Portsmouth’s Prolong The Agony released their new EP ‘All We Are’ back in April, and we had a little chat with frontman Larry Welling to find out how everything’s been going since the release and what they’re most excited for this year.
Hey guys! How’s it going?
It’s going really good, we’ve never been busier and that’s how we like it!
You’re quite busy with touring over the summer – you played some shows in June, and you’re back out on the road in August. How are you feeling about it?
We are really excited for it! We’ll be playing loads of places we’ve never had the chance to before, so the opportunity to play to new faces is amazing!
If someone hadn’t seen you play before, what could they expect from your live show?
No messing around, just a high energy show! We love to get right up close to people and really engage with them. The connection you feel between stage and audience in the right atmosphere is amazing!
You released your ‘All We Are’ EP in April. How has it been going down?
Since our release we’ve had so much support it’s been incredible: it’s totally exceeded all our expectations already.  It has really been amazing to have such a warm welcome from magazines and websites! The real honour is when you see people shouting back the lyrics at our shows and really finding something in the music that relates to them. We’re massively grateful for that and we can’t wait to get our follow up album out there!
How would you describe your sound on the EP? Do you have any particular favourite tracks off it?
Our sound is a mixture of melodies and aggressive riffing. We wrote the songs with groove and with the intention of relating to a live audience.  One track that really seems to hit home with people is ‘Loved & Lost’: people almost always get involved with the lyrics and it’s often the point in our set that we feel we get to really express the extent of our song writing.
You’ve got some more shows and festival sets lined up for this summer. Are you looking forward to anything in particular?
We always look forward to playing any show, but in particular we’re very excited about Butserfest and getting to do the Isle of Wight Festival was awesome too. The people involved in these events are truly amazing and make huge efforts to help local music and that really should be applauded. We’re honoured to be part of what they’ve created.
What would you like to achieve most as a band? Where do you see yourselves in five years?
We have each sacrificed an awful lot in our lives to get to where we are at this moment, and we’re extremely grateful for everything we have. It’s been hard won! We do this for the love of music but it would be amazing to be able to make some kind of living from it. It’s the biggest thrill to be able to release music and play to people all over the country and we’d love to continue doing that, but we’d also love to return to the US and Europe sometime soon!
LAIS MW