy in the room everyone was so excited to see live music again, play live music and drink a beer together, so was special.

Munster: was that true you had the gig with Civic but you had no name for the band so you just came up with the Prize?

Nadine: (laughs) Yeah, it was crunch time, we threw a few names around, then we landed on the Prize, which I think was on a poster in my dad’s garage, I think was an old vintage poster or something, with cool font, we thought we’ll use that for the first show and come up with something else but looks like it will stick.

Munster: How have you taken to singing and drumming at the same time?

Nadine: Was very hard, to be honest at the start. I almost threw in the towel a few times, thinking I can’t do this. Also I was really nervous and self-conscious about singing, I feel its really putting yourself out there. Its not an instrument you can hide behind, it comes from within, you kind of feel exposed singing. I’m getting used to it now, and also trying to not be so hard on myself. It is what it is, sometimes I run out of breath so there’s always voices to fill in the gaps.

Munster: Also, having several members that sing at the same time must be a challenge too?

Nadine: well it kind of helps having those extra voices, as I said if I need to take a breath someone will fill in, it’s a good dynamic.

Munster: With several members singing, how has that translated live? Has it crossed over well from the studio to the stage?

Nadine: It’s worked really well live. Kerry has a really strong voice, and I’m still working on getting there, the amount of air you need in your lungs is important, which is hard when you’re doing something physical like playing drums. So its good having those voices sit together I guess.

Munster: There’s a great cover on the EP of a Incredible kidda Band song, Fighting my way Back, how did yoy discover that track?

Nadine: when we decided to start the band, and I think we weren’t in lockdown at that point, I was at my parents place in Bendigo, and our guitarist Joe, who lives in Castlemaine came over. We were listening to music, thinking what direction we wanted the band to be. We went down a YouTube rabbit hole of obscure power pop bands, playing each other songs, and that track came on, and we thought this is great, that’s the direction we want to go towards. Its kind of tough, really cool guitar line that sits on top of it, and great vocal harmonies. We thought it suited us well.

Munster: Which other obscure power pop should we know about?

Narine: during lockdown, Jim, my partner, introduced me to a band the Toms, we took a lot of inspiration from that LP. I think it was 1978, and it was this guy who had a free weekend and some studio time, and he recorded this LP on his own. Wrote all the songs, played all the instruments. Its kind of Beatles in the song writing sense, but the music sounds like late 70s power pop sound, so ticks all the boxes for me.

Munster: Really enjoyed the video for Wrong Side of Town that came out the other day, was that filmed in Frankston?

Nadine: yeah at the Pier in Frankston. We played there with the Cosmic Psychos a few months ago. I’ve never been there before, we walked in and the dance floor is a giant rotating record. It’s a bit of a time capsule actually. Bands like the Divinyls and the Angles, bands that influenced us played there, so we thought this would be a great space to film, and they said yeah go for it. I spoke to the director and sent him a few references, a few early Blondie clips, some Countdown clips, towing the line between cheesy but live clip, but also your miming, lots of lights and smoke machines.

Munster:  What’s next?

Nadine: Playing in Sydney this weekend. Actually doing a run of Shows with Civic in December, Geelong Frankston and Belgrave, just announced this week.

The Prize play Friday@thelansdowne Friday 28 October with @r.m.f.c.fanclub and the **RAMONES **

and Saturday 29 at the @enmore_hotel with Tee Vee Repairman.