Young Parisians. Photo by Matt Otto
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You can laugh at or with PRS HLTN, MTHRFCKRS!! They're okay with either.
OC Weekly: What's with the band name spelling?
Mike of PRS HLTN, MTHRFCKRS!!: We used to be just Paris Hilton, but then when she started to get into music—the actual Paris Hilton—MySpace kicked us off because of copyright infringement. So we had to change our name to how it is now.
So now it's Paris Hilton, Motherfuckers with all the vowels taken out and two exclamation points?
Yeah. Is that okay to print?
I think so. So the band is just two people? How do you pull it off live?
It's me, Mike, and Hailey. We program music and we just play it on an iPod behind us and just sort of scream over it when we play live. We run the iPod through the PA and turn it as loud as we can get it. That's probably the biggest problem we've had to confront—getting it loud enough. We usually play at parties and they never have a good PA.
What started all this?
When we started the band two years ago it was me and another friend. We realized it was more about the idea than the music. So we figured the music wasn't important, just act like pop stars.
So what is the idea?
It's like a satire on life in Orange County. We figured if we had enough lyrics about how rich we were, then people would actually believe us. And I think it's worked out that way. A lot of people buy that we're rich.
And you play in your underwear?
We don't like to think of it as our underwear. We're trying to be scantily clad, I guess. It's a way to get a rise out of people. And it's fun and funny.
So getting a rise out of people is something you aim for?
Yeah, I guess. It's just fun to create that atmosphere at a party. We're really more interested in playing parties than actual venue shows because parties are more fun. We're around just so we can create that atmosphere where it's okay to be in your underwear and be crazy at a party.
Do people ever react poorly to that attitude?
Sometimes. You can get down with PRS HLTN on two different levels: for the humor of it or because you like dancing. So usually we have the opportunity to catch people on one of the levels. One time we played a house in LA in this little wooden box in this person's back yard. It was raining. The room had windows with no glass. People were coming in while we were playing and there were like five greasers, two skinheads, a bunch of gangsters, and like three scene kids dancing around while we were playing. And I got Maced at that party. That's the only bad response we've gotten, but it was pretty bad.
Have any favorite locals?
The Shark That Ate My Friend, Zoophilia. There's an artists' collective we have called NASA Space Universe, which is named after one of the bands that's involved. Those are the bands we play with.
Are all your songs about how rich you are?
It didn't have anything to do with that in the beginning. It was more about talking about how sexually deviant we were. It was more about sex and then it evolved into this power and money thing, kind of like Paris Hilton's life. I try not to think of her as a person, actually. It's hard to think of her as a person and my band as a band since they have the same name. But it's not like a satire on Paris Hilton; it's a satire on Orange County. It just happens that Paris Hilton is someone who represents that lifestyle well. But it's not a political statement or anything. It's just supposed to be funny.
PRS HLTN, MTHRFCKRS!! PERFORM WITH THIS BLUSH AND GRAF ORLOCK PLAY AT SOLART GALLERY CAFÉ, 2202 N. MAIN ST., SANTA ANA, (714) 926-4375; WWW.SOLARTGALLERYCAFE.COM. SAT., DEC. 16. VISIT MYSPACE.COM/PHMF AND NASASPACEUNIVERSE.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION.
