Prong

Tommy Victor (vocals/guitar), Mike Kirkland (vocals/bass) and Ted Parsons (drums), residents of New York's infamous "Lower East Side", came together to form Prong in the mid 1980s. Victor was a sound engineer at the famous CBGB's club, while Kirkland was the club's doorman.

Their first EP recording, Primitive Origins (1987), and the acclaimed follow-up full album, Force Fed (1988), were published by the indie 'Spigot' label. Sung in the style of Killing Joke's work, the uncompromising, deep-throated vocals of Victor would come to characterize the band. Their bass thumping thrash metal design gave them spots with the likes of Faith No More, Patten, etc.; with their rendition of Third From The Sun (originally by Chrome) they almost upstaged the headlining acts. Nevertheless the majors were notified of this up-and-coming star and 'Sony' signed them to their 'Epic' subsidiary in time for the next release, Beg to Differ (1990).

Prong's unique look at rock's far left field advanced them musically, and Prove You Wrong (1991) was the proof. This album would be widely considered as their creative peak. Troy Gregory (ex-Flotsam and Jetsam) would join them to replace the departing Kirkland. Their 1992 remix CD EP, Whose Fist is it Anyway?, would then appear aided by John Bechdel (of Murder Inc.), Paul Raven (of Killing Joke) and Jim Thirlwell (of Foetus).

Cleansing would follow in 1994, it managed to scrape the lower regions of the UK charts but failed to obtain cult status; even featuring cover tracks of most of the band's own past hits. After Rude Awkening (1996), Parsons would leave to join Godflesh, while Victor was snapped up by Danzig. The remaining members called it quits immediately after, leaving the act on a high note with acclaim and high regard in the music world.

In 2001 rumors of various line-up attempts for a reformation were afloat, but the band finally reformed proper with Victor (now ex-Danzig), along with Monte Pittman (guitar), Brian Perry (bass) and Dan Laudo (drums) to release 100% Live (2001) and Scorpio Rising (2003) with the reduced line-up of Perry departing. Power of the Damager (2007) would follow.

The line-up changes would continue with Aaron Rossi returning to drums (he formerly occupied them between 2005-2009) and Jason Christopher on bass starting in 2012 to release Carved Into Stone (2012), Ruining Lives (2014), X (No Absolutes) (2016), Zero Days (2017) with Art Cruz on drums, and the EP Age of Defiance (2019) with Aaron Rossi on drums. For the next album, State of Emergency (2023), the line-up would feature Victor with Jason Christopher on bass, and Griffin McCarthy on drums.