Concert Review: Prozzak brings 90s nostalgia back to a sold out crowd (PHOTOS)

Out of all the oddly and enduring things Canada was known for in the late 90s, pop sensations Prozzak are definitely one of them.

Breathing life back into the project some 15-odd years later, band members Simon, aka Jay Levine, and Milo, aka James McCollum, just wrapped up a nationwide tour that started with a live performance at Toronto’s Atomic Lollipop festival back in July.

Going to perform their first live show in over a decade, the duo had no idea what the response was going to be like. “I expected literally noone to be there, and [then] there was 4000 people there. I was like, oh my god,” Levine remembered. “It was so much fun. That was a great kick off to the whole thing, that really inspired us,” McCollum said.

Original members in the Canadian rock band The Philosophers Kings, Levine and McCollum weren’t actually on great terms in the beginning of their friendship and only started making music together after a physical fight actually broke out between the two. “And we really did have a physical fight,” mentioned Levine. “We really did fight and we made up through music. It’s corny but it’s true.”

Representing their animated counterparts on stage, Levine and McCollum performed on top of platforms designed to look like the top half of Simon and Milo’s heads respectively. Singing and playing in synch with a customized video featuring the animated duo, the crowd burst into an all out singalong to their opening song, “Strange Disease.”

When asked if the band was was going to continue touring outside of Canada, McCollum responded, “We’re putting out a new album in the new year and depending on what territories gravitate towards [the] singles, then we’ll tour there. But you know Canada’s our spot.”

“We actually just finished writing most of [the new album], and we have 2 songs out now. ‘Baby I Need Your Love’ and ‘Love Fools Anonymous.’ But there’ll be a full album in the new year,” added Levine.

Designed to overload the senses, the live show included campy elements of animated crowd interaction, karaoke, electric acoustic guitar solos, and spontaneous singalongs throughout the night with the crowd loving every minute of it. Spanning the band’s extensive catalogue, the duo had lots of material to pull with highlights being the performances of “Sucks To Be You,” “www.nevergetoveryou,” and “Omobolasire.”

The crowd itself was definitely in a nostalgic mood looking to connect with their favourite childhood band. Levine saying, “We honestly didn’t know that anyone cared until last year; it’s been so great just meeting everyone now [when they first became fans] back in the day when they were kids.”

Talking about what’s next for the band, McCollum has goals already in motion saying, “From day one I think we had bigger dreams [for the project]. We really saw it as a theatre production and a TV series, so we’re actually working on that and on apps and games that we want to do [too].”

“We’re developing an app [where] it’s basically like you have to feed Simon compliments and love and if you don’t, he dies,” Levine enthusiastically shares. “It’s really simple.”

With a new album, an app, and more on the horizon, the beautifully weird world of Prozzak is here to stay.

Prozzak performed at The Rickshaw on September 17 and 18.