interview : the last prom
There aren’t many bands around like The Last Prom. Combining flawless pop music with an edgy Apocalypse theme, with costumes and characters to boot, the Canberra band have been making waves since their debut in 2011.
Currently, The Last Prom are gearing up for a brand new theatre show, that focuses on the themes of High School and the end of the world, and centres on a love story between the Antichrist (Nick Delatovic) and Death (Julia Johnson), set to the backdrop of ten brand new songs.
In the lead up to the stage show, the band are performing a series of gigs to give crowds a teaser, and get excitement brewing.
I caught up with frontman and mastermind, Nick Delatovic to chat in the lead up to The Last Prom’s Nuclear Winter Ball, happening this Saturday the 16th at the White Eagle Polish Club in Canberra.
Having painstakingly put the band together, Nick counts himself lucky to be able to work with some of Canberra’s best musicians. “I’ve been really lucky to find a whole band’s worth of top-notch musicians who have also been enthusiastic about the performative elements [of The Last Prom].”
I can only imagine that being part of The Last Prom is unlike any other band – each member has a dedicated character, replete with costumes, comprising of the four horsemen of the apocalypse; Famine, Pestilence, War and Death. Nick performs as the Antichrist, and he and fellow vocalist Julia Johnson (as ‘Death’) perform their roles as star-crossed lovers throughout the set. However, don’t let all the theatrics fool you – the music still comes first.
“The core of the band is the sound and the songs, and I think the songs stand strongly on their own,” Nick explains. “That said, I’ve been wanting to put together an act that combines my love of over-the-top pop and over-the-top theatrics for a while.”
And he has certainly succeeded at that. The stage show offers an exciting new element to the band, with the music taking on a larger role in terms of story-telling, and encapsulating the broader themes of the band into a narrative.
“With our current set the apocalypse theme is more subtle and background, oblique references in the lyrics. The songs that we’re in the process of writing for the final show are a whole different ballgame – they’ll tell an explicit story that the audience can follow start to finish,” Nick says. “By the end of the set, the ritual of the Apocalypse will have taken place and the Antichrist’s tragic love story with Death will have met its tragic end.”
The Last Prom have had a lot of support from The Canberra Musicians Club, who are presenting Saturday’s show. In a place like Canberra, where venues are few and far between and support for local musicians is not always forthcoming, the CMC are filling a much-needed role.
“The CMC has been a godsend for performers like myself,” Nick agrees. “Having an organised body working to cultivate the local scene has emboldened me to up my game and up the scale of my acts.”
Saturday’s Nuclear Winter Ball is set to be spectacular, with supports from local Canberra band, Space Party, and also Dead DJ Joke. As always, audience members are encouraged to get involved with the mayhem.
“We encourage the crowd to come dressed to the theme, combining their winter finery with fashions for the radioactive wasteland.”
Dress-up party/pop gig/theatrical themed show? Count me in!
Anyone who wants to follow the story of The Last Prom and gets the details for their massive end-of-year shows can go to their website or Facebook page.
