King Prawn are an English

ska punk Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music together. (sometimes spelled skacore) is a subgenre of ska punk that mixes ska with hardcore punk. Early ska punk mixed both 2 tone and ska with hard ...

band founded in 1993. The band split in 2003, later reforming for a second run in 2012.

History

The band's formation was in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, 1993. The first major recording was ''First Offence'' three years later, produced by Martin "Ace" Kent of

Skunk Anansie Skunk Anansie are a British rock band whose members include Skin (lead vocals, guitar), Cass (bass, guitar, backing vocals), Ace (guitar, backing vocals) and Mark Richardson (drums and percussion). Skunk Anansie formed in 1994, disbanded in 2 ...

. King Prawn toured regularly with a broad range of bands, varying from

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

to traditional and 2 Tone

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

bands. The band called time on their first incarnation in 2003.

Hiatus

After the band split,

Babar Luck Babar Luck is a songwriter and musician based in the UK. Born in Pakistan in 1970 he moved to London at the age of eight years and was educated in East London Background Former bassist of the British skacore band King Prawn, Babar Luck has a ...

, the bass player, started to perform under his own name. In 2006, he release the album ''Care in the Community,'' and has since released several solo and collaborative recordings. In the summer of 2007, Al Rumjen joined

Asian Dub Foundation Asian Dub Foundation (ADF) is an English electronic music band that combines musical styles including rap rock, dub, dancehall, ragga, and South Asian music. The group also includes traditional rock instruments such as electric bass and guit ...

as their new vocalist. His first performance as a member of Asian Dub Foundation was at The Womad Festival in Singapore and his first album with the band was ''

Punkara Punkara is the sixth studio album by the collective Asian Dub Foundation. It was recorded with The Go! Team producer, Gareth Parton at The Fortress Studios, London. It is the first album released with new singer Al Rumjen formerly of King Praw ...

''.

Reformation

In 2012, the band reformed and played festivals and a club tour. They featured an extended brass section with a keys player, but without

. In 2013, the band played at Boomtown Festival and

Reading & Leeds Festivals The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Fest ...

and competed a UK tour in November 2013. The band released two tracks on the

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

platform in 2014. A fifth LP was released in April 2019 called ''The Fabulous new sounds of ...'' on Cherry Red Records. In 2020, the band released two singles and started work on their sixth album.

Awards

They were nominated for a ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

'' award in 1998 for Best New British Band, and in 2000 for Spirit of Independence.

Style

King Prawn blend elements of

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

, dub,

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

, and hip hop into their music, which they dub "wildstyle". In 2016, Jones stated that

The Dead Kennedys Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California, in 1978. The band was one of the defining punk bands during its initial eight-year run. Dead Kennedys' lyrics were usually political in nature, satirizing ...

Crass Crass were an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977, who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a lifestylism, way of life, and a resistance movement. Crass popularised the anarcho-punk movement of the ...

Public Enemy "Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe ...

Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to simply Rage) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commer ...

, and

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

all influenced the band.

Members

Current members

* Al Rumjen - vocals * Nikolai Jones - drums * Devil Hands - guitar * Zac Chang bass guitar * Dr Nelly - cornet * Alex Gordon - trumpet * Matt Dowse - trombone * Nick Horne - Keyboards & trumpet

Former members

(1993–2003) bass guitar

Discography

Studio albums

* '' First Offence'' - 1995, (extended EP, 2001 remastered & re-released) * '' Fried in London'' - 1998, (2001 remastered & re-released) * '' Surrender to the Blender'' - 2000 * '' Got the Thirst'' - 2003 * ''The Fabulous New Sounds of...'' - 2019

Singles and EPs

* ''Poison in the Air"'' - 1995 * ''Felled/Depths of my Soul"'' - 1997 * ''Not Your Punk"'' - 1997 *''Your Worst Enemy'' (EP) - 1999 * ''Day In Day Out"'' - 2000 * ''Someone to Hate"'' - 2000 * ''Done Days / A Solemn Man"'' - 2014 *''Rockas an' Them'' - 2020 *''New Vibrations'' - 2020

Music videos

* "Depths of My Soul" (1997) * "Day In Day Out" (2000) * "Someone to Hate" (2000) * "The Dominant View" (2003)

References

External links

King Prawn interview
{{Authority control English punk rock groups Third-wave ska groups Underground punk scene in the United Kingdom English ska musical groups Political music groups Musical groups from London