The Prongs are back, with their only Dublin show in 2025, peddling their kaleidoscopic post-punk Cheeky Charlies in the fabled dark space of the capital’s Project Arts Centre. Lords of the new wave of lit-rock present as an explosive six-piece band under the deft tutelage of musical maestro Niall Toner jr and mystical wordsmith John Fleming.
Employing sneer, hauntology and the affectionate punch of nostalgia, The Prongs draw knowingly on a bleakly bejewelled pre-EEC and post-punk landscape. Fueled by the glittering literary gem of a novel The Now Now Express, from whose pages they crawled into the spotlight of a delighted fanbase, The Prongs are their own cult literary and musical source.
Carving intelligent tuneful tangents to the 1970s and 1980s “brain drain” diaspora and the eternal Lord Byron of wanderlust, The Prongs will play infectious favourites from their acclaimed Theme from the Now Now Express lp and more recent Psychogeography ep. Most importantly they will unveil eagerly awaited songs from their forthcoming new album. Listen out for Hey Dandy! (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).
Through music and melody, BBC Radio Six darlings The Prongs bring you all this and so much more in a multimedia feast for the eyes and ears. Dislocation. Suburbs. Unease. Broken hearts. Decency. Truancy. Wit. Wisdom. Dismay. Likened to a metaphysical poetic spoken word mutation of The Fall, Public Image Limited, The Velvet Underground and perhaps Pilot, this is impure pop for now people.
The Prongs: Fake Stars Who Fell to Earth is a vivid post-punk Situationist capture of urban Irish subcultural identity, migration and lost city centre psyches using pop music, film and uber literate lyrics as engaging weapons. This is 90 minutes to which you all belong. Grab a seat now.
This Project Arts Centre show comes as Prongs kingpins Fleming and Toner near the completion of their Dave Clifford-directed Celtique-noir gangster feature film The Unlikely Assassination of a Saint featuring Eamon Carr and many luminaries of the Dublin punk rock scene. Tickets are available here: https://shorturl.at/DhJAP
Earlier in the summer, The Prongs go offshore, when they play West Cork’s best independent music festival, the fabulous Bobstock on Cape Clear and later on in the summer they will perform at Electric Picnic.