The Prongs: Fake Stars Who Fell to Earth is a vivid post-punk Situationist capture of uniquely urban Irish subcultural identity, migration and lost city centre psyches, using pop music, film and literate lyrics as engaging weapons.
Part incendiary cabaret, part rock n’ roll situationist art form, The Prongs sprang from the imaginations of musician, composer and sound-designer Niall Toner jr. and award-winning playwright, novelist, essayist and prankster John Fleming in 2023. Inspired by Fleming’s cult Irish novel The Now Now Express, the long-time Dublin friends decided to drag the fictional band from its pages into reality. The novel’s smart alec heroes find solace in the sharp worldview and music of The Prongs whose chewed-up cassette tapes sit on top of their fridge in a dingy flat in London’s E17 in the 1980s.
Birthed as a sincere art prank, initially to articulate and develop ideas in the book, Toner and Fleming got too good. Having brought out their debut lp Theme from The Now Now Express, The Prongs went on to hack culture itself when referred to as real by the reviewer of Fleming’s novel in The Irish Times. In a magnificent meeting of hearts and minds, Toner composes timeless pieces to match spoken and sung verses by Fleming.
The Prongs channel the characters and atmosphere of the fictional work and have evolved ambitiously into complementary landscapes of psychogeography, lost city centre psyches and pop portraits of their own art heroes. Their new lp is shaping up as remarkable.
In July 2023, their debut real-world show at the Project Arts Centre was ecstatically reviewed. It served to launch the album recorded by Toner in his studio with Fleming – award-winning Berlin-based cellist Elliot Murphy was recruited to contribute additional compositions. The Prongs debut lp and follow-up EP (Psychogeography) have received extensive airplay on BBC Radio 6 Music’s Riley and Coe show, RTE’s Radio One and 2FM, and a host of independent radio stations. The Prongs were invited to perform in The Irish Centre in London’s Camden Town last spring alongside Sean O’Hagan (of Microdisney and The High Llamas) and appeared at last summer’s All Together Now festival. The Prongs performed sold-out shows at Whelan’s and Dublin’s Grand Social, as well as a show at the Button Factory with special guest Martin Bramah, founder of legendary post-punk band The Fall.
The Prongs will play infectious favourites from their acclaimed Theme from The Now Now Express lp and recent Psychogeography ep. Most importantly they will unveil eagerly awaited songs from their forthcoming new album. Listen out for Dandelion Dandies (about the Celtic beatniks who wove the magic carpet for Ireland’s
technicolour new wave), Hector Grey (if you break it, you pay), Antoine Doinel (I knew him well) and Stanley Milgrim Says (a real shocker).
Their new album is due later this year (working title: If You Break It, You Pay) with a single Truant from the Psychogeography ep due out in late May. The Prongs are currently shooting the final scenes for their feature film The Unlikely Assassination of a Saint, an “art house gangster caper” directed by legendary conceptual artist Dave Clifford. It stars Toner and Fleming as the unlikely assassins with Eamon Carr of Horslips as St Patrick.
The Prongs are booked to play the Electric Picnic in August and will be on tour throughout the summer. The Prongs’ only Dublin show this year is Fake Stars They Fell to Earth at Project Arts on July 11th.
