Discipline is an American

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band formed in 1987 by singer-songwriter Matthew Parmenter. Based in Detroit, Michigan the band has released five studio albums, two live albums, a live DVD, and a live concert motion picture. Discipline may be best known for their 1997 release ''Unfolded Like Staircase.''

History

Discipline was formed in 1987, adopting its name from an influential

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

. The band have released multiple studio albums and appeared at several progressive rock festivals, including

Nearfest The North East Art Rock Festival, or NEARfest for short, was a multi-day event celebrating the resurgence of progressive and eclectic music in the United States and around the world. The event was held annually in early summer in Bethlehem, Pennsy ...

, RoSfest, ProgScape, the Orion Studios progressive rock showcase, Summers End, Terra incognita, Veruno Prog Festival and six appearances at ProgDay. In addition, the band did a 1993 tour in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

to support their first studio recording ''Push & Profit''. The tour was organized by students of the

Norwegian University of Life Sciences The Norwegian University of Life Sciences ( no, Norges miljø- og biovitenskapelige universitet, NMBU) is a public university located in Ås, Norway. It is located at Ås in Viken, near Oslo, and at Adamstuen in Oslo and has around 5,200 stude ...

in Ås,

near

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

. The band is best known for its 1997 album ''Unfolded Like Staircase.'' The band has remained independent since its inception. In 1995 Discipline was approached by the American progressive rock label

Magna Carta Records Magna Carta Records is an independent record label located in Rochester, New York. Magna Carta was formed in 1989 and is owned by Peter Morticelli and his partner Mike Varney. The label, named for the 1215 English document advancing democracy, '' ...

and its European distribution partner Roadrunner Records (originally of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

). Although an early version of the band's epic "Canto IV (Limbo)" appeared on a Magna Carta sampler in 1995, the label deal fell apart due to artistic differences. Later Discipline signed a European distribution deal with

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

's Periferic Records. In 2010

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

's Cyclops/GFT label released "Discipline. Live Days," a double CD compilation pulled from several live concert recordings. In 2011 the band released ''To Shatter All Accord'', their first studio album in fourteen years. Subsequently, in 2012, the band was featured on the cover of the Italian magazine Wonderous Stories and French magazine Koid 9. In 2013, after twenty-five years, the band reissued their first album ''Chaos Out of Order,'' originally released on cassette tape in 1988. In January 2014, the band released a double CD, ''This One's for England,'' recorded live in

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Gettysburg (; non-locally ) is a borough and the county seat of Adams County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg (1863) and President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address are named for this town. Gettysburg is home to th ...

during their appearance at RoSfest in 2012. In 2015 Discipline performed at UK's Summers End music festival. Discipline performed at Italy's 2Days Prog+1 festival on September 2, 2017, billed as “the most important Prog Rock festival in Italy.” The band also played October 22, 2017, at Chicago's 3-day Progtoberfest. Discipline headlined the FestivAlterNativo music festival in Querétaro, Mexico August 25, 2018.

Style

Discipline's style and genre has been variously described. ''

The Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the '' Detroit Tribune'' on Februa ...

'' described them as an "

alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

band." However, the progressive rock website

Prog Archives Prog Archives is an online fan-based website with information on progressive rock bands and musicians. Teams evaluate whether the band or musician should be added to the website or not. As of the summer of 2014, the website had web pages on 8,671 ...

classifies Discipline as "Symphonic Prog". Doug Levy in Detroit's South End newspaper writes of Discipline, "this is not some kind of over-the-top theatrical rock troupe of sorts as much as it is a welcome merging of both

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

and tightly-knit (hence the name) modern rock." John Collinge, publisher of ''Progression Magazine'', writes, "Discipline’s music demands focused attention—preferably with headphones and lyric booklet, at least on the first spin. Once you’ve locked into Parmenter’s vibe, strong melodies and gloriously edgy accompaniment seal the deal." Discipline is a registered trademark of Strung Out Records.

Members

* Matthew Parmenter (1987–present) – vocals, keyboards, violin, saxophone, guitarsTom Gagliardi's Gagliarchives
/ref> * Chris Herin (2014–present) – lead guitar * Jon Preston Bouda (1987–2014) – lead guitar * Mathew Kennedy (1988–present) – bass guitar * Paul Dzendzel (1991–present) – drums * Brad Buszard (1993–1995) – keyboards * Dave Krofchof (1991–1993) – keyboards * Woody Saunders (1987–1991) – drums * Don Bakerian (1987) – backing guitar

Discography

* ''Chaos Out of Order'' (1988) * ''Push & Profit'' (1993) * ''Discipline Live 1995'' (VHS 1995) * ''Unfolded Like Staircase'' (1997) * ''Discipline. Live into the Dream...'' (1999) * ''Discipline Live 1995'' (DVD reissue 2005) * ''Live Days'' (2010) * ''To Shatter All Accord'' (2011) * ''Chaos Out of Order'' – 25th anniversary reissue (2013) * ''This One's for England'' (2014) * ''Discipline Live in Gettysburg'' (motion picture 2015) * ''Captives of the Wine Dark Sea'' (2017)

References

External links