“A British melting pot of infectious vocals, catchy guitars and heavy rhythms” – Left Lion Magazine
My first encounter with Lee was him running into the interview, with no sign of Kieran, saying he’d “escaped him” as he didn’t want to be late and Kieran had “clipped some guys car on the way in” and almost gotten ran over by a city bus while walking down. As Kieran soon scrambled through the door, my initial reaction was to ask if himself and the car he’d driven into was intact; his response being, “Yeah, it barely brushed it. Serves him right for having such a sh*t car”… With an ice-breaker like this, I thought, “Yeah, I like these guys!”
Formed almost exactly a year ago, Prime have travelled all across the country, sharing their music among various venues. Over the past year, Prime have released a series of singles, accompanied by videos on a few, on a range of different platforms that have built up an audience with their shared love for “classic-rock” (Lee Heir).
On the 2nd of February, Tune Crush teamed up with Lee Heir (Lead Vocalist) and Kieran Hill (Lead Guitarist) of the post-punk, five-piece, to talk about Prime and the things they had in store for us this year.
Cate Talks with Lee and Kieran
In the October of 2016, Prime added a new bass player to the scene, Daniel Ison, due to slight controversy between Prime and the previous bassist. Since then, Prime had also gained Kieran as the lead guitarist. Both playing with exceptional musicianship, Daniel and Kieran have become perfect assets for the band.
What caused you to get a new bassist?
“Well, Chris was like a family member of the band, but we (Lee) just had a bit of a falling out really. We’re on speaking terms now, but we were pretty much best friends. It was just a mixture of personal issues and a mixture of creative issues, but we did work well together.”
In regards to new releases, what do you have in store for us this year?
(Lee) “We’ve got a single called ‘Bye Bye’, which you can hear on a few bits ‘n’ bobs, and that’s coming out on March 24th, with a new video. We’ve got a video recorded at O2 in Sheffield, too, so we have some live footage of that to mix in with some ‘road footage’ – as we’re going to Cardiff next week.”
Being an active band, they have consistently shown their faces among various cities, to make a Prime-shaped mark on the stages of multiple venues; however feel they want to play “Nottingham a bit less, as you can only play so many times” in the same venues (Lee).
Do you play in Nottingham, often?
(Lee) “Yeahh, we got to play Spankys for the first time recently and we’ve got another one coming up with Space, the 90’s band. So we’re just trying to play some better venues, really.”
Taking a lot of influence from punk-rock bands such as The Clash – with Joe Strummer having a “big influence” on Lee – Prime have primarily been defined as a punk-rock band over the course of their gigging days; however, Lee and Kieran feel as though they’ve taken more of an influence from classic-rock techniques.
Ignoring other people’s description of Prime, what would you define your music as?
“I’d say (Kieran) we’re more on the classic-rock side as punk’s all good ‘n’ stuff, as you can pump up the volume and bang out a few chords, but I’d say we’re a little bit more in depth than that. We sit down and think about the lyrics and the music, [..] to develop our ideas more.”
“Yeah, I think (Lee) the main influence that comes from classic-rock is probably the backing vocal side, because I don’t think much ‘punky’ stuff has got particularly intricate backing vocals, really.”
What would you say Prime’s quirk is?
“I think (Lee) we just come to entertain really, when we play live-”
(Kieran) “Yeah, I’d say – good music – but we’re also a good live band to watch, I think… I might be completely wrong, but […] we try to steer away from just standing up and playing-”
(Lee) “If you’re just stood there as four people playing, your songs have really got to be excellent, haven’t they?”
Being an ensemble filled with members of a wide variety of ages – unlike many other bands – Prime feel as though the age-gap between certain members compliments the music they produce, due to the “younger influence” bringing “different possibilities” into the band (Lee).
What do you feel makes a successful band?
(Lee) “Just because you’ve got four or five amazing musicians, it doesn’t mean you’ve got an amazing band; it’s the mixture of people.
A Nottingham-based band called Vanity Box mentioned the same thing during an interview, too. Their previous drummer knew more about drumming, but didn’t suit the band as much as their current drummer, Paul–
“Yeah, we played with Vanity Box, at a very early gig, once, but they just struck me as one of those bands who wouldn’t really stick around and watch another group. They were a bit aloof and up their own a*s.
I think you’ll find that there’s people who are in it to help other bands and make each others music better, then there’s people like that, who are just clearly in it for themselves, really.”
Who would you say are your favourite bands in the local Nottingham-scene?
“I’m (Lee) a massive fan of Daniel Ison’s solo stuff, I think he’s a really original songwriter. I really like Unknown Era, a Ska band, too. I’m really close friends with a band called Zadkiel. Dan, who sings with them, is a really good guy; he’s one of my best friends on the music scene. The Varletts are really good, we enjoyed playing with them.”
(Kieran) “Yeah, The Shrives are good, too, a really nice group of lads.”
How do you go about your creative process?
“I (Kieran) usually tend to just sit down and jam something out. That’s a bit of a starting point. Then I’ll send it over to Lee, on my phone, and he adds some sort of vocals on the top. […] It’s so much easier to do it with just the two of you, as, if something needs to be changed, it can be changed quickly, which makes it a lot more efficient. The end result is usually a lot better, that way, too.”
As a songwriter, Lee “doesn’t see the point in doing anything else” other than writing songs relevant to topics important to him; however, states he’ll “often stick in a silly line” that’ll make him laugh, but is always trying to “make an observation of something”.
(Lee) “We’ve got a song that we’ll always open up with called Teen TV, and that’s just a statement of fame, really. It just takes the p*ss out of the fact a performer shouldn’t be afraid of being massively popular – they shouldn’t be afraid to embrace fame, or anything like that. There’s nothing worse than a performer who almost apologizes for being famous.”
Like What You’ve Read?
To check out more Prime, follow the link to their Facebook page and give them a like, to keep up to date with latest gig and release dates! Find them also on a range of platforms, via, iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and SoundCloud!
Prime, Teen TV
Signature Courtesy of Elliestrations
Tune Crush 