The Prodigals is an American Irish punk band that started in 1997.
32-519: Calling their genre of music " jig punk ", the Prodigals fall within a tradition epitomized by the Pogues and Black 47 , merging traditional Celtic melodic roots with rock rhythms. As of 2017, the band's lineup features the three original members: Gregory Grene ( button accordion and lead vocals), Andrew Harkin ( bass ), Brian Tracey ( drums ), plus Galway's Dave Fahy ( guitar and lead vocals) who has been
64-540: A United States punk rock band is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Celtic punk Celtic punk is punk rock mixed with traditional Celtic music . Celtic punk bands often play traditional Celtic folk songs, contemporary/political folk songs, and original compositions. Common themes in Celtic punk music include politics , Celtic culture (particularly Gaelic culture ) and identity , heritage , religion , drinking and working class pride. The genre
96-460: A concert on 6 March 2010 at the Alhambra Theatre, Dunfermline with support from Beatnic Prestige and Bruce & Jamie Watson. This final concert was to conclude a week of events celebrating the works, past and present, of Richard Jobson as part of The Fifer Festival 2010 on 6 March 2010. The band undertook another reunion tour in 2017 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their formation. It had
128-525: A member since 2009. They are frequently joined by Alex Grene, nephew of Gregory, and a graduate in music composition from the University of Chicago. The Prodigals call Paddy Reilly's (the world's only all-draft Guinness bar) their home when in New York City . The band has its own distinctive sound, particularly distinguished by lead melodic roles being filled by button-key accordion and bass along with
160-929: A mixture of traditional folk songs and original songs written in a traditional style but performed in a punk style. Other early Celtic punk bands included Nyah Fearties , Australia 's Roaring Jack and Norway 's Greenland Whalefishers . The 1990s gave rise to a Celtic punk movement in North America, centered around the likes of the Dropkick Murphys of Quincy, Massachusetts , and Chicago's The Tossers - both from cities with particularly large population of Irish Americans - as well as LA's Flogging Molly (founded by Irish emigrant Dave King ). North American Celtic punk bands have been influenced by American forms of music, and commonly sing in English. Like other punk subcultures, Celtic punk has its own fashions as well. Similar to
192-503: A more extensive set of venues than the 2007 reunion with concerts throughout the UK and Ireland, and headlining the 2017 Rebellion Festival on the final night. The lineup included Richard Jobson, Bill Simpson, Mike Baillie, Bruce Watson and Jamie Watson. In 2018 Burning Cities included four songs co-written by Martin Metcalfe , formerly of Goodbye Mr Mackenzie . The album reached number 28 in
224-502: A part of the larger Celtic punk subculture, as even though most bands from that scene did not incorporate traditional sounds into their music, they sang in Scottish Gaelic in support of their traditional language and in protest of linguistic homogenization (among many other issues). They taught each other the language in DIY classes called 'Gaelic for Punks', and the scene was centered around
256-427: A solo career and, according to Armoury Show fan page, later joined Public Image Ltd in 1992 (but played only on their last tour), and is now a video game designer. In 2007, Richard Jobson, William Simpson and Mike Baillie, along with Bruce Watson (guitar and backing vocals), Jamie Watson (guitar), Brian Jobson (backing vocals) and Jane Button (backing vocals), got together to play three gigs. They were to commemorate
288-424: A very small portion of their overall material (either due the common occurrence of non-Celtic folk songs being called 'Celtic,' or due to the misunderstanding that all traditional folk music mixed with punk rock is Celtic punk). Celtic punk's origins date back to 1960s and 1970s folk rock musicians who played Irish folk music and Celtic rock in the UK, as well as in more traditional Celtic folk bands such as
320-471: Is a form of Celtic fusion . While popular around the world, Celtic punk is often criticized for certain non-Irish bands appropriating and misrepresenting Irish culture (perpetuating ' Plastic Paddy ' stereotypes) with an excessive focus on drinking and fighting. Other folk-punk bands that incorporate traditional folk material, such as The Dreadnoughts and Cordelia's Dad , have expressed disdain at being called 'Celtic punk' despite Celtic material making up
352-495: The Blitz club). Egan played on the album and later on the live concert tour of the record. Keyboard player Alistair Moore also temporarily joined the band to perform live with them. He had been recruited to play Bill Nelson's keyboard parts from the record. In November 1979, Mike Baillie, ex-Insect Bites, was recruited as a permanent band member, taking care of the drums, backing vocals and percussion). He slowly took over from Egan, while
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#1732852407488384-582: The Joy period. Jobson and Webb then went on to form a new band called The Armoury Show . The group recorded just one album, Waiting for the Floods in 1985 before splitting up. Jobson went on to pursue a solo career as a poet, songwriter, television presenter and most recently, as a film director. He released albums on the Belgian record label Les Disques du Crepuscule and the UK's own Parlophone Records . Webb proposed
416-568: The Sabhal Mòr Ostaig college on the Isle of Skye , Scotland . The Skids Skids are a Scottish punk rock and new wave band, formed in Dunfermline in 1977 by Stuart Adamson (guitar, keyboards, percussion and backing vocals), William Simpson (bass guitar and backing vocals), Thomas Kellichan (drums) and Richard Jobson (vocals, guitar and keyboards). Their biggest successes were
448-452: The vocals , and has received substantial critical notice through the years. Their songs "Open Reel" and "The Bunch of Red Roses" were played in the film Pride and Glory during the bar fight scene between Edward Norton and Colin Farrell . The Prodigals band has had many changes to its members over the years. Here is a listing of ex-Prodigals: Solo/acoustic album This article on
480-627: The 1979 single " Into the Valley " and the 1980 album The Absolute Game . In 2016, the band announced a 40th-anniversary tour of the UK with their original singer Richard Jobson . Skids played their first gig on 19 August 1977 at the Bellville Hotel in Pilmuir Street, Dunfermline , Scotland. Within six months they had released the Charles EP on the label No Bad records. The record brought them to
512-608: The Dubliners and the Clancy Brothers . The Scottish band the Skids were possibly the first UK punk band to add a strong folk music element, as they did on their 1981 album Joy . Around the same time in London , Shane MacGowan and Spider Stacy began experimenting with a sound that became the Pogues , which most consider to be the prototypical Celtic punk band. Their early sets included
544-797: The UK Albums Chart. After issuing an acoustic album in 2019, the band (including Big Country's Bruce and Jamie Watson) returned in 2021 with a covers album called Songs from a Haunted Ballroom . The album was recorded as a tribute to a music venue called the Kinema Ballroom in Dunfermline, Scotland (opened in 1938 but now the Kinema Restaurant Global Fusion Buffet) and features covers of tracks by The Clash, The Adverts, Sex Pistols, Magazine and Ultravox! as well as re-recordings of their own " The Saints Are Coming " and " Into
576-537: The Valley ". A new album, Destination Düsseldorf , has been announced for March 2023, then postponed to 30 June. On 27 September 2023 Richard Jobson released a statement on the bands official website announcing that for the foreseeable future Bruce and Jamie Watson would be stepping down to focus on their work with Big Country . Replacing them would be long time collaborators and friends Martin Metcalfe and Fin Wilson ( The Filthy Tongues ). Both had written material for
608-477: The Valley", "Integral Plot", "Calling the Tune" and "Scared to Dance". In the meantime, Adamson returned to Scotland when the recording was finished. He rejoined the band for the live concert tour promotion of the album. The record included "The Saints Are Coming", which was later covered in late 2006 as a charity single by U2 and Green Day . Skids enjoyed a further year of chart success as "Masquerade" and "Working for
640-517: The Yankee Dollar" reached the top 20 in the UK chart. The latter came from their second album, also released in 1979, Days in Europa , with the record's production and keyboards by Bill Nelson . Just before recording of the album commenced, Kellichan left the band and was temporarily replaced on drums by Rusty Egan (ex- Rich Kids , then with the band Visage and a New Romantic 1980s dance DJ at
672-555: The attention of national BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel . This led to a local gig supporting The Clash . Virgin Records then signed up Skids in April 1978. The singles "Sweet Suburbia" and " The Saints Are Coming " both made commercial inroads, before "Into the Valley" reached the top 10 in the UK Singles Chart in early 1979. The band released their debut studio album, Scared to Dance ,
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#1732852407488704-501: The band was still touring Days in Europa . Some of Jobson's lyrics as well as the album cover caused controversy. It showed an Olympian being crowned with laurels by an Aryan -looking woman, and the lettering was in Gothic script. Some, including DJ John Peel , felt that this glorified Nazi ideology and it was indeed similar to posters from the 1936 Summer Olympics , held in Germany. After
736-418: The band's fourth and final album Joy , which Russell Webb also produced. The pair played multiple instruments on the album, and also invited a collection of seventeen musical friends to perform on various tracks with them. Skids dissolved in 1982, with the compilation Fanfare posthumously issued by Virgin . It was a mixture of most of the band's singles and some B-sides, though it omitted any tracks from
768-461: The band's most commercial release, reaching the top 10 of the UK Albums Chart and contained the minor hit single "Circus Games". A few of the tracks on the album also included a collection of fourteen adult and child backing vocalists, along with a lone didgeridoo player. Initial copies of The Absolute Game came with a free limited edition, second album entitled Strength Through Joy , echoing
800-490: The band's previous controversial themes. Jobson claims to have got the title from Dirk Bogarde 's autobiography. Soon after the release and live concert tour of The Absolute Game Baillie left the band, shortly followed by Adamson (but Adamson did stay around long enough to play on one more song for the next album, Joy , called "Iona"). Baillie moved back to Scotland to live and Adamson went on to launch his new band, Big Country . This left Jobson and Webb to write and record
832-820: The headlining acts in Homecoming Live, a series of gigs held around the SECC complex in Glasgow to celebrate the end of the Year of Homecoming in Scotland. The line-up mirrored the 2007 gigs, with members of The Gospel Truth Choir joining Button on backing vocals for "A Woman in Winter" and "Working for the Yankee Dollar". The same line-up performed a concert on 5 March 2010 at the ABC in Glasgow, with support from The Law and Bruce & Jamie Watson, and lastly
864-541: The music, Celtic punk fashion is a mixture of standard punk fashion and traditional Celtic clothing, most notably (and sometimes erronously) tartans . Standard items in Celtic punk fashion include leather jackets, tartans, chains, studs, kilts , and mohawks . The favored tartan among punks in 70s-80s Britain was the Royal Stewart tartan , due to both its widespread availability and perceived anti-establishment connotations. The Scottish Gaelic punk scene can be considered
896-451: The original version of the album had already been released, Canadian record producer Bruce Fairbairn was brought into the project. The original cover and the track "Pros and the Cons" were removed. The sleeve was completely re-designed and the song "Masquerade" added. The album was also remixed and the tracks re-sequenced. This second version was released in 1980. One updated track, "The Olympian",
928-461: The same year. It was recorded at The Townhouse Studios in London, England with production and keyboards by David Batchelor. Adamson walked out towards the end of the sessions before all the guitar overdubs were completed. Session guitarist Chris Jenkins was chief maintenance engineer at Townhouse Studios and completed the album using Adamson's studio set up, adding additional guitar to four tracks – "Into
960-476: The thirtieth anniversary of the group's formation and as a final tribute to Stuart Adamson, who had died in 2001. The shows on 4 and 5 July were at Dunfermline's Glen Pavilion (where they were supported by Rosyth band The Draymin), outside which Skids had previously played only their second gig, according to Jobson, and on 7 July at the T in the Park festival . Skids returned to the stage on 28 November 2009 as one of
992-461: Was popularised in the 1980s by the Pogues . It is considered part of the broader folk punk genre, although that term is often used in North America for acoustic forms of punk rock rather than a mixture of traditional folk music and punk rock. The typical Celtic punk band includes rock instrumentation as well as traditional instruments such as bagpipes , fiddle , tin whistle , accordion , mandolin , and banjo . Like Celtic rock , Celtic punk
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1024-466: Was released on a flexi-disc single as a free gift with a March 1980 issue of Smash Hits . In February 1980, one of Skids' founding members, William Simpson, left and was replaced by Russell Webb (bass guitar, backing vocals, keyboards, percussion, and guitar). Webb joined as a permanent band member and immediately started work on the recording of the band's third album The Absolute Game , released in 1980 and produced by Mick Glossop. It proved to be
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