Prinze George
Interview by Alex Teitz
Prinze George is a 3 piece pop band from Maryland. Kenny Grimm, Naomi Almquist and Isabelle De Leon. The group began generating buzz last year. They released their debut album Illiterate Synth Pop this year on Sounds Expensive. They had a headlining tour and festival appearances this summer. Prinze George’s music is an addictive mix of charging drum and guitar synthed into something more. This interview was conducted via e-mail to include all members.
FEMMUSIC: Can you describe your songwriting technique; How does a song form within the group?
Kenny: It’s different every time, usually I start with a production idea with a beat and bring in to the group. Sometimes, Isabelle lays down keys and we work together on beats. We try to keep it open.
Isabelle: A lot of times Kenny and Naomi start an idea, because they are always together. When they start an idea first, it actually makes it easy for me to lay down drum parts separately. It really is different every time; sometimes I lay down a progression and we build a song together from the ground up when we find time to be together in the same place.
Naomi : I have my corner for the most part with writing vocals/lyrics, but my role bleeds over a bit too, like Kenny and Isabelle’s. There have been times when I write a hook on the piano and show it to
Kenny, and then he builds a whole sonic landscape around it. Sometimes Isabelle jams on the drum pad while Kenny jams on beats with his production software. We do check in with each other a lot while we are creating, and like to make several strong ideas at a time instead of focusing too much time on one song, mainly because the time the three of us can all create together is limited.
FEMMUSIC: What was the biggest challenge making Illiterate Synth Pop?
K: I think we tried to evolve sonically with this record from our previous releases; we just really wanted more live elements. It was the first time we were combining electronic drums with acoustic drums, so that took some time to figure out.
I: Post production, but also in the sense of perfecting each part and selecting the songs that fit the best together. It was challenging to remain patient regarding the timeline of release, especially because the time between tracking everything and the album’s actual release was long.
N: The biggest challenge I noticed in making this record was in post production. Kenny and I just agonized over every single song in the mixing process and it took a really long time to get it right.
FEMMUSIC: What experience or experiences stood out the most in making Illiterate Synth Pop?
K: Entering our manager’s house where we made the record for the first time was really inspiring. I was exhausted, but we entered this massive house with an Airstream that had a control room inside of it and synths everywhere. It was the first time I had ever gone somewhere just to record an album, so that was really exciting.
I: I agree with what Kenny said; it was very much a retreat for us and getting to be in that amazing space with the purpose of recording an album was so inspiring and definitely made for a productive first week. Whenever we are there we relive that week and feel lots of emotions because of how memorable that first week was.
N: I was definitely excited about the house, especially the Airstream, because I got to record all of my vocals in there. I think tracking vocals in the Airstream with Evan was the experience that stood out the most for me; not just because of the physical space but also because of the space that existed between Evan and I during that process. He really pushed me to do my best takes; there were all these private moments occurring between us in the studio and we were complete strangers at the beginning of that week. Evan wasn’t uncomfortable asking me what these songs were about and he wasn’t uncomfortable with my answers. He didn’t dwell on shit either, he just asked, listened, and kept telling me to go back there. It was really cathartic for me and our exchanges definitely made the vocal performances what they are on this record.
FEMMUSIC: How was it working with Evan Bakke? What did you like?
K: We met Evan the first night we got to our manager Nate’s house. Nate had hired Evan to track everything for us while we made the record. Since Evan has a lot of experience recording live rock bands and “Prince”, recording the drums with him was great because he had a very live approach to tracking, opposed to a super produced/studio approach. Evan was also able to get rough mixes together of each song almost immediately after we’d tracked everything, which allowed us to conceptualize what we wanted the final versions to sound like from the beginning.
I: The first time we met Evan, we didn’t realize he was the actual engineer. Evan is really young and very laid back, and didn’t make any formal introductions, so we didn’t know he was our guy for the first couple hours. He just started setting stuff up and we just assumed he was a friend of Nate’s, because Nate always has people coming through the house. We didn’t expect the engineer to be so down to earth. What I really liked about working with Evan is that he pushed us to do our very best takes. As a drummer, that was a new experience for me. We would keep going until we had a take that we both liked, instead of just letting OK takes slide by like I have in the past with other engineers.
N: I like that he doesn’t waste time in the studio, but he’s also silly and fun. He’s straightforward and professional and ruthless about getting everyone’s best work out of them. Also see above answer.
FEMMUSIC: Why did you sign with “Sounds Expensive”? What benefits does it bring?
K: “Sounds Expensive” is a label run by our manager; he outsources all the services of a normal label himself. It’s essentially like having everything a label offers, but without having to give away a lot of ownership and gives us the ability to maintain creative control over our music. At the end of the day, were very good friends with Nate and completely trust him to do his job and lead us in a good direction.
I: The benefits of signing with “Sounds Expensive” are that we have that credibility to our name that a label gives you, but going the independent route as far as being able to control a lot of aspects in the creative process is invaluable. When we first met Nate, we were impressed not only by his experience, but also by the effort he put into helping us out even before we had officially signed with him. Another benefit of being signed with a label like “Sounds Expensive” is that we have reassurance knowing that Nate and the rest of our team believe in us and are working to promote our music; which allows us to focus on creating.
N: Signing with “Sounds Expensive” was the right fit for us. Its nice to be able to just answer to Nate and not have to deal with a bunch of middlemen when making creative decisions. We’ve also learned that especially when you are a newly signed artist, it’s very common at label’s to encounter a loss of coordination within the same label between one office to another, which can waste a lot of time and jeopardize releases; no matter how “impressive” the label is. We feel good about “Sounds Expensive” because we feel good about Nate; he’s highly experienced and motivated and never tries to change us or the music; which is everything.
FEMMUSIC: I was reading about Naomi & Kenny’s project “Kin Heads” in a prior interview, how has the music changed since then and what changes would you still like to make?
K: “Kin Heads” was actually our former band that included Isabelle and two other members. It was a rock band, with only minimal synths on the recordings. The ways I’d like for us to grow sonically in “Prinze George” mainly involve adding instruments while preserving the sound that it is now.
I: Yeah I was actually in “Kin Heads too, which is how I met Kenny and Naomi. For me, coming from a primarily rock/pop/jazz background, “Prinze George” brought me a new challenge in that writing drum parts wasn’t just about technicalities, but supporting the production as a whole. The drumming that I do for “Prinze George” seems a lot “simpler”, but its a good way for me to think about composing a piece of work holistically and adding textures and sounds as needed. The three of us have a lot of different influences in our writing and we keep it pretty open, so I wouldn’t particularly say that there are changes I want to make to the music, more of discovering ways we can continue growing and fusing our influences.
N: I agree with them. I think we have established a sound on this record that we’d like to keep intact, but I’d also like to keep playing with and adding new instruments to compositions and continue to grow together as a band, which will intrinsically affect the music.
FEMMUSIC: As women in the music industry, have you been discriminated against?
N: In subtle ways, yeah. I’ve gotten comments a few times at venues during sound check, when the house engineer can’t figure out how to get the balance right with everything were doing and its always a dude, and he usually says “well, you sing really soft, so thats why the mic is feedbacking and we are having trouble getting the right balance.” Most of the time its a non issue, because the sound engineers are good and they can figure it out like they do for every other band that plays their venue, but I doubt that they say that shit to male singers. Even if they do, I am not a male singer. We have different anatomy; I can’t smoke and scream night after night and hit the range of notes that I have to hit in a performance. At the end of the day though, I am a white woman who’s business partner is a white man, so I don’t worry about being heard. Besides, all that matters to me is getting shit done. Half the time I go through Kenny to translate or just verbalize to certain men what it is I’m trying to say; which I have found to be highly effective and efficient!
I: I wouldn’t say I’ve been discriminated against in the sense of feeling excluded or restricted from something, but I have felt a different set of expectations that I think, if not met, can ultimately lead to discrimination against women in the industry. Being a female drummer, you have to prove that you’re capable of playing in the first place, then you have to be better than average to be acceptable. I’ve encountered people who express disbelief in my ability to play until they see me get up on stage and perform, and I’ve also had people tell me that I’m “not just a good girl drummer, but an actual good drummer.” There are definitely different standards for women musicians on a technical level, and then there’s also pressure to have an image, specifically to be hot, dress sexy, etc. I don’t think my fellow male drummers encounter that type of skepticism regarding their abilities, and you definitely don’t hear people categorizing “male drummers.” I will say that I’ve been extremely lucky with the amazing support system I’ve had with my family and mentors, where those kind of objections don’t really bother me, especially since I’ve dealt with it my whole life, so I’m more than grateful to be where I’m at, doing what I do.
FEMMUSIC: Who would you most like to collaborate with?
K: Probably The National.
I: Beyonce.
N: Jack White.
FEMMUSIC: What would you change about music industry?
K: I wish streaming services made artists more money. It’s really tricky because its really good for the consumer, but not as good for the artists. Right now, Spotify is the best way to get people to listen to your music immediately; if you make it on a Spotify playlist its excellent exposure, but you don’t make hardly anything per stream.
I: Transparency. I know so many talented musicians and artists who have been at it for so long and have not had the “break” in their career that they deserve. I feel like the music industry is such a nebulous, confusing place where people don’t know how to get the next level and have to figure it out on their own. I wish there were resources that serious artists could access in order to get that information and guidance about how to take the next steps.
N: I would love to see Top 40 radio not controlled by the gatekeepers that only allow the same shit to play all the time. Its great that we have stations like Sirius XM and others that play alternative music and independent artists, but getting played on Sirius XM doesn’t catapult your career into the next level when you are starting out. It sucks that you ultimately have to go through a major label to get played on the biggest stations, because it makes it so political and not about the quality of the music. It can also stunt musical progress and evolution because Top 40 radio still has the biggest reach/ most clout in effecting tour and album sales, so there are tons of “accomplished” writers stuck in a time warp trying to make a thousand versions of the same song because it pays so well. It’s really depressing.
I saw Prinze George play live in San Diego – they were so good. They are going to be huge! So talented! Keep making awesome music you three!!!