Jangle Rock : Prong, a hard-core New York trio, brings its aggressive rock sound to the Ventura Theatre on Saturday night.

Forget mellow. Forget peace and love. Forget the Hawaiian shirts. Forget “Do unto others.� Forget the rules. But don’t forget those earplugs because Prong will flatten your head when it brings its aggressive brand of thrash rock to the venerable Ventura Theatre on Saturday night. Opening will be local outfits Jones N Five and Kronix, more longhairs playing loud and fast and who don’t do any ballads either.

Prong involves three New York dudes as subtle as Howard Stern and Archie Bunker at a Puerto Rican beauty contest. They’re like New York cabbies from hell, only louder. They’re the soundtrack for actor Steven Seagal’s frown.

Tommy Victor (guitars), Troy Gregory (bass) and Ted Parsons (drums) are on their first headlining tour since the band’s conception six years ago. They’ve just released an EP (longer than a single, shorter than a full-length CD) called “Whose Fist Is This Anyway,� which consists of remixes of previous tunes plus a gnarly cover of “Talk Talk� from 1966 by those all-in-black garage guys, the Music Machine.

A Prong song? Here’s some adjectives from the band’s bio sheet: “apocalyptic minimalism,� “furiously sculpted,� “rapid-fire pulse,� “post-industrial textures,� “uncompromising and assured,� “scurrilous riffage,� “lyrical vitriol� and the like. Now that you know what you’re in for . . .

Victor discussed the band from a Portland, Ore., hotel room last week.

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This is your first headlining tour, who are you touring with?

Nobody--just us and local groups. We don’t have to split anything with anybody.

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Before, you guys were always the openers, what was that like?

It depends. We did a 10-week tour with Ozzy Osbourne, and the Ozzy crowd tolerated us, I guess. We’ve supported Faith No More, Soundgarden, Pantera and a lot of other groups too. But our audience is so varied, no one really fits with us.

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Who goes to Prong gigs?

Everybody--all the misfits, a totally perverse crowd. We attract every representative of everything. We’ve toured a lot on the East Coast, but we haven’t done that well in the West. The L. A. crowd doesn’t understand us.

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Do record companies put out EPs between albums so the fans won’t forget who you are?

That’s probably true. This one didn’t get a lot of coverage by the record company. They’re not really on top of Prong at Epic. A lot of other groups like Pantera, Megadeth and White Zombie are putting out industrial remix EPs too, but our first EP came out four years ago. An industrial remix just means it’s an industrial-strength remix with more sounds, just meaner. We also wanted to work with producer Jim Thirlwell.

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You guys are hard-core New Yorkers. Is New York more like “Barney Miller,� “Midnight Cowboy� or Howard Stern?

I think “Midnight Cowboy� was a good representation of New York in the ‘70s, but it’s cleaned up a lot since then. Times Square isn’t sleazy anymore. Maybe New York is more like “Kojak,� no wait, I think that movie “Goodfellas� is a good representation of New York. Or maybe “All In The Family.� All I know is that West Coast people get really disturbed when you complain about anything. They take everything personally.

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What’s the New York scene like these days?

It’s totally lame, just like L. A. They concentrate on national acts and there’s not much of a scene of their own. The white, middle-class moved out, to the suburbs. That’s why the Seattle scene is happening.

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I can understand you guys being featured in a metal magazine like Kerrang! But Mademoiselle?

Hey, when you’ve got three young, good-looking guys, it’s only natural.

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Where did the name Prong come from?

We’re just three guys who wanted to use something that was not metal, not hard-core, not speed metal, just sort of a nondescript kind of name. Our symbol is a trident. But I guess the name has sort of hurt us because people can’t put us in some genre. They tried to call us thrash metal, but nothing really sticks.

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Describe Prong music.

It’s contemporary rock which combines, but doesn’t ignore, the sounds we’ve heard over the last 30 years. Each guy in the band is well-versed in a variety of styles. Punk, post-punk, industrial, metal, speed metal. It’s aggressive and violent rock which is the tradition of rock ‘n’ roll.

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Your bio says you guys are an underground band. Are you?

Yeah, I think so. We don’t get played on MTV except very occasionally on “Headbanger’s Ball.� The hair people don’t understand us. We’re only three guys and people wonder how only three guys can do all that. We come from a hard-core background, not pop hard-core, like Nirvana.

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How did you guys happen to cover “Talk Talk�?

I just like the Music Machine. They were the first guys to wear all-black. That whole record was so great, real rock, totally mean. The guy in the song is so agitated--it’s perfect. The album’s even on CD now.

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What was the strangest Prong gig?

It was at a pizzeria in Bayonne, New Jersey, around 1986 when we first started. There was no P.A. so we just sang through the amp. The owner said, “I don’t care what you do, just don’t break my new disco ball on the ceiling.� Tables and chairs got turned over, people started getting hurt, and naturally, somebody broke the disco ball. We had to pay something like 80 bucks to get out of that place.

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What’s next?

Making a record, looking for a producer, touring America more.

SOUND TRACK / VENTURA COUNTY’S TOP SINGLES

Title, Artist Last Week 1 Jump Around, House of Pain 2 2 Back to the Hotel, N2Deep 1 3 End of the Road, Boyz II Men 3 4 Sometimes Love Ain’t Enough, Patty Smith 4 5 People Everyday, Arrested Development 5 6 What About Your Friends, TLC 8 7 I’d Die Without You, PM Dawn 13 8 She’s Playing Hard to Get, Hi-Five 6 9 Would I Lie to You?, Charles & Eddie 7 10 Erotica, Madonna -- 11 Crossover, EPMD 9 12 Forever Love, Color Me Badd 10 13 Giving Him Something He Can Feel, En Vogue 11 14 Rhythm Is a Dancer, Snap 16 15 Please Don’t Go, K.W.S. 12 16 Kickin’ It, After 7 -- 17 Free Your Mind, En Vogue 18 18 I Wanna Love You, Jade 17 19 Baby Baby Baby, TLC 14 20 Humpin’ Around, Bobby Brown 15

Source: SoundScan Inc., for week ending Oct. 11