Bill Prokopow Interview
Let me just preface this by saying this interview was conducted in late June, so it may seem a little dated. Bill was nice enough to sit down on the phone with me for about 40 mins. and kinda just give me a low down on how he has gotten where he is today. IFD fans will get a kick out of all this info.:)
Hey Bill!, thanks for sitting down to chat with me for a few moments we all really appreciate it! Let's start with something basic, what Nationality are you?
The name "Prokopow" is Ukrainian, my Dad's mother is a combination of British and German and my mom's parents are northern European.
Where do you do all of your recording?
We are recording in my home studio on the north end of Chicago, which has a couple of computers, and a very small assortment of gear. That's where I mixed the whole IFD album and the ongoing projects that we're doing. It's not all that impressive gear wise, but I've figured out how to work the computers to my advantage, so we get a lot done that way.
Through Googling your name I can see that you are not only involved with music, but also in web design and acting. What can you tell us about your other professional adventures?
*laughs* Well when I was in High School I was on the speech team, and I competed with the speech team all throughout high school which involved waking up at 5am most Saturdays to drive out to the middle of no-where and then come back later that same day. I also did a lot of theater in high school as well, and that's actually how I met Brian; my freshman year we were both in The Music Man. I was actually a tenor 1 in the barbershop quartet in "The Music Man", then a year later my voice dropped and I became a bass. I've always been into acting ever since I was young, when I did a few local theater productions. There's a local production company called Kids Stage that I did a couple of shows with, and actually at one point while I was in college I actually got an agent and, for a time, wanted to do acting full time. That didn't last very long though, and I decided to go with music instead.
With regards to the web design stuff, I actually taught myself flash a few years ago to work on “The Other Guys” website, and I'm supposed to be working on another now but I've gotten kind of busy! I've also taught myself Photoshop as well, and if you are really looking to be entertained AND learn something about Photoshop, Google "You Suck at Photoshop," it’s a really hilarious and awesome tutorial!
How has singing with the other guys had an impact on your life?
"The Other Guys" (TOG) was huge for me. I basically went to U of I because of TOG. They had come to perform at my high school a couple of times while I was there and I was really blown away by their professionalism and musicianship, and I had known a couple of the guys who had gone to U of I and made the group. So I stayed in touch with them and I pretty much made my decision to go to U of I based on TOG. When I got to U of I and I joined the group, I stayed in for four years, and was the musical director for the last two. I basically tell people that I majored in TOG, although my official major was Music Composition. For my actual degree, I really got away with doing practically nothing for four years, and finally buckled down for the final half of my fifth year. With TOG on the other hand, we rehearsed 5 nights a week for 3 or 4 hours at a time and did about 100 shows a year. Maybe I over rehearsed them but, in my senior year we competed in ICCA and we got third place in the national competition, so that was a big achievement.
Who has been your biggest musical inspiration?
My elementary school teacher Mr. V was a HUGE inspiration to me, he would write musicals for our class. There was a 3rd grade musical and a fifth grade musical and really just a lot of performing and learning in his classes in general. He was the one who really got me going into music. Like myself, he also played the piano by ear, and would just pick things up. He saw that I could do this at an early age and he was very supportive and nurturing of that. I'd also have to say that my choir director Judy Moe at Glenbrook North was really great. And of course TOG, working with all of them and just the whole experience was a huge inspiration. In terms of artists, it sounds kind of cliché to say right now but Michael Jackson was always my absolute number one favorite. It still really hasn’t sunk in yet that he has passed and it's weird that he's been out of the spotlight for the last five years or so. He was my biggest musical inspiration from a very very early age, and I still have videos of myself dancing to Michael Jackson, and choreographing dances for the camera. Also I listened to a lot of Aerosmith, and when I started listening to them again about last year I realized how big of an inspiration they were. They incorporate so much blues into their music and so much feeling, it's really amazing. Through High School and college I started listening to a lot more vocal stuff, a cappella stuff like Chanticleer, and actually only after graduating college did I get back into listening to BANDS and actually non-a cappella stuff. It's funny because basically through eight years of my life in high school and college I pretty much focused solely on a cappella music, and I really trained my ear to get into harmony, and not so much timbre. It's all about harmonies and chord structures and arranging within those musical constraints. So I think it was very valuable to my ear, and to my development to focus on that. It’s a unique experience to arrange for a cappella singers as opposed to arranging for a band, where you have any timbre option available to you.
How was your experience at U of I? What musical organizations were you a part of besides The Other Guys?
I was in the Glee Club for four years, and I was the assistant conductor there my Junior and Senior years, but that was pretty much it actually. I never joined any fraternities or anything, and my life at U of I consisted of TOG and having a good time. By the second half of my fifth year I finally got around to doing work for my major.
I took a lot of recording classes at U of I in their experimental music studios with a guy named Scott Wyatt. Those classes were interesting, we started off recording on physical tape machines, and from there we graduated on to more digital systems. So it was nice to see that progression. I also worked a lot with Jon Pines, who recorded TOG, and who became a mentor to me. Whenever we would go into the studio to record something, I would bring in a CD of stuff that I had been working on to show him and get his comments. I also would pick his brain constantly about life in music, as he was the closest person I knew who was 'in the industry' and had many years of experience and stories to impart to me. I ended up taking IFD's EP to Jon to master, and he did a phenomenal job.
Did you take voice lessons?
Oh yeah, I studied voice in high school, for four years under Ron Walkins, who was a member of the Lyric Opera Chicago. At U of I I studied with Doctor Barrington Coleman and Dawn Harris, both were great.
Besides the piano and NES controllers, what other instruments do you play?
I've always loved drums, but I never owned any, and I would always walk around the house when I was younger with drumsticks beating on everything! In my heart I always wanted to play the drums; today I can lay down a basic beat as well as the next guy but I have no real drumming skill. I started playing the trombone in 5th grade and I played that all through middle school and high school in concert band and orchestra. I did one year of marching band, and then I stayed in regular band, mainly so I could be in Orchestra because we had a great repertoire and I was always pumped for that. I actually learned Euphonium as well for Tuba Christmas my junior and senior year of high school and that was a lot of fun.
What is your degree from U of I in?
Music Composition, which is really awesome because it took 5 years to get that and you can't do anything with it. However, I'm actually one of the few people I know who is doing what I studied to do in college.
What is your favorite beer?
There is a beer in England called Wothington’s beer and I only had it when I was in Whales (my sophomore year of college, on tour with the Glee Club). It is soooo good it tastes like a milkshake, it's amazing. Really frothy and foamy and it has a head that stays with the beer the whole way through. I guess I'm a big fan of any milkshake like beers. Guinness is a little over done, but I like Blue Moon. Coors light and Miller light make me happy and remind me of college :)
What is the first CD you've ever owned?
Well I can remember one of the first tapes I ever owned was “Guns n' Roses Use your Illusion No.1.” Then I bought a bunch of Aerosmith, and Michael Jackson Tapes and records, but I can't really remember the first CD I ever got. I want to say that I started burning CDs before anything but I don't think that's true.
What plans do you have for a zapper holster?
Ultimately I need to have 2 of those guys. They both need to light up, and they both need to light up brighter than they do right now.
Any new NES instruments in the works?
Well I have the SNES Super Scope, and I have yet to hook that up and make that work but I need to make a shoulder strap for that and somehow get that on me with the guitar. See I have the guitar in front of me and then I'll swing it behind me when I'm not using it. So I have to figure out logistically how the Super Scope can come into play there. We are also working on the power glove, but that's a tricky, fickle beast. We're trying to get it working tho!
We're also attempting to get a Wiimote or two hooked up, and that's pretty straightforward. The Super Scope might be a little more difficult tho. We definitely want to keep adding things to keep it interesting and exciting. We are taking July to revamp our set and put on a new and improved I Fight Dragons 2.0 show in Chicago in August.
What do you all have planned for the new set?
Ohhhhhhhh I won't say. We'll keep that under wraps for right now;)
Does the control deck that you work out of have enough space for beer bottles?
YES! It has a drink cup holder right above my keyboard which comes in extremely handy for any size beverage, alcoholic or non.
Do you still have the NES from when you were a child?
I don't....I think I still have my SEGA somewhere but my NES has at some point been thrown away. I loved all the Marios and Megamans on the NES though.
On SEGA I loved Sonic, and after that I didn't really own any more consoles, but I played a lot of games at my friend's houses. I know that NES and N64 were big ones for me, and I loved Mario Kart and Mario 64. But around the time those consoles started coming out I started getting into computer games. I got really into flight simulators when I was younger, Aces over the Pacific and Europe. I got REALLY into Half Life and Team Fortress, (I loved being the soldier in Team Fortress) and after that I got into Counter Strike, and played that WAY too much. Even before those I loved playing DOOM, Castle Wolfenstien, and back before even the NES, my dad had a Commodore 64 and we'd play Jumpman and a "Legend of Zelda" esque type game which was great.
Actually I remember installing Aces over the Pacific on the computer and asking my dad if it was okay, and he asked, "Well how much space is it going to take up?" and it was on a few floppy disks and I said, "About 4 megabytes of space." His response was "WOOOOAH!! You’re going to take over the whole computer with that! What kind of game takes up that much memory!?" I said "Yeaaah I know! It's a flight simulator it has the most advanced graphics!" And then I played that game for a LONG time.
I played DOOM 3 recently and I was really scared by it, it was terrifying! I played Half Life 2 as well, and I know Mike Mentzer loves Left 4 Dead. You know, when I moved over to the Mac my PC gaming really started dwindling, and is now at a stopping point.
What are you currently working on in the studio?
Well I've been working with Mike Mentzer on his album since about last October, and we'll be wrapping that up and mastering it shortly. That should be out in September, and I'm available for hire for mixing and producing and all of that stuff.
Do you have any siblings and are they musically involved?
Well I have an older sister who lives in NY, she's getting married in the summer and she is not involved with music, and it's actually interesting that my family consists of a lot of "numbers" people. My mom is a tax accountant and my sister and my dad are Actuaries, so they're very into numbers as well, and I....I am not. My mom and my dad are very creative people, they love music and they vouch for it, but they don't play instruments or sing. They've always been extremely supportive of me and all my creative endeavors tho.
When you are not mixing, producing and singing, what are some of your hobbies?
I LOVE movies. I love love LOVE movies. But I'm not a big repeat movie watcher, and I'm not a great remember...er of movies. There are some people who can remember quotes from movies, and it takes a lot for me to do that....and even when I do I usually get them wrong.
I mean, most of my life is music, you know? Producing and recording and mixing, which is awesome because my job is my hobby, and I don't really have much time for anything else :)
It's no secret that you are all planning a tour in the fall and that you will all be fighting dragons full time. What is the most exciting/terrifying thing about this?
The most exciting thing is meeting fans, and connecting with people and talking to people who are excited to see us. That's what I'm looking forward to the most, going to all of the different cities and meeting all of the different people, we all love to see you guys. We love it that after the show you guys come and hang out with us, and even through Facebook, Twitter and Myspace, it's just great to see that the stuff we're doing is being recognized by people. It makes us work harder to please you guys, the fans.
The most terrifying part? Well I'm not that scared, but I'm nervous about the food. I don't like to eat bad food, but it might be like that on tour :(
What is the plan for the tour?
Well we're still hacking that out, but we have about 15 cities throughout the country we're looking at. Big cities and urban areas, and colleges, so for about six months or so from Sept. to Feb. we'll want to start establishing ourselves with a fanbase, much like we did in Chicago, trying to get more people out. [Update: we're actually secured a tour with mc chris and whole wheat bread, so we'll be traversing the nation for two months starting at the beginning of October! We're all SO pumped for this!]
Why the Thundercat logo and not Captain America? Do you hate America? Or just love the Thundercats?
HAHAHA! Well..... it does indeed look like the Thundercats logo....but in actuality it's the Hawkman logo. [EPIC INTERVIEW FAIL] I had the Captain American logo early on only because we couldn't find any more shirts at the time, and we've tried to censor it, but unfortunately there are still a few photos of me in the Captain America shirt out there. Hawkman is one of the lesser-known superheroes, and I should preface this by saying that for the past couple of months our own individual superheroes have been in development. At the big shows in August we plan on debuting our own characters, and putting the current superheroes by the wayside. We'll all have our own individual characters and there's actually a HUGE huge elaborate back-story actually, involving these characters in the world of I Fight Dragons. That content will slowly be released to the public through various routes and content. [Update: oh well, THAT didn't happen! Perhaps a concept album with our superhero alter-egos tho...]
How much do you hate Nickleback? Very Much? or Very VERY much?
HAHAHA! I'll answer VERY much, although they do have a song out that's called, "Something In Your Mouth" which I stumbled across and I think it's fucking hilarious.
You lived in New York for a while, what was all of that about?
After I graduated from college, I moved to New York to be the "Creative Director" of a new magazine called "Gotham Digest" which didn't turn out so well, and I subsequently returned home about six months later.
I read something online about a "project snowball" what can you tell me about it?
*long pause* Well if I told you then I'd.......well I was going to say have to kill you but that's a little obvious. So I'll just say no comment. :)
posted by Mike Sevcik at
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