Event Details
Date: Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Start Time: 8:00 PM
Event Type: Special Events, Concerts
Last Updated: June 21, 2012
Views: 6
Also AppearingProtestMothershipProngCBGB's was THE venue of an era; an embodiment of what it meant to be in a band, striving for everything you got. In many ways the birthplace of American Punk and the No Wave movement, one can say the music created there was -at its very essence a revolutionary influence, and its corrosive nature has infected millions of people through the years. One in particular, a soundman on the staff, was tainted by the experience, changing him into an iconic corner stone of metal; I am, of course, referring to Prong's very own Tommy Victor.Tommy VictorDissonant, dark, detached -and at times rather deranged --Tommy Victor, founder and frontman of Prong, always swings his riffs low, hard and squarely at your skull. Victor never did 'happiness' and Prong didn't necessarily give a shit about making the 'feel good album of the year'. For Victor, high-praise is best served in the packed clubs and sweaty mosh-pits he plays in around the world. This is all the proof he needs of a dedicated fan base which never misses the band's shows, and loyally buys albums while 'critics' consistently miss the boat. Every time Prong was ignored by the mainstream -whilst revered through the underground --or ripped off by lesser, spineless musicians who don't have a creative pot of their own to piss in - Prong just got harder, stronger and more pissed off. It fuelled them even more, and drove them even further. This is not your parent's band; this is brutality with no regrets amplified, distorted, and turned up to 11.With its roots deeply set in the fertile soil acts like Die Kreuzen, Bad Brains, Killing Joke, The Swans, and Live Skull, Prong has grown into a force of nature. Their first releases on renowned indie punk/alternative label Southern Records (Spigot in the US), were 'Primitive Origins' and 'Force Fed'. From those early moments, to the present, Prong has demonstrated the perfection that it strives for time and again. By taking traditional rock song-structures, merging them with simple steel bar riffs, atonalism, art-rock atmospheres, they've culminated a crushing sound that pleases your ears as it liquefies your brain. It's no surprise that Prong gained popularity rapidly, leading Epic Records to come sniffing in 1989. Like fans all over the world, Epic recognized the power and force of Prong's irreverent sound, and snapped the band up. But true to form, Prong didn't conform to an easily swallowed corporate sound. Prong's sixth album, 'Rude Awakening' was released in 1996. It pummeled the charts at #74, sold 10,000 units in America in one week, and added another major notch in the band's belt. Then, Epic Records decided Prong wasn't selling enough records and cut their contract 3 weeks later.