Prag Are About to Put Europe in a Headlock

Photos: Jess Dee

One of the best Melbourne punk shows of 2014 took place on a Sunday afternoon at Catfood Press during the Maggot Fest weekend in November. On a bill that included Botox, Gentlemen and Brisbane’s Unpeople, Prag stepped up in the crammed room and proceeded to blow everyone’s brains apart with their corybantic take on wild Japanese and European hardcore.

Sporting large bruises on his forehead, vocalist Jon Worpole spent most of the set lurching at the crowd and the Perth band’s frenzied style added extra agitation to the many ugly hangovers from the night before. There was a lot of shoving and sprayed beer.

Though more than half of them now call Melbourne home, the band will reunite in Europe in January to embark on a 20 plus date tour. As well as having their first 7" released on UK label La Vida Es Un Mus Discos and Adelaide’s No Patience, 2015 is shaping up to be a busy year for the band.

Just before he boarded a plane for Antwerp, we had a chat with Worpole about the upcoming 7” and tour.

Noisey: Most Australian bands look to the US for tours. Why are you heading to Europe?
Jon Worpole: We’ve had ongoing ties with European labels since very early in the piece. Our demo cassette was re released as a 7” by German label, Crucificados Pelo Sistema, and the new EP is about to come out on La Vida Es Un Mus Discos. We've been really pleased to work with labels of this quality and wanted to get over to their neck of the woods, meet the blokes, and play shows in what is an exciting contemporary scene.

The second reason is a stylistic one. We all have ties to and enjoy USHC, but Prag mainly draws from 80s European punk; Scandi shit, and Italian and Spanish hardcore; for this reason heading to European took precedence. The 80s might be long gone, but there are a shit ton of current European bands that we wanted to play with, particularly the current UKHC scene, which is going great guns now.

You are playing with some killer bands including DiE, No, Piss and Perspex Flesh. Are there any shows in particular that you are looking for?
Personally, I'm most excited about our London show with DiE. They kill it on record, and apparently do the same live. Something about their mix of SSD and early Discharge makes me very excited.

Some of you have relocated to Melbourne. How is the band set up nowadays?
With the Internet, it's amazing what can be achieved. Prag is mainly organised through a shared dropbox account and regular conference calls. Truth be told, it's a bit of a nightmare for an active band. Right now, myself, Mikey James and I live in Melbourne, and Pat is in Perth. This is a temporary arrangement and we will all be living in Victoria in 2015.

You played a blinder at Catfood Press during the Maggot Fest weekend. What are shows like in Perth compared to Melbourne?
Cheers! Perth shows have the capacity to be every bit as wild as anywhere else, perhaps more so. There's a small group of local weirdos that can make any Perth show an excellent bloody mess, it just depends how much they've had to drink on the night.

La Vida Es Un Mus Discos described you as a Germs style vocalist. What do you think of the Darby Crash comparison?
I love Darby, so I will happily take that! There's plenty of snot and gristle to the Prag vocals so that's a fair comparison.

If you are in Europe during January, check Prag at one of these shows:
Jan 2 – Antwerp at JC Den Eglantier Berchem
Jan 3 – London at Power Lunches with Die and No
Jan 4 – Sheffield at Lughole with No and Slur
Jan 5 – Leeds at Meatlocker with No and Perspex Flesh
Jan 6 – Bristol at the Red Lion with No and Artifact
Jan 7 – Paris at Gambetta Club
Jan 8 – Bordeaux
Jan 9 – Errenteria with Aguirre and Gaitze
Jan 10 – Barcelona
Jan 11 - Barcelona at Los Blokes Fantasma with Active Minds and Pinen
Jan 12 – Lyon
Jan 13 - Tübingen at Epplehaus with Nakam
Jan 14 - Hannover at Stumpf with GAU
Jan 15 - Kassel – Privat
Jan 16 - Basel at Hirscheneck with Suicidas and Trance
Jan 17 - Milan at T 28 with Piss and Sgurd
Jan 18 – Zagreb at Attack with Piss and Bosonogo Djetinjstvo
Jan 19 - Budapest
Jan 20 – Vienna at Ekh with Piss, Suicidas and Trance
Jan 21 – Prague at 007 with Piss and Hlinomaz
Jan 22 – Leipzig at Zoro with Piss
Jan 23 - Nünchritz
Jan 24 - Berlin
Jan 25 – Malmo
Jan 26 - Stockholm
Jan 27 - Oslo
Jan 28 – Gothenburg
Jan 29 - Copenhagen
Jan 30 - Hamburg
Jan 31 – Munster

Their 7" will be available in January through La Vida Es Un Mus and Nopatience Records.