In Conversation With.. Prussia Snailham
For those who know very little about you, who and what is Prussia Snailham?
Prussia: I’m a lady from Bristol, Fishponds, raised in Dumfries, doonhamer style.
‘Prussia Snailham’ doesn’t fall under a particular bracket – each song has its own identity and pulse – elements of orchestral-pop, jazz, hip-hop, avant-garde and minimalism; with trippy, cyclical piano and robust percussion – set to a mournful yet encouraging narrative through ghostly lyrics/vocals which are often dripping in reverb. I call my music ‘hopelessly hopeful’.
You are both very competent musicians. Do you recall when you first picked up your instrument?
Prussia: Remember in primary when you got to choose an instrument to learn? Well, I chose the violin and immediately sucked at it. I persevered for a few years before I accidentally stumbled onto the piano when I was 15. I took to piano playing really quickly – I taught myself by learning compositions by Ludovico Einaudi, and as soon as I could play the cliché, yet beautiful ‘I Giorni’, I thought the world was my oyster and started to write my own compositions and songs.
Robbie: I must have been about 3 years old when my Dad got me a Mickey Mouse drumkit. My Dad was a drummer, always playing in bands, so I was around music from a young age but I still somehow saw making music as this mysterious, unattainable thing and never took drumming seriously! I didn’t even think about making music until a year or two after I left school.
A very poignant moment, but do you remember the moment you discovered how cathartic making music could be?
Prussia: Although I’ve been writing and playing music since I was 15 (I’m now 26!) it didn’t have a deep, rooted meaning to me until I was 21/22. When I was young, music just seemed to be the ‘thing’ I was good at – the same way my sister was good at maths. After experiencing life, making mistakes, having my heart broken, indulging in the things we’re told not to indulge in, etc; music quite suddenly became a therapeutic escape for me and the easiest way for me to express myself. My lyrics tend to come pouring out my mouth as if they have a life of their own and I’ll often read them back and let them tell me how I’m actually feeling.
Robbie: Really no idea... I would have been about 18-19 coming up with my first guitar riffs and having a go at writing songs with my first band.
Some are influenced by every aspect of life, what influences you and how does that impact upon what you create?
Prussia: I am literally influenced by everything. I listen to other people’s conversations – especially on public transport – people say the most interesting, beautiful and weird things when they don’t think others are listening, and when you don’t have context, simple sentences and phrases have the potential to be very lyrical. The ‘notes’ on my phone is full of random phrases I’ve heard. But I am also influenced by my own life and the life of my friends and family, and how messed up, inconsolable and fascinating we all are!
Music influences would be like, Kate Bush, Massive Attack, Danny Elfman, Kanye West, Tyler the Creator… and some sick newer artists, like 100 Gecs and Coucouchloe!
Robbie: I think people’s musical influences just come out when they start making something and you don’t really need to think about it. I’m probably influenced most by what I have access to at the time, weather that’s a guitar or a laptop or whatever, I’ll just try and make something interesting! Discovering Logic has definitely influenced both our writing/composing a lot.
Some consider your music to be ‘combat’, is there an idea or concept that you’re interested in reaching with your music?
Prussia: I don’t necessarily have a ‘thing’ that I’m trying to reach –I feel when I’m striving for something constantly, I get too fixated on the end product instead of enjoying the process it takes to get there. My music is something I’d be creating regardless if anyone cared to hear it – I wasn’t too concerned about sharing my music with anyone, because I was using song-writing the same way a person writes in their diary, but then I met Robbie and he taught me it’s selfish not to share!
Robbie: I was passing on some wise words someone once told me! But I think the sentiment is true! Prussia’s songs are truthful, sometimes distorted, sometimes uplifting, and thought-provoking. Sometimes, it’s like they give you strange details and fragments of a story you can’t quite work out - you think you know what’s happened but you can never be sure and it leaves enough room for your imagination to run wild! There’s maybe some observations that could make some people uncomfortable but never from one side to another and never explicitly political. But anyway, I just didn’t want you all to miss out!
Do you feel there will become a point where there will be a driver for change and evolution in the music you create?
Prussia: My music is evolving all the time – there’s no single driving force; my songs are somewhat a narration of my life and change as I change. I feel this is the same for everyone or it should be? If your music or art isn’t constantly changing and evolving then I’d think that your life must be at a stand-still.
Robbie: Yeah, it’s already changing.
I tend to think Prussia Snailham conjures up visual imagery when writing songs, am I right?
Prussia: Hell-to-the-yeah! My ultimate DREAM is to write music for film/TV or for one of my songs to be used in film/TV – the power music brings to imagery is immense. If you have the right moment with the right music, you can create sheer magic, but the right moment with the wrong music will completely destroy everything.
When I am writing, I involuntarily see images and visualise complete scenarios – when I am writing about someone else, I wholly put myself in their shoes and try and feel exactly how they feel (or how I interpret them to feel). For each song I write, there is a wee movie going on inside my head, with each character acting out their parts.
Robbie: When I listen to the music a little movie is always playing in my mind! We keep talking about finding a good movie with a dodgy soundtrack and creating a new one for it – but we need to find the right movie first.
How has your music changed your perspective of the wider world?
Prussia: I wouldn’t necessarily say my music has changed my perspective of anything - My music allows me to express my perspective of the world in loads of different ways but it doesn’t alter it. My personal experiences, becoming an ‘ADULT’ and meeting new people/friends has warped and developed my world – my music is just along for the ride and allows me to sing the things I struggle to say.
Robbie: Making music changed my perspective on what’s possible! Music made me more aware of a lot of things; like the world and its flaws… Comedy and poetry did the same in that regard, but also going to raves and festivals changed how I thought at the time. I feel the world is always throwing things at you that make you change your perspective.
And in reverse, does creating music in any way affect your understanding of yourself?
Prussia: My music tends to know me better than I do! Sometimes I have an itch to write and so I do, but I have no idea what the song is about or what the lyrics mean, so I send them to my mum and she analyses them for me and then tells me how she thinks I’m feeling – she’s 99% of the time spot on.
Music helps me to understand myself because it allows me to fully express myself – I would be a ball of anxiety and rage if I couldn’t play the piano or sing/scream.
Understanding yourself is acknowledging your flaws, embracing them, understanding them, trying to utilising them positively but also apologising for them.
Robbie: It opens your mind to your own potential and the “sea of possibilities”.
Take us by the hand, what is next for Prussia Snailham?
Prussia: We are getting inside a recording studio! We want to release an EP of 3-4 songs by the end of year! (hopefully sooner) and get gigging!! We have our first headline show at The Flying Duck in Glasgow, which has been rescheduled to sometime at the end of May; a gig in Carlisle in June, which hopefully will still be happening, and I will continue to be a muse for Robbie’s photography! But I also want to create more visual content like, music videos and merch!
Robbie: What you might have heard a bit of already, but bigger, better and more of it! The music is still evolving and we must have 2 or 3 demos per song at this point, so we will be bringing everything together and putting down final versions.
