Welcome to our first of our interviews from 2000trees, where we sit down with artists and bands who performed at this year’s edition of one of the UK’s finest festivals. On the Friday, we sat down with Stan (vocals), George (guitar/vocals) and Louis (bass) of Prodigal to discuss their debut at 2000trees, support from their scenes and their upcoming record.
It looked like you enjoyed that set earlier – I saw smiles coming up on your faces. How was it for you?
Stan: It was great. It’s just a lovely experience to be at a festival like this – to know they support the up-and-coming acts, you know? To be setting the tone for the day, and to take the time to soak that in. You get on stage, the nerves fade and you switch into that mode. That’s the magic.
Louis: 2000trees is just such a special festival. Every time I’ve come in the past – the bands that are up and coming, they always push them alongside the other bands. Really cool to see.
George: And it’s our most local festival, I think, to where we’re based. It was quite an honour to play – and to play The Cave stage as well, alongside some of our favourite bands. It’s a pretty unreal experience just to be on that same stage. We’re just really grateful we managed to get up there and do our thing.
“You get on stage, the nerves fade and you switch into that mode. That’s the magic.”
Stan, Prodigal
There were a lot of familiar faces down the front – people from the local shows and venues. How has having that local base in Cheltenham, and that support behind you, helped push you forward over the years?
George: Honestly, it’s been everything for us. The support we’ve had from so many different individuals in that scene has been instrumental. Just having people who want to be involved, who want to show their support and make it known that they’re there with you – it’s a really sick feeling.
Stan: It’s inspiring. The local grassroots scene, especially in Cheltenham, is really great – it’s buzzing, and it’s kept us inspired. It’s allowed these last couple of years of shows to be really exciting and kept us going. To be able to play 2000trees, and Bloodstock last year – we know we’re putting the work in to progress onto bigger and bigger stages. The grassroots in Cheltenham lot, that’s how we got to where we are.
There’s Stroud too – I know you played Prince Albert earlier in the year. When was that?
George: I remember it being really cold.
Are you all originally from Stroud?
Stan: Yeah – that’s where we’re based. We got our initial run of opportunities in Cheltenham but we are from Stroud. We claim that as our own, and we’re proud of it. It’s not a big scene, like you said, but there’s something special about it – it feels very creative, artistic.
Louis: I’m not from Stroud, but ever since I joined the band – all things Stroud. We recently played the Stroud Brewery, and that was sick. It’s a great scene.
So you cover pretty much everywhere around these parts.
Louis: We’re trying to branch out!
Stan: We’ll play the shows that come our way right now. We’re building an incredible team around us currently, and there’s a lot of things in the works. But right now, all we’re doing is staying creative, staying optimistic and driven, and playing the shows that come up.
You played with Car Underwater on Tuesday. You had an initial run of shows in London a while back, what’s the London backstory?
George: It’s a bit of a weird one. London – or the live music scene in London for up-and-coming bands can be quite deceiving. There are quite a few promoters that will get in contact with smaller bands and essentially just try and scam them out of ticket sales. They’ll offer you a great slot, and you think: sick, that’s amazing, good venue, the perfect chance to play a bigger city and make a mark. Then weeks before the show they’re calling you up: “why have you not sold X amount of tickets? We’re going to drop you, you’re not going to play“.
Stan: Honestly – for the rest of this music [scene], that’s catastrophic. It’s killing it. A lot of artists will head to London because you think that’s the place to be, the big city. That’s what we thought for our first year of gigging – we played a whole year in London when we very first started out. It was a great experience.
George: We did become very aware of those bigger companies who just churn through artists – making money, next one on. They couldn’t care less about the music.
Stan: Anyway,we love London – Johnny and I studied in London for five years. And we met a few incredible bands along the way that we now have connections with. One of them is Fanchon, an amazing new grunge-gaze band who we’re playing with next Saturday, the 17th, at The Victoria in Dalston. We’re really excited for that.
“For the rest of this music [scene], that’s catastrophic. It’s killing it.”
Stan, Prodigal
So last Tuesday was a nicer note to return to London on – playing with a Car Underwater who are playing with Bring Me The Horizon today and tomorrow.
George: Oh, absolutely. It was a step up in the tier of playing shows. We’re all really proud to just be up there doing our thing. And it’s nice to witness a band operating at full capacity, at their level – and be inspired by them.
Moving on to newer things, you’ve been playing a few new songs live, and it seems like you’re experimenting with your songwriting a bit more, doing more cleans. What does this new era of Prodigal look like – sonically, aesthetically?
Stan: Where we’re going is a lot darker. The territory we’re treading, we’re kind of going back to square one. Our music is a lot more tortured.
Is it more like “Rot”?
Stan: I wouldn’t say that, actually. It’s taken a sludgier turn. A heftier turn. And I think that’s the interesting thing about the singles we’ve released over the last couple of years – there are flavours of that in them, but this, for us, is back to square one. It’s a reset for the band, and an establishment of a real solid first step – a first body of work that is a statement. I’d sum it up by saying it’s tortured. That’s where we’re headed, and that’s what’s artistically emerging from us.
You’ve been dropping singles over the years and building the live shows – is this the point where recording and production take it up a level?
Stan: That’s definitely the step in where we’re wanting to go. We always want to replicate with our recorded music what we do live, what we’re about.
George: Our attitude as a band is mostly unchanged by external factors. We’ll meet up, we’ll play, we’ll write, and we have the same goals. The means of getting to those goals – that’s different now. It doesn’t change our sound, it doesn’t change how we record. We’re still experimenting – and if we have more resources to experiment, it’s only for the benefit of the music.
“There is something imminently coming – that’s something everyone can know for sure.”
Stan, Prodigal
You’ve begun teasing the next record – you’ve had some merch out with “Fade Into Glamour” that’s also on Instagram. What can people expect in terms of timing – this year, next year, soon?
George: Our plan is to drop an EP this year containing some really raw, brutal songs – some of which are in our set currently and aren’t out anywhere but hopefully soon they will be.
Stan: And following that, we’ll go back to the lab again. What we know is that we’re going to keep on keeping on. There is something imminently coming – that’s something everyone can know for sure. An established first step for the band is imminent, and we’re all really excited.
On a slight tangent – you’ve got people online, especially over in America, who absolutely love Prodigal. The Nu Metal Agenda guys, for example. Is there a story behind that? Did you just open Instagram one day and there’s this account shouting you out?
George: It was quite a while ago now. We released the song “Forever//Forgot”, and – I don’t know exactly how Kurt came across it, it was on Instagram, I don’t know what post – but once he’d found it, it was like he’d adopted a child. He took it and absolutely ran with it, pushing it everywhere, talking to everybody about it. It was instrumental in stepping us up to another level – having a large account like his, in the community we’re trying to be a part of (and are a part of), single that song out.
Stan: He ranked it in his top 100 nu metal songs of all time. And then last year it was second in the nu metal songs of the year.
George: First next year… he’s been absolutely huge for us, and the relationship we’ve built with him since dropping “Forever//Forgot” has been amazing.
Stan: His love for the genre, the dedication – he’ll send us some deep-cut stuff and we’re like, what the hell? He’s so dedicated to that specific lane of music, and he’s built this huge account off the love of that thing. The fact that he took a shine to “Forever//Forgot” is amazing. We’re really grateful for him and everything he does for that community.
George: Just shout out to Kurt, man. He’s such a lovely guy. He lives and breathes it.
I feel like that’s the thing – people make noise about “this band over here”, and that draws other people in wanting to be part of it. Next question: you’ve done Bloodstock, you’ve done 2000trees. What’s the festival – or festivals – you’re like, “we want to play that one”?
Louis: Definitely Download. ArcTanGent. Slam Dunk would be cool. Outbreak, definitely. That’s off the top of my head – honestly, all of them. Give us all of them!
Stan: We want to put our thing out there and hopefully create a new strain of heavy s***.
And finally – I know Louis is off to see Bring Me The Horizon. Have the rest of you seen any bands today, or who’s on the list for this weekend?
George: Today’s been a bit of a – we played our set at 11, so everything leading up to that is getting ready, and after that it’s recovering. For the rest of the weekend, Reclus.É is one.
Stan: I really love Reclus.É, tomorrow. Thistle, Overgrown, Marmozets, definitely Marmozets.
Bodyweb? – I feel like you and Bodyweb on a tour together would be perfect.
Stan: Hell yeah. And we just saw Knives before this – they were epic. Those kinds of connections are 100% on the agenda for us. It’s amazing to be in an environment like this, because you can walk about and you’ll be damn sure you’ll run into something special.
George: The world is our oyster.
