Prozzak's hot show on tour

Ever since Prozzak grabbed four nominations for this year's Juno Awards, the pop duo of Simon and Milo have been insufferable.

 "I mean, you can't get them on the phone any more and we had to pay them $50,000 each to play the Junos -- and that's out of our pocket," close associate Jason Levine reveals.

 "It's ridiculous. Prima donnas, both of them!"

 Simon and Milo better be careful before someone takes an eraser and rubs them out.

 Prozzak is an animated pop group -- a side project from Levine and James McCollum, the bassist and guitarist for Canadian pop-soul combo Philosopher Kings. Released last year, Prozzak's debut Hot Show -- a collection of bubblegummy Euro-pop sung in a faux-British accent -- became a left-field success, selling more than 300,000 copies in Canada and spawning a series of eye-catching animated videos for hits such as Sucks To Be You and Strange Disease.

 "One of the reasons behind the cartoon characters was that we would never have to tour," says Levine. "But we kind of want to do it now."

 Prozzak's cross-Canada tour arrives at the Saddledome tomorrow with opening acts soulDecision and McMaster and James.

 It should be a sight to behold: Levine and McCollum will play in front of a large video screen on which Simon (the small, luckless-in-love one) and Milo (the muscle-bound lothario) will do their thing.

 You'd think creating a concert-length video would break the bank.

 "It is quite expensive," Levine says, "and we're going to be way in the hole, but it's going to be worth it because it's going to be a great show."

 Levine says neither he nor his partner are cartoon fanatics -- "we were never really into Japanimation or anything like that" -- but merely envisioned a project where cartoons could be the stars and they could work in relative anonymity.

 "The process was most involved when we tried to convince the record company (Sony Music Canada) to spend the money on animation. That took the most work," he says.

 "Otherwise, it's a lot easier than doing a real video. You write the storyboard, then you think of the script, you send it off (to Korea for animation) and it comes back finished."

 With only one snag.

 "It gets held up at Customs. Simon always has border trouble," Levine quips.

 "But I don't think it would have worked without the animation. That's a huge part of it. I mean, I'm proud of the music and everything -- obviously, that's what I do mainly, so I wanted it to be a great album -- but I think just conceptually it adds 70 percent more with the visual and the characters."

 Juno voters apparently agree. Hot Show is nominated for best album, Sucks to be You best single and Strange Disease best video. Prozzak is also up for best new group.

 The awards will be handed out March 12.

 Levine stresses Prozzak's success has caused no worries or jealousies within the Philosopher Kings' camp.

 "Everybody's supportive of what everybody else is doing. We're taking a year break right now so everyone can pursue what they can do as an individual. The other guys are writing and producing for other people, doing great stuff. We're still family. We're still together."