Junior Prom is the artist name of Mark Solomich. Based in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, the band has been operating since 2012 and released their debut EP in February 2014. The debut album "Young Stunners" has been released on a song by song basis starting in July 2015 with the single "Let's Make A Lot of Money"

Career

Early beginnings

Solomich and Erik Ratensperger were both former members of The Rassle. Ratensperger was a member of

The Virgins The Virgins were an American indie rock band formed in 2006 in New York City. The band split up in November 2013. History 2006–2007: Formation Frontman Donald Cumming began writing music by himself in his New York apartment. He then recruited ...

and Solomich of The Takeover UK. They met in 2010 in New York through mutual friends. "Basically from day one, we started playing music together." When it came time to finally decide on a band name, they received some help from a fellow bar goer. "We were talking about possible names and someone suggested Senior Prom, and this old drunk dude sitting a couple feet down was eavesdropping and he was like ‘na na na – Junior Prom’."

Late 2013

In 2013,

Jeff Castelaz Jeff Castelaz founded Cast Management and co-founded The Pablove Foundation. He also Co-Founded and was CEO of Los Angeles-based Dangerbird Records, and was the president of Elektra Records. Career beginnings Castelaz began working in music in ...

signed the duo to

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...

and they released their first single "Sheila Put The Knife Down" on September 30, 2013. They then released their second single "International" on December 17, 2013. The single features Mark’s 66-year-old landlord singing backup vocals.

2014–present

On February 4, 2014, the band released their self-titled debut EP. Originally, Ratensperger and Solomich "wrote and scrapped an entire album before they did the songs on the EP." The pair wrote and produced their EP, which was mostly recorded in Mark’s kitchen and the band's rehearsal space. The music video for "Sheila Put The Knife Down" was also released in February, premiering on

Refinery29 Refinery29 (R29) is an American multinational digital media and entertainment website focused on young women. It is owned by Vice Media. History Justin Stefano, Philippe von Borries, Piera Gelardi, and Christene Barberich co-founded Refinery29 i ...

. After the release of their EP, it was announced that they would support

Panic! at the Disco Panic! at the Disco is the solo project of American musician Brendon Urie. It was originally a pop rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2004 by childhood friends Urie, Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith, and Brent Wilson. They recorded their firs ...

on select dates of their

Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die! ''Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!'' is the fourth studio album by American pop rock band Panic! at the Disco. The album was released on October 8, 2013 on Decaydance and Fueled by Ramen. Recorded as a trio, the album was produced by Butch Walk ...

Tour. They also joined

Bear Hands Bear Hands is an American post-punk and indie rock band, consisting of Dylan Rau (vocals and guitar), Val Loper (bass), Ted Feldman (guitar), and TJ Orscher (drums). Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, United States, and formed in 2006, the band sig ...

on a string of dates during their Summer 2014 Tour across the US. They spent the fall of 2015 on tour with

Andrew McMahon Andrew Ross McMahon (born September 3, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter. He was the vocalist, pianist and primary lyricist for the bands Something Corporate and main songwriter for Jack's Mannequin and performs solo both under his own nam ...

in the Wilderness and Hunter Hunted. In 2014, "Sheila Put the Knife Down" spent 14 weeks in the Alt-18 countdown on

Alt Nation Since 2008, Sirius XM Radio has had a similar channel lineup, with a few differences based on whether the individual has a Sirius, XM, or SiriusXM radio. For technical reasons, separate radios continue to be manufactured for the separate services ...

Sirius XM Radio Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...

and ranked 32 in the year end

Top 36 of 2014. Junior Prom’s music has been featured in various TV Spots. "Big Timer" was featured on the premiere of MTV’s Faking It in April 2014. A month later, it was used on MTV’s

Awkward Awkward may refer to: * Awkwardness or embarrassment, an emotional state of intense discomfort with people * ''Awkward'' (TV series), an American teen comedy series * ''Awkward'' (album), a 2001 album by Ty * ''Awkward'', a 1999 graphic novel by ...

Season 4 Episode 4. Their second single, "International" appeared on ESPN’s College Basketball Anthem 2013-2014. In January 2016 Ratensperger left the band and John Paul Frank joined to release the single "Stand!" "Stand!" appeared on the soundtrack in

Electronic Art Electronic art is a form of art that makes use of electronic media. More broadly, it refers to technology and/or electronic media. It is related to information art, new media art, video art, digital art, interactive art, internet art, and electr ...

s video game

Need for Speed ''Need for Speed'' (''NFS'') is a racing game franchise published by Electronic Arts and currently developed by Criterion Games, the developers of ''Burnout''. The series generally centers around illicit street racing and tasks players to com ...

2015. In September 2016, the band was changed to a solo project of Mark Solomich upon the release of the single "You, Me & Joe Strummer". Solomich is also a writer/producer for other artists including Kissy ("Killer Vibes" & "Osaka") and social media star

Jacob Sartorius Rolf Jacob Sartorius (born October 2, 2002) is an American singer and internet personality who rose to fame via social media after posting lip-syncing videos on Musical.ly. In 2016, he released his debut single "Sweatshirt", which charted on th ...

("All My Friends")

Debut album

In September 2016 Solomich announced "Young Stunners" would be the name of the debut album and it would be released on a song by song basis. The album was produced by Solomich and Ian Longwell, producer/drummer for

Santigold Santi White (born September 25, 1976), known professionally as Santigold (formerly Santogold), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. '' Billboard'' presented her in 2022, saying: "Spanning punk rock, hip-hop, and dance music, S ...

Discography

''Junior Prom'' EP

Junior Prom's debut EP was released on February 4, 2014.

Track listing

''Young Stunners'' LP

Produced by Mark Solomich and Ian Longwell at Stu Stu Studio NYC.Released on a song by song basis throughout 2016-2017.

Track listing

Singles and Remixes

Covers

, September 10, 2012 , "I Can't Go For That" (

Hall and Oates Daryl Hall and John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, are an American pop rock duo formed in Philadelphia in 1970. Daryl Hall is generally the lead vocalist; John Oates primarily plays electric guitar and provides backing vocals. The two ...

) , - , September 28, 2015 , "Best Song Ever" (

One Direction One Direction, often shortened to 1D, are an English-Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group are composed of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously Zayn Malik until his departure from the gr ...

)

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://junior-prom.com/ Indie rock musical groups from New York (state) Musical groups from Brooklyn Rock music duos