New band alert! With their debut single recently released, UK three-piece PRSNRS will be one to keep an eye on. Guitarist Elliott took on our Headline Act questions…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We’re a bit spread out… I’m (Elliott) from South East London, Callum is from Kent and Aimi is up in the midlands.
How did you meet?
I’ve known Callum for years and years, we’ve sort of toyed with working on musical projects before in the past but “normal” life got in the way. Believe it or not, we found Aimi online and have never actually met her in person!
How long have you been playing as a band?
Since the start of February in our current form. PRSNRS initially was just going to be my solo project – I’d written a bunch of songs over a period of five or six years in my bedroom by myself, and was inspired during the first lockdown last year to re-record them all and release them as a solo thing. It was only after making a start on that that I realised I wanted to try and make it a band again, so I got in touch with Callum and got him on board, then we started looking for a singer, and here we are!
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
It was definitely lockdown inspired. Feeling like a prisoner in your own home, unable to go anywhere or do anything. It took a toll on everyone and while naming the band Prisoners wasn’t a conscious decision, I think it just came out naturally because of the nature of the last twelve months.
What are your influences?
I’d say musically our main influences are bands like Architects, Periphery, Deftones, Glassjaw, Northlane amongst others.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
I think one of the main things is the female vocalist. There aren’t many bands in the genre with female vocalists, obviously there are a couple of popular ones but the genre is still very male-dominated. It’s kinda stupid that that’s a thing, but it is.
Also, I guess I would say we’re a metalcore-ish band without necessarily sticking to the guidelines of what metalcore fans expect. If we want to put a big ambient or string section in a song, we will. If we don’t think a song needs a breakdown, we won’t put one in. We pretty much just write what we want to write and I think that makes us fairly unique.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Aimi: Anything that pisses me off in the moment I’m writing it I.e cheeky bit of slut shaming, postpartum anxiety, being moaned at by anyone for anything…
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What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
We have literally never ever played a gig. The joys of being a band formed during COVID. In fact, the entire lifetime of the band to this point has been fully within lockdown.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
I guess I’d say that I went to see Periphery a long time ago and their guitarist (Misha) swapped instruments and played drums for the encore. That was pretty cool. It was a ridiculous song and if I recall correctly he absolutely nailed it as well.
Or maybe just the entire experience of seeing Meshuggah live, that was pretty wild in and of itself…
Aimi says that hers was when a gigantic drunk greebo approached and tried to kiss her, and then proceeded to swipe his thumb along his jugular in a rather hostile yet clumsy manner.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
I play a few different guitar brands – Djently Does It was tracked with an Ormsby 7 string which I absolutely love, but I also have a couple of LTD’s and a Jackson Juggernaut which is just incredible. Most of the songs I’ve been writing recently are on the Ormsby (tuned real, real low) so that’s become my main guitar.
Callum has a couple of basses but his main squeeze is a sparkly blue Dingwall NG3 six-string. The thing is crazy.
The singles will probably all be tracked using plugins. We don’t have a drummer, so I write and programme all the drums, and the guitars and bass are tracked with amp sims. I’m a huge fan of the Neural DSP stuff so that’s what we used on Djently and probably everything else going forward.
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
At the moment, we’re just trying to build a fanbase and plug our first single.
What are your plans for the next 6 months or so?
We’re planning on releasing a new single every 6 to 8 weeks, and in between those, a decent amount of social media content – playthroughs, rig rundowns, song/riff dissections, behind the scenes recording stuff, etc., etc.
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If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
That’s a tough one. I think we’d probably be bottom of the bill considering we’ve only ever released one song but….
We Are Giants opening (and not just because Aimi’s partner is in the band, they’re really good), then us, and then Spiritbox (or Architects if they’re not too busy selling out arenas and stadiums around the globe….) That would be a SICK lineup.
Check out this month’s Headline Act Playlist on Spotify and YouTube
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