Charles Lefebvre from Medicine Hat News recently caught up with Prevail from Swollen Members for a short discussion. In this article Prevail discusses growing up a rock music guy, Battleaxe Records, Brand New Day and more.

You can read the full article below.

From Medicinehatnews.com:

Prevail, one member of Swollen Members, says he grew up a rock music guy, but remembers what set him on the path to hip-hop.

“I was a really big rock and roll guy growing up in Victoria,” he said over the phone from Vancouver. “My cousin from Nova Scotia moved out and he said he was a fan of AC/DC, Metallica and Sepultura, but asked me if I had listened to rap before.”

“He played me a cassette of a rapper named Stezo, and it changed my life. I saw a path I could continue on that combined my love of writing with live performing.”

The path has led Prevail, along with fellow Swollen Members Madchild and Rob the Viking to the top of the Canadian hip-hop charts since 1999. The group has won four Juno Awards through their career and will be bringing a show to Redcliff April 30 at Harmony Hall.

Prevail connected with Madchild and long time collaborator (and former member) Moka Only, forming Swollen Members in 1992. The group bubbled along through the underground, releasing its first album, “Balance,” in 1999. Nine more studio albums have followed, with their latest, “Brand New Day,” scheduled to be released in June on the relaunched Battle Axe Records.

“We’re absolutely excited for it to be released,” said Prevail. “It feels like a rejuvenation. We as a group have gotten to a place where all our personal affairs have been dealt with and we are all comfortable as a group and with our music.”

Prevail says books are the chief influence on his rapping.

“I read a lot when I was a kid; my mom worked at a bookstore. When other kids were getting Ataris and video games, I was getting books,” he said.

“I love the way certain authors can construct their own world and set the scene with their writing, which is something I try to do.”

Prevail says the one piece of writing which has inspired him the most as a rapper is “The Divine Comedy” by Dante Alighieri.

“It’s an incredible text, especially the way Dante builds the three different worlds, Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso,” he said. “I love the language used.”

Prevail is proud of the relaunch of Battle Axe Records, the label which released the early Swollen Members singles and albums, because it gives fellow underground artists a place to release their music. He is also impressed with the state of underground hip-hop today.

“The rappers who are coming up, they have done their homework,” he said. “It feels like they’re taking their cues from the great albums from the 1980s and 1990s, rather than chasing what is hot on the radio today.”

Websites:

• battleaxewarriors.com