Interview: PROSPECT

What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today?

We’ve all loved music all our lives. And when you love music, you typically pick up an instrument at one point. Then you start a band with your friends, and you have lots of fun! For me it’s always been the feeling of playing together with other people. And when you perform in front of an audience... The adrenaline skyrockets!

But we all have “normal” jobs, so the music thing is just a side hustle right now. I guess if we never had gotten into music we would be working our jobs, just with a lesser spark in life.

What do you like to do when you're not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?

Usually, when we’re not playing music, we’re listening to it. Exploring genres, listening to new bands or artists. It’s truly amazing how many great musicians there’s out there. It sparks our interest, you know? Listening for all the discrete details that the artists put in their songs. So we could hear a song with a fat drum beat, a kickass guitar riff, and vocals that sends shivers down your spine (in a good way) and think; “Woah! I want to do that!” It’s hard to explain, but you could say that our creativity is influenced by what we are listening to, and who we are as individuals.

On other occasions, we get it by gathering at someone's home with lots of beers, and a long night of singing our brains out.

How long has your band been around?

The band had its start in 2017. We have played music with each other in different projects before, but the band became “Prospect” in 2017. The current bass player (Andreas) joined in 2019, and the current rhythm guitar player (Magnus) joined in 2020.

Where are you based out of and how did that influence your music?

We’re based out of a small town in the middle of Norway, called Verdal. It’s the hometown of most members, so we have a lot of affiliation with the place. It holds many memories and stories, we have family and friends here, and it’s a place with lots of culture and historical importance. But it’s not the biggest rock scene here. And that was a factor when we decided on what direction to go. Our music is kind of heavy (relatively speaking), but we also wanted it to be groovy, catchy, and to have a sing-along factor.

How did you come up with the name of your band and what does it mean to you?

The name was suggested by the previous bass player of the band. It was one of many suggestions, but the rest liked it and it kinda stuck. We feel like the name represents us and what we’re here to accomplish.

Tell me about the best and worst shows you have played. I think the best show we’ve ever played was when we were support for the legendary Norwegian band “Backstreet Girls”. They’ve been in the rock ‘n’ roll game for a long time, so it was really cool playing with them, watching their performance, meeting them, and just having an amazing night. It’s one of the largest crowds we’ve played for too! They seemed to really like us, and we got many new fans that day.

It’s hard to pinpoint the worst gig, though. We’ve had a few that didn’t go so well (in our opinion at least). One of the weirder ones was definitely the live stream concert we had just after the pandemic hit. It felt so weird to play a full gig, when the audience was just a bunch of cameras.

Tell me about your favorite venue to play at, and do you have any places you want to play that you haven't already?

There’s this bar in Trondheim called “Good Omens”. We really feel like home there, and it’s definitely the venue we’ve played the most. But we do of course dream of going a bit further from home.

If you could play any show with any lineup, who would be on the ticket?

Mötley Crüe, Airbourne and Kvelertak.

What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into playing in a band?

Do it because you think it’s fun. And be patient, as things can be a bit slow at first.

If you could go back in time and give yourselves advice, what would it be?

Practice more.

Of your songs which one means the most to you and why?

For me (Andreas) it’s a song on the new record called “Bombshell”. It’s a song I wrote a long time ago, even before I joined the band. I’ve had that song in my head for so long, and to finally get to listen to it is a fantastic feeling! I’m so pleased with the way it turned out, and I’m glad we took our time with that one. It took a few tries and revisions to get it right. But when we got it right, we knew.

Which songs are your favorite to play and which get requested the most?

I think we all really enjoy playing the fast songs live. There’s just so much energy and adrenaline. And we can see the crowd really dig it. But the one that’s most requested is probably a song from our first album called “Plug ‘n’ Play”. It was released as a single but was re-recorded for the album. It has a great chorus to sing along to, so it’s fun to play when the crowd joins in!

What is the creative process for the band, and what inspires you to write your music?

We usually start with a riff and go from there. Maybe we’ll jam for a while, and suddenly we land on something that doesn’t sound half bad and work on that. It differs from day-to-day, and we all like to contribute when we write songs. Sometimes one of us has an idea for a whole song, or maybe just a specific part. Listening to lots of different music inspires us to write our own.

What kinds of messages do you like to get across in your music?

To let loose, rock out, and have fun.

Do you ever have disagreements in your band, and how do you get past them?

We do have our disagreements, as most bands probably do. We’re like an old married couple, but there’s five of us. We usually just talk it through, find a compromise, or just get really annoyed for a while. Then someone says something stupid, we all laugh, and we’re back at it.

What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that's coming up?

We have an album coming up in August! Friday the 13th we release our second album “All Bets Are Off”. It will be available on all streaming services, as well as physical copies on vinyl. On the day after (August 14th) we’re hosting a release concert on one of the most famous stages in Trondheim: Rockheim.

There are also a few other gigs coming up this fall. And who knows? Maybe there’s some more cool stuff coming.