Interview: Prime Circle

Despite only coming out recently, Prime Circle’s latest album, Jekyll & Hyde, has already achieved gold status in South Africa. Sergio had a quick chat with bassist Marco Gomes about the new album, breaking the international market and doing things differently.

The term Jekyll & Hyde implies two different personalties. Is that how you feel about your new release?

That’s exactly what we’re trying to imply. As Prime Circle, we’ve always played it safe. We’ve written good songs, but also good radio songs – if I can put it that way. This record has shown a more rockier side of the band. We’ve decided to show our fans that we’re still Prime Circle – and we haven’t changed – but at the same time give them a new flavour of what we can do. We are a rock band at the end of the day, not a commercial radio band.

One of the special editions of Jekyll & Hyde features a DVD with footage from Prime Circle’s tour of India. How was that tour? Was it a complete culture shock?

We’ve been to India twice. The first time around we really didn’t expect anybody to be at our shows, because – it’s a lovely country – but it has got a lot of poverty. But we got a big shock; the rock scene is huge in that country and it’s growing! They’re the kind of crowd that once you perform there and they hear your music, they love you.

Even though you’ve had major success in South Africa, Prime Circle have struggled to make a mark on the international circuit. Why do you think this is so?

It’s two things. Firstly, the band wasn’t ready. We’ve had the privilege of seeing and performing live with international bands, and they’re very professional – from their crew to everything – and I don’t think Prime Circle were quite there at the time, but we’re ready now. Secondly, this time around, the album is a truer reflection of who we are. Production is a huge thing. You don’t want to sound better than the album or the album to sound better than you – you want both to be on par. We’ve always had the problem of never portraying ourselves properly on our albums and then people would come see the band live…I mean the albums were lovely, but they didn’t sell the band the way they probably should’ve. This time around, we’ve managed to capture the good live feel.

So is Jekyll & Hyde the album that is going to break you into the international market?

We hope and believe this is the album. We didn’t hold back in any way on the songwriting, production, artwork down to everything– we went all out as much as we could’ve. We feel it is on par with any international album and this will definitely be the one to take us over.

As you look back on your career, is there anything you would’ve done differently?

You do make mistakes. Ten years ago with the first record deal we signed, we were just so eager to get signed and hear our songs on radio that we didn’t get the right legal advice or people involved that we should’ve. Some of those things we did back then still play a huge role in our lives today. I would’ve changed that – and to be a bit more streetwise in this industry.

- Sergio Pereira
sergio@musicreview.co.za
www.twitter.com/MusicReviewZA
Join MusicReview on Facebook