"Swathed in anger, energy and dread, Prong work the fine line between thrash and industrial like a highwire, never falling over on either side, never losing their savage grace."-SPIN

THE STORY SO FAR

Working the sound board at NYC's legendary club C.B.G.B. in the mid-'80s, Tommy Victor was witness to an endless river of live bands. Some went on to make an indelible mark on both underground and mainstream music; most are long forgotten. The experience left the sound man with a strong sense of what he didn't want his band to do. Victor founded Prong in 1986, and from the outset the band's playing and performing styles defied all the narrowly convenient categories of the day. While the industry tried to fit Prong for a strait jacket, Prong continued to create an uncompromising music they proudly could call their own.

A core following developed around Prong's first two independent releases, Primitive Origins and Force Fed. Subsequent Epic albums such as Beg to Differ (1990) Prove You Wrong (1991), the six-song remix EP Whose Fist Is This Anyway? (1993) and Cleansing (1993) brought a growing army of recruits to Prong's cause, ranging from metal devotees to techno freaks. Ice-T, Nitzer Ebb, and Pantera could all be found among the faithful.

There was a healthy skepticism to be found within each new Prong album, a lyrical question mark that sometimes was mistaken for a simple rejection of popular culture. A closer look revealed a yearning for self-knowledge and inner truth set against a landscape of hollow pleasures. Prong refrained from preaching and finger pointing, yet never hesitated to pose actual philosophical questions or to address issues ranging from racism to relationships to economics. While many mainstream acts painted cartoon visions of Nordic warriors and metal monsters, Prong was bringing the debris and decay of the modern city to the fore in the face of the mass media's rosy pictures of cheerful consumption.

Today, the hordes of hard-rock imitators have come and gone. Prong remains.

Every band faces a self-destructive impulse to find a popular groove and ride it to stardom, only to be flattened by the tailgaters looming behind them. Prong have been the groundbreakers, the groovemakers. If superstardom has eluded them, perhaps it's because they are headed in a direction as yet uncharted. Many have followed Prong's lead--some to great reward--but Prong carved the path.

Sound the alarm: Prong is back, to give you a Rude Awakening.