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Since forming in 2021, The Prize has established itself as one of Melbourne's premiere rock 'n' roll bands through their arsenal of infectious melodies, tight harmonies, and high-power three-guitar onslaught. Today we have the pleasure of sharing their new single "Had It Made," a punchy, hook-filled tune that explodes out the speakers with its primal rock 'n' roll spirit reminiscent of The Real Kids, The Flamin' Groovies, and pre-"Swampland" Scientists. The new single is the first taste of the band's much-anticipated debut LP, slated to come out next year, and it also comes just a month before the band heads to the UK and Europe with The Chats. Ahead of the tour, we spoke to drummer-vocalist Nadine Muller to hear all about the new single, how the debut LP is coming together, and her thoughts looking back on the band's flawless catalog.
First tell me what you've been up to lately? What have you been listening to, reading, watching, or spending a lot of time doing?
Nadine Muller: I've been listening to the usual suspects—Ramones, Phil Seymour, Stiv Bators and also a new band from Australia called Gnome (check out their song "Open Your Eyes"). So good! I'm slowly getting through Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar. Besides that we've been finishing off our first album and gearing up to tour Europe with The Chats in November.
What are you looking forward to touring Europe and the UK with The Chats?
We love those guys and it's always great playing with them. We did the Bargain Bin tour with them earlier this year and if that's anything to go by, this one should be a ripper too. Schlepping around in the European winter will be a far cry from spending our days off on Australian beaches in summer but it'll be…character building? Or destroying?—we'll see!
What's it been like having new bassist Ethan Stahl part of the mix now? I know he also plays with you and Josh [Hardy] in Loose Lips.
Ethan's a solid lad and a proper rocker so he's been an absolute godsend. He's a sick musician and artist and has really injected some new life and fresh enthusiasm into it all. Couldn't ask for someone better to be in a band with.
What insight can you share about your new single "Had It Made" and the inspirations behind it? I read that this was one of the first songs you wrote as a band.
Yeah it was one of the first songs we wrote as a band back in 2022, but we decided early on to save it for an album. Joe had the main riff kicking round and then Carey helped finish it and took on the lead vocal. Lyrically it's just a classic break up tune. Musically it's got a grooving bassline that gives it a different feel from a lot of our other stuff, especially the snappy pop songs. Joe and Carey, much like the rest of us, love themselves some '70s rock 'n' roll like Cheap Trick and James Gang, so it's cool to bring that other side of the coin into the songwriting as much as possible. It's also been a crowd favorite from the start so it's nice to finally put it out!
How did its music video come together?
In classic us style, we left it right up until crunch time before we even thought about doing a music video. I contacted Ben Portnoy from C.O.F.F.I.N and asked if he might be able to help whip something together. He'd been at a show we played a few weeks earlier with Split System and Stiff Richards, and had recorded a bunch of footage on his handy cam. Earlier in the year, we did a national tour with The Chats and Dougal Gorman came on the road and filmed some of that tour. I also got my partner Tom to come and shoot us in our studio mucking around, just on his phone. Ben managed to combine it into something interesting and cohesive (in record time too—thank you, Ben!).
This single is also the first taste of your forthcoming debut LP, set to come out next year. How exactly did it all come together in the studio and what other previews can you share about it for fans?
We started recording the album last year, but with touring and work, it dragged the whole process out way longer than we'd hoped. We've been chipping away at it but it's finally coming together! I think sonically it sounds bigger than our previous recordings and we've put a lot more thought into our songwriting and how everything is layered.
How did last winter's split with The Unknowns come together? That seemed like a no-brainer.
We love The Unknowns and have become really close friends. The split with them was a good experience for us because we only had a couple of weeks to write and record it, which is not really the way we'd ever worked before. We're definitely prone to procrastination so that split was almost like a two-song practice run for sitting down and actually getting our album finished. It turned out really well and was our first time working with Robin Mukerjee (TV Colours) who's going to mix our album as well! Originally we were going to do a song together for the split called "One More Chance." I wrote that one with Josh, but we never got an opportunity to record it. That song sat on the shelf until Josh moved to Melbourne earlier this year. We decided to just start a band called Loose Lips, which also has Ethan in it, and we put that song out as our first single. The Unknowns have also just recorded a new album (which I've been fortunate enough to get an early preview of) and it's going to be a banger!
What were the origins of last year's 7" First Sight b/w Say You're Mine?
"First Sight" was written specifically for the 7" and came together pretty quickly. Our pal Ambrose [Kenny-Smith] from King Gizz/Murlocs came in and did some amazing backing vocals on it. "Say You're Mine" was another song we wrote early on and haven't released digitally. That one will also be on the album!
Your debut EP Wrong Side of Town sold out on its first day and is still highly sought after. What are your thoughts looking back on that release?
I listened to it recently for the first time in ages just to see how it sounds in comparison to the album and some of the new songs we've written and I think it holds up! There's a naivety to it that I don't think you can ever really capture again after you put out your first release. We didn't think too hard about it and had no expectations of how it would be received so the fact that people really liked it was and still is, very flattering!
We've been fans of yours since the beginning and since 2021, you've established yourselves as one of Melbourne's top rock 'n' roll acts, even opening for bands like King Gizzard, Sunnyboys, and Pavement. How would you describe this journey as a band and did you expect to be where you are now?
Thank you! I guess when you're in it everything feels different from an outside perspective. It sometimes feels like we haven't done that much but then when you step back and have a look at the opportunities we've had and the things we've got to experience, I feel really lucky! It's made me push myself in a lot of ways such as with songwriting and singing. I'd never sung lead vocals before The Prize and the idea of singing in-front of people used to terrify me!
Anything else on the horizon for The Prize readers should keep an eye out for?
We will be launching our first single at The Tote in Melbourne on November 3rd with Dumb Punts and Gnome. Then we will be hitting the road with The Chats in Europe on November 13th, so come see us before we go or catch us in Europe if you're over there.