Prong

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Prong
Prong at Wacken Open Air 2017
Prong at Wacken Open Air 2017
General information
Genre (s) Hardcore punk (early phase), groove metal
founding 1986
Website http://www.prongmusic.com/
Founding members
Tommy Victor
Mike Kirkland
Ted Parsons
Current occupation
Vocals, guitar
 Tommy Victor
bass
 Jason Christopher (since 2011)
Drums
 Aaron Rossi (2005–2009, since 2018)
former members
bass
 Mike Kirkland (1986-1990)
bass
 Troy Gregory (1991-1993)
bass
 Paul Raven † (1993–1996)
bass
 Brian Perry (2000-2002)
Bass (partly also guitar)
Monte Pittman (2000-2002 guitar, 2002-2009 bass)
bass
 Tony Campos (2009-2012)
Drums
 Ted Parsons (1987-1997)
Drums
 John Tempesta (1997)
Drums
 Ivan de Prume (2000)
Drums
 Dan Laudo (2002-2005)
Drums
 Art Cruz (2014-2018)
Drums
 Alexei Rodriguez (2009-2013)
Keyboards
 John Bechdel (1993–1995)

Prong are one since the mid- 1980s, existing American Metal - band today by bands like KoRn , Demon Hunter , or the Nine Inch Nails is considered one of their most important influences.

The member constellation has been in constant flux over the years, the only constant is Tommy Victor , who is considered the musical head, figurehead and mouthpiece of the band.

history

Prong - at the beginning still operating as R-Ruin - was created in 1986 in the New York underground scene. The three-piece combo began with Tommy Victor (vocals and guitar), Mike Kirkland (bass) and Ted Parsons (drums; ex- Swans ) with simple hardcore and then integrated influences from Thrash and Industrial Metal with electronic samples . At that time people also spoke of hardcore-thrash crossovers . Later this combination was sometimes referred to as groove metal .

The first concerts and recordings made local music fans from the hardcore, punk and noise camps sit up and take notice. It was followed by acclaimed appearances in the CBGB , an invitation to the peel sessions and positive reviews in NME , Sounds and Kerrang! so that Prong could start recording the full album Force Fed in the first year of their existence .

After a European tour, Prong played right back in the US at the larger club Ritz to open for the Cro-Mags and Destruction . The concert was so successful that the music label Epic Records became aware of the band and signed them a few months later. Among other things, this had the consequence that Prong now also had larger budgets for studio stays.

At the latest, the next albums Beg to Differ from 1990 and Prove You Wrong , available a year later, earned the band the reputation of being ahead of their time; Even members of Metallica saw in Prong the "future of metal".

Tommy Victor at a concert in Nuremberg in 2020

By deliberately more accessible and held by Terry Date produced Cleansing (1994) Prong reached a larger audience, the song thereon Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck , where massive airplay on MTV's Headbangers Ball received and is now regarded as a classic.

In 1996, his successor Rude Awakening followed in similar musical footsteps. Despite renewed benevolent reviews, the hoped-for commercial success failed to materialize, not least because the record label Epic Records released the band from their contract shortly after their release. A year later Prong were unofficially disbanded, and the disaffected Tommy Victor even thought of an end to his entire musical career.

After the turn of the millennium, however, Tommy Victor brought musicians back together and went on a six-week US tour, some of which was recorded for the live comeback album 100% Live (2002).

In 2003, Scorpio Rising, an album with new songs followed, which was recorded mixed up among music critics and only had comparatively low sales figures.

Until 2006, Tommy Victor was mainly involved in other projects (including as a permanent guitarist with Ministry ), just as he was previously a session guitarist with Danzig , Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie .

In 2007 Prong returned with the much harder album Power of the Damager , which is based on the band's hardcore roots . After various concerts in the USA, the band toured Europe in early 2008.

In 2009, Power of the Damn Mixxxer was released, a remix album on which the twelve tracks from the last record (one of them twice) were remixed with electronic elements by well-known DJs. This is not the first time in the band's history: As early as 1992, the 6-track EP Whose Fist Is This Anyway? a similar remix CD of the Prove You Wrong album released a year earlier . The band last toured Europe in May and June 2009.

In 2012 Prong released a new studio album, Carved into Stone , produced by Steve Evetts.

Discography

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Cleansing
  DE 40 02/21/1994 (10 weeks)
  AT 38 03/20/1994 (1 week)
  CH 36 03/06/1994 (2 weeks)
  UK 71 02/12/1994 (1 week)
  US 126 02/12/1994 (2 weeks)
Rude Awakening
  DE 48 05/27/1996 (8 weeks)
  AT 36 06/16/1996 (4 weeks)
  US 107 06/01/1996 (4 weeks)
Ruining lives
  DE 77 05/09/2014 (1 week)
X - No absolute
  DE 87 02/12/2016 (1 week)
Zero Days
  DE 86 08/04/2017 (1 week)
  CH 99 08/06/2017 (1 week)
Singles
Whose Fist Is This Anyway? (EP)
  UK 58 04/25/1992 (1 week)
Snap your fingers, snap your neck
  UK 80 07/02/1994 (2 weeks)
Rude Awakening
  UK 79 06/15/1996 (1 week)

Studio albums

EPs

  • 1987: Primitive Origins
  • 1990: The Peel Sessions
  • 1992: Whose Fist Is This Anyway?
  • 1993: Snap Your Fingers, Break Your Back (The Remix EP)
  • 2019: Age of Defiance

Compilations and live albums

  • 2002: 100% live
  • 2014: Unleashed in the West: Live in Berlin

DVDs

  • 2005: The Vault (Live, 2 DVDs)

Web links

Commons : Prong  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Sources chart placements: DE AT CH UK US
  2. ↑ http://prong.bandcamp.com/album/unleashed-in-the-west-official-bootleg