INTERVIEW: PRIME MINISTERS

Although they hail from Ecuador, the rock band Prime Ministers has its sights set on total world domination. Since their formation in 2007, the band has been fine tuning their craft while perfecting their sound. They’ve already wowed audiences with their dynamic, high energy live show in their homeland as well as in the UK and even here in the U.S. They recently released their album Now, which is an appropriate title as the band sees their time to break out in a major way being now. I sat down with bassist Pedro Arguello and we talked about the band’s plans to take their music worldwide.

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Good afternoon Pedro. How are you doing today man?

Pedro Arguello: I am doing great Johnny; how are you?

I’m doing well my friend. What do you say we get this interview rolling?

Yes, I am ready, fire away!

Well, I like to ask this of every band that I talk to if I don’t already know the story. I love hearing how a band chooses its name and I would like to know if there’s a story behind yours?

The name came about because of our singer Ernesto. We needed a name and he was reading some magazines while he was on an airplane when he came across article about the prime minister of England or somewhere. We had been searching for a name for over a month and we’d been in love with UK bands, so we thought why not?

I want to make sure that I have my facts straight here. Your new album Now is your first album released here in the U.S., but it’s your second album that you’ve put out?

Yes, Take a Ride was only released in South America and Now is our first in the United States.

Was that a decision made by the band or the record label?

No, it was more a personal decision by us because the first record was more of an experiment by us. We had a bunch of songs that we wanted to record and everything began with that. We played a lot of different places after the album was released including in the Austin, Texas on the SXSW Festival, then we started thinking ahead to what the next record would be like.

How has the U.S. responded to the new album?

Oh yes, they have been very open to our music and very receptive of us. We’re an Ecuadorian band doing a rock and roll album in English, so it’s a new thing for most of them.

How does Now compare to your first album Take a Ride?

I think that the new album sounds fresher. The first album was also a rock and roll record, but it had more of a 60s or 70s feel to it. I think the new record is much more contemporary, if I am saying that correctly.

Yes you are and I think that’s an accurate description. I also saw that you worked with producer Max Heyes and I’m familiar with his work with Oasis. How did you end up working with him?

We were searching for a producer and we came across Max. We saw that he had worked with rock bands, but he also had experience working with pop bands as well. We wanted to work with someone like him because we knew he would respect our songs, but still take a different approach to our record. We contacted him and sent him some demos of our songs and he really liked them. He agreed to jump on board and I think he really helped us make a great record.

Rock and roll is a universal language, but do you notice much of a difference between crowds here in the U.S. and back home?

The people from South America are very hungry for music and for bands because we don’t have a lot of concerts there like you do here in the U.S. In South America, there’s a lot of passion for rock and roll bands and the intensity at the shows is pretty amazing. Pearl Jam is one of my favorite bands and I’ve seen them here in the U.S. four times and in Argentina about ten years ago. They were even surprised at the intensity level of the crowd there compared to America. So, yeah, all the crowds are great and very similar, but there are some differences.

I’ve seen some footage from KISS performing in Argentina and I agree with you about the intensity at those shows. I mean, the crowd not only sings along, but they also sing the guitar solos as well.

Yeah, they’re really into every aspect of the show there.

I saw your first video from the album for “Take it Back” and I just recently saw a lyric video for “Revolution.” Is that going to be the new single?

Yes, that’s going to be the second single that we will begin promoting.

Rock radio here in the U.S., with the exception of satellite radio, is a weird machine right now because there are so many acts on some stations that aren’t really rock acts. What was that like for you as far as trying to get airplay for either of those songs here in the U.S.?

It’s kind of difficult to get your music here played on the radio, but we’re a really new band here. I will say that things are looking better because the people who heard “Take it Back” really liked it and that helps us out a lot.

Hopefully, we can get your new album in the hands of someone like Jose Mangin with Sirius XM because that would be some great exposure to a huge market if you could get played on there.

Actually, we played a show in Maryland not too long ago and we met some people from Sirius radio and they really liked the band. They were going to talk to some people back in New York and hopefully some doors can be opened for us.

Oh wow, I wasn’t aware of that. That would be really awesome for you guys if they can make something happen. We’ll keep our fingers crossed and our ears open for your new song on the air.

Yeah, we’re hoping so too.

I saw that you did a few U.S. dates and was wondering if there will be more anytime soon?

Those were it for now as far as our U.S. dates go. At the end of the year, we’ll play in Ecuador and our people there are really waiting for us to come back and play. We’re hoping to get more U.S. dates next year and we’re sure that will happen.

Prime Ministers – Take it Back (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

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What’s been one of the biggest or most difficult hurdles that you’ve had to face so far?

I think that the fact that we’re still together is pretty major. You know, a lot of people will say that being in a band is like a marriage, well imagine that but with four people instead of two (laughs). There are times when everyone has their own things that they want to do and we also have four very strong personalities. The four of us really love music and really love writing and we’re actually still discovering new things that help with that creation process.

Well, it’s that passion about music that’s missing in some bands in the industry right now and it shows.

Yes, I think that’s one of the main reasons that we’re still doing this because we’re very passionate about the music. There are so many bands that we love, like Pearl Jam, who have been together for such a long time and it’s because of that passion.

I guess that’s about it on my end. Is there anything else that you’d like to add to wrap it up?

I wanted to thank you and Rock Revolt Magazine for reaching out to us and wanting to talk to us. This means so much to us because we are a really new band here in the United States and we hope that people will read this and check our music out and hopefully like us.

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By: Johnny Price, Lead Senior Journalist