Getting to Know… Prime (UK Band) | Interview

For the 25^th interview in The Musical Hype series ‘Getting to Know…,’ Lee Heir of Prime provides some awesome insight into the UK band. 

“We’re just ourselves, take us or leave us, and we set out to entertain. We’re rough and exciting, and we play the music we want to play, not what’s fashionable.”  Sigh, those are honest and wise words from the UK band Prime, a band known for “powerful rock with blues, punk and rock ‘n’ roll influences.” Notts TV’s Mark Del describes them as “a band you must check out live… Lead singer Lee is as compelling a front man as you will see.” That’s some pretty sweet praise.

We are honored to have Prime, specifically singer Lee Heir, as our featured interviewee for The Musical Hype’s 25^th ‘Getting to Know…’ interview.  Hey, 25 is a special age, anniversary, and number in general, so we’ve got a pretty special band to help us celebrate ;). Lee Heir provides us with some awesome insight into the band, including the benefits of a revolving lineup musically, musical influences, and some fun tidbits as well. Without further ado, here is Getting to Know… Prime – Interview #25!

Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype (BF): Let’s get this started off right. For those who may not be familiar with you, what would you say makes Prime distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

Lee Heir, Prime (Lee): We’re just ourselves, take us or leave us, and we set out to entertain. We’re rough and exciting, and we play the music we want to play, not what’s fashionable. We’re proud of bringing that punky influence into play, but we’re not one note, we mix in influences from rock, blues, soul, ska and funk.

BF: Awesome, awesome! Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did Prime form and what were some of the goals or the visions you had as a band early on?

Lee: I’d already recorded some tracks on our first mini-album Before the After in 2014 and was looking for the right people to take the band forward onto the live scene. After stumbling around with people who weren’t right, I met Chris Munton, and after me amusing him by laying into a local blues rock band that we both knew, we got on like a house on fire. Prime had a launch for the project in Nottingham, but the guitarist we had at the time walked out on the night, with a busy crowd waiting downstairs, after a disagreement with a journalist friend who wrote for a fanzine that I printed, and almost came to blows. Finally, in early 2015 we were ready to roll with a strong group of guys. There was no real vision for the band, we just wanted to make good guitar music on our own terms.

BF: Let’s talk more about goals. Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

Lee: I think my perspectives have changed in the way that I work with musicians. At our level, unless you’re doing covers or touring and making a shit-ton of money, you have to be quite savvy, and I think when I started out, I was quite naïve and gave too much sway to negative influences in the band. Now, I give time to people who show me some respect for the work that I’ve put in so far and want to work within the foundations that have been laid down. People who don’t want to gig and complain at the smallest setback don’t have much sway with me anymore.

BF: Great words of wisdom there. Moving on, everybody is influenced by somebody else. Who would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

Lee: Oh, we’ve had so many over the years, and I think us having a revolving lineup at times has helped bring in different styles, from garage punk, to prog, to harmony stuff. My big influences are powerful, honest songwriters like Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen, but then the early stuff on the “Art/Facts” compilation has the hallmarks of The Clash, The Stones and T Rex in there too, especially on the vocal front.

BF: Cool! Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.

Lee: Oh, lots of mad stuff. An outtake from “Art/Facts” that didn’t get included had our bassist answering a call at the o2 Academy in Leicester from his girlfriend who had gotten lost nearby, then going on to tell her “I’m onstage… at the o2… in Sheffield.” Quite amusing. We’ve had speakers blow above the stage at shows I’ve booked, equipment fall apart, our drummer kicking over a drum kit at a charity event then squaring up to the owner of said drum kit… the list goes on.

BF: WOW. Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

Lee: “In Summer”, which is the opening track of “Art/Facts”, has the most resonance for me, as lyrically, it represents what I’m about as a person the most, I think. It’s probably the catchiest song I’ve written, if not the most original, as people have said it has an Echo and the Funnymen or New Order vibe to it. But it tells a real story. That’s why I chose the title, “Art/Facts”, because we always pride ourselves on writing honest songs.

BF: Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

Lee: I have the amazing ability to sing ANY song in the style of Elvis.

BF: Closing this thing out, what is Prime currently working on that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure. 

Lee: We’ve been gathering some lovely acoustic material, and there are a couple of songs in there that I’d like to put together as part of a new acoustic release, hopefully in June. There’s also some rocky stuff that needs developing and I can’t wait to get that finished. One new track I shall be singing at the o2 in Leicester when we get the chance to rock out with my good pal Chris Bramley from there. He has a lot of talent and I’d love to record one of his new numbers too.

BF: Thank you so much for sharing taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward. 

Lee: My pleasure, I enjoyed it.

Some Announcements from Prime:

“Art/Facts” 2014 – 2018 is out now – see www.facebook.com/ukprime, www.instagram.com/primeukband, and their new website www.primeband.co.uk for details.

Lee performs at the o2 Academy Leicester alongside Chris D Bramley and TRAPS on March 2nd 2019. https://open.spotify.com/album/2GocqlOhEgW5hoL4exwxrJ

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