The Prodigy's musical history began in 1991 with their first EP, What Evil Lurks, consisting primarily of the early work of a young Liam Howlett. The single did not go unnoticed by the then rave scene and immediately fell into rotation in various clubs. Even in our time, this disc is considered almost a cult hardcore thing, the original of which is almost impossible to get anywhere.
Following the successful release of their debut single, the band toured the UK, playing mainly in small underground clubs. But already their first foreign concert in Italy was enthusiastically received by Italian ravers. They hailed The Prodigy as the best band in the rave scene at the time.
On August 12, 1991, Prodigy released their first single, the legendary “Charly.” Already several months before the official release, many media outlets showed genuine interest in the single. And their expectations were met when "Charly" soared to number one on the UK Dance Chart and reached number three on the Top 40 chart. "Charly" sparked a wave of interest in Prodigy record companies, but also fueled various aggressive debates regarding the demise of the rave scene. (Many people remember famous article in Melody Maker "Did Charly Kill the Rave?"). But amid the general outrage, it was easy to miss the fact that "Charly" was one of the most successful releases of its time. And a much better thing than the releases of rival groups that rained down on the British dance scene after him. 22-year-old Liam was attacked by aggressive musicians of the time for overcoming the concept of "Love, Peace and Happiness" that dominated the dance scene of the early 90s. Liam is a classically trained pianist (it should be noted that not without the help of his parents, who really wanted their son to be an “expert” of black and white keys), whose ambitions to “make a couple of tracks” were suddenly buried, so Liam now concentrated on maintaining his status as a successful representative of the hardcore scene. Mixing the unique hip-hop sound and crazy house music allowed for a long time to be on the Olympus of the British underground and achieve the respect of the music community.
The next single appeared in December 1991. Fueled by the success of "Charly", "Everybody In The Place" quickly jumped to number two on the national charts. And only the re-released “Bohemian Rhapsody” blocked his path to the top. In September 1992, the Prodigy released their third hit single, “Fire/Jericho,” which clearly paved the way for the group’s debut album. Before the release of “Experience,” no one had yet managed to release a successful full-length hard dance album. Prodigy's debut, however, broke the hitherto unshakable rules. The album consisted of new material from the group, and also combined the most successful remixes of previous singles, which was appreciated by thousands of people who bought the disc. The album immediately broke into the UK charts and settled in 11th place. The disc was recognized as “gold”. And within a few days, “Experience” was #1 and remained at the top of the charts for 25 weeks! The next single, “Out of Space,” immediately found itself in the “Top 15,” as did its predecessor, “Wind it Up.” Despite the huge success of Prodigy, Liam felt the need to improve his style. Due to endless tours in Australia, Holland, Germany, America, and work remixing songs for Jesus Jones, Front 242 and The Art of Noise, Liam was exposed to new musical influences. And he wanted to reflect this in his future works. As he put it:
“I understood that the group must progress and develop, must go forward and forward.”
When the single "One Love" appeared in October 1993, it was clear that Liam had made his dreams come true.
"One Love" contained more techno than previous works group, and fans reacted positively to the changes. The single ended up in eighth position. The promotion of the single was undoubtedly facilitated by the appearance of a fantastic video. The "One Love" video was entirely computer generated. For its filming it was used completely new technology, brought from the States. The result was simply amazing, and it was an undeniable step forward for the development of the group. "No Good (Start The Dance)", released on May 16, 1994, turned out to be the most successful release in the group's history. The single spent an unforgettable 7 weeks in the Top 10 chart. There couldn't have been a better time to release the band's second album.
When Music For The Jilted Generation was released in July, it was a phenomenal success for the band and financial side, and from the point of view of music critics. As soon as the album appeared, it immediately topped the charts. Almost all the British tabloids erupted in a shower of praise. NME called Liam "RoboCop and modern-day Beethoven rolled into one." Select stated that "Music For The Jilted Generation" is the best thing to be heard on music scene this year, while Melody Maker called the album "fucking great." The listeners also agreed with everything. After 2 weeks of release, the album was already certified gold and had sold over a million copies worldwide. A merciless hail of awards rained down on the group: “Mercury Music Prize”, “MTV Best Dance”, “Best Dance LP”, “Best Dance Act”.
Prodigy began non-stop tours. 1994-95 was a period of a huge number of concerts, shows, and festivals. The group traveled all over the world with a terribly busy schedule. A radical change in Keith Flint's image allowed him to appear on the covers of many periodicals. The group was admired from Iceland to Japan. Everywhere their performances were accompanied by sold-out crowds and madness at the concerts.
In 1995, "Poison" became the band's ninth single to chart. The video “The Prodigy: Electronic Punks” allowed the group to also enter the video charts. Their performance at the Glastonbury festival was recognized as the best, confirming the metamorphosis of the Prodigy's rebirth from a rave team into one of the most exciting and intriguing groups of our time.
When Firestarter was released in 1996, Liam said it was an experimental track, but it proved to be a significant breakthrough for the band. The single topped the charts around the world. Then the less commercial "Breathe" was released. Better! When “The Fat Of The Land” was released in the summer of 1997, it topped the charts in 22 countries! In the first 3 weeks, more than 2.5 million copies of the disc were sold worldwide. Unprecedented success for dance team. Their live performances have been hailed as the best shows on the planet.
1998-1999 turned out to be a rather quiet period in hectic life Prodigy. They stated that they "didn't want to be such a popular and commercial group, but no matter what, they continue to grow and develop", as evidenced by the constant increase in the number of Internet sites about Prodigy. By the way, Liam once said:
“I hate the Internet. I think it's a big pile of crap. Mountains of unnecessary information."
In 1999, Liam finally realized his lifelong dream by releasing a solo DJ mix album, The Dirtchamber Sessions Volume One. The disc contains personal tracks such famous groups, like the Beastie Boys, Grandmaster Flash and many others. The album was warmly received by fans, but nevertheless was not particularly commercially successful. That same year, while attending a motorcycle race, Kate Flint was involved in a serious accident in which he injured his knee.
In 1999, the soundtrack to the porn film “The Uranus Experiment Part Three: Back To Earth!” was released. with the track "Titan", which Liam wrote together with "3D" from the group "Massive Attack".
On April 4, 2000, longtime dancer Leeroy Thornhill left the group. According to Leeroy himself, he did this of his own free will in order to start solo career(under the pseudonym "FlightCrank"). Since then, Leeroy has released one album and became interested in DJing; it was as a DJ that Leeroy became a frequent and long-awaited guest in Russia.
In 2001, Prodigy re-released their debut album, Experience. Now it is a two-disc edition: the first disc contains the album itself, and the second contains b-sides and remixes of that period. The release is called “Experience: Expanded”.
After a long silence (for the first time since 1997), in 2002 the group’s new single “Babys Got a Temper” was released, which Liam Howlett subsequently disowned. As it became known later, the song was written by the group “Flint”, which was created by Keith Flint, but which then broke up without releasing its first album. Keith performed the full vocal part on the track.
In 2004, the group's long-awaited new album, Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned, was released, which immediately soared to the top of the English charts and the American Billboard in the Electronic Albums chart section. In October, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Electronic/Dance Album category. It is worth noting that neither Maxim nor Kate Flint took part in the recording of the album. Among the invited guests on the album are Liam Gallagher from Oasis, Kool Keith, Twista and actress Juliette Lewis. In October 2004, a world tour began in support of the new album. On June 18 and 19, 2005, unforgettable concerts of the group took place in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
On October 17, 2005, the fifth album “Their Law: The Singles 1990-2005” was released. The album is a collection of the group's greatest hits, which is released in two versions: regular and limited. The first edition features only the group's singles, and instead of "Voodoo People" a new version of "Voodoo People (05 Edit)" was recorded, and "Their Law" was re-edited and renamed "Their Law (05 Edit)". but unlike "Voodoo People (05 Edit)", it was simply cut. The limited edition version was released in 2CD format. The first disc, just like the original release, contains hits, and the second disc contains live recordings and several exclusive tracks, such as: “Razor”; "Back 2 Skool"; "Voodoo People (Pendulum Remix)"; "Under My Wheels (Remix)"; "No Man Army (Edit)"; "Voodoo Beats"; "Out Of Space (Audio Bullys Remix)" and "The Way It Is (Live Remix)".
In 2006, the collection “Back To Mine: Liam Prodigy” was released, which collected Liam’s favorite tracks from other artists. As a bonus, a studio recording of the track “Wake The Fuck Up” was presented, which was performed only at concerts.
In 2007, The Prodigy released the track “First Warning,” which had previously only been played live. The studio version, different from the concert version, was released as the soundtrack to the film "Smokin Aces". In the same year, the group released 3 tracks: "Shadow", "Shadow Of The Devil" and " The Shadow" All of them, except for similar names, have a common structure and are slightly modified versions of each other. Shadow (6:54) was released on the soundtrack to the game "Project Gotham Racing 4", Shadow Of The Devil (2:59) appeared on the soundtrack compilation for the English horror film "Reverb", and The Shadow (4:07) became the soundtrack to anime "Vexille".
On August 4, 2008, remastered reissues of the first two albums were released: “Experience” and “Music For The Jilted Generation”. The reissues were titled "Experience Expanded Remastered" and "More Music For The Jilted Generation". Both albums are double-disc editions. The first discs contain remasterings of the albums themselves, and the second discs contain remastered tracks from those eras. Particularly interesting are the previously unreleased tracks: “Out Of Space (Live From Pukkelpop 2005)” from “Experience Expanded Remastered” and “Break & Enter (2005 Live Edit)”, “Voodoo People (Radio 1 Maida Vale Session)”, “Poison ( Radio 1 Maida Vale Session)", "Their Law (Live At Pukkelpop)" with "More Music For The Jilted Generation".
Howlett's musical career began in the mid-80s. He was a DJ for the British rap group Cut 2 Kill. By the way, Liam has a classical education as a pianist.
When the group formed, in addition to the well-known four members of The Prodigy, there was another member of the group - their girlfriend named Sharky. Subsequently, she left the group because she did not want to start a professional activity.
Sharky can be seen in the 2005 video for "Voodoo People (Pendulum Remix)", which is about winning a marathon while blindfolded.
The band's first live show was at a place called the Labyrinth in 1990 (the show was organized by Ziggy, who would later become their first manager). The concert attracted about 250 people, but it was nonetheless successful. It's also worth noting that this was the first time the band members met Maxima, who also enjoyed the concert (even though he was into reggae at the time).
The first foreign performance took place in Italy.
Liam took the band's name from his first synthesizer, Moog Prodigy.
The symbol of the group is the ant.
Keith Flint was the first bully at school, but at the same time he was the first to get a job and have some money, so he was always confident in himself.
The Prodigy's performance at the Glastonbury Festival in 1995 was recognized as the best.
Liam Howlett wanted to call his second album Music for the Cool Young Juvenile" or "Music for the Joyriders", but neither of the titles satisfied him and he finally came up with the final title of the album: "Music for the Jilted Generation".
The Prodigy performed with the Chemical Brothers, Moby, David Bowie, Rage Against The Machine, Sepultura, Dog Eat Dog, Suede.
In the USA there is a rap duo called Mobb Deep, one of whose members is called Prodigy. In 2006, he released his second solo album, Return Of The Mac, which misled many fans of The Prodigy.
British team Prodigy is one of the most influential bands performing music in the styles of rave, break beat and techno, although its founder, keyboardist and main composer Liam Howlett has repeatedly called his brainchild a real punk band. Anyway, The story Prodigy began in 1990, when the young DJ Howlett recorded a demo tape of 10 songs and sent it to XL Recordings - the musician used the name of the first model of analog synthesizers that he had as the name of the band. Moog Prodigy. Nick Holkes, head of XL Recordings, appreciated the material and released a 4-song single, What Evil Lurks. The Prodigy's first public performance took place six months later in London. Even then, the lineup included Howlett's new acquaintances - former punk and vocalist Keith Flint and DJ Leeroy Thornhill, who were originally dancers. Also, for a short time, one girl was in the team - Sharky. The Prodigy quickly became a sensation at all rave and hardcore techno parties. What Evil Lurks reached number 3 in the UK singles chart, but the musicians did not stop there and released several more singles - “G-Force (Energy Flow)” for the Kaos Theory rave compilation and the very successful single “Charlie”, which caused a mixed reaction from critics, who called the band’s music “children’s rave” for the excessive cheerfulness of the composition. In September 1992, the first full-length album was released Experience, which gave the British dance floor 5 singles at once, including the already famous “Charlie”. The lineup expanded somewhat - the talented MC Maxim Reality stood at the microphone, who later became the main vocalist and author of some of the lyrics.
A year later, The Prodigy decided to move on and break with the “kids rave”, and Howlett released the untitled single “Earthbound I”, which caused a wide resonance in the techno-rave underground, which was gradually moving away from happy hardcore towards harder music. Moreover, listeners and critics were shocked when it turned out that the authorship of the composition belonged to the group. The single was officially re-released under the title “One Love” (it rose to number 8 on the British singles chart), and in 1994 The Prodigy’s second album, Music for the Jilted Generation, was released, which almost immediately took first place on the national charts. . Howlett combined not only techno, but also electronic rock in his updated music, which significantly expanded the audience of listeners. The song “Their Law” was a response to the public’s statement that “rave is primitive toot-toot music.” The Prodigy's popularity grew rapidly, and the lineup was replenished with live guitarist Jim Davis, who was later replaced by Jizz Butt.
In 1996, the single “ Firestarter", on which Flint performed vocals for the first time - the song took first place in the British singles chart, and also entered the US charts. A year later, the group - now simply Prodigy - released the long-awaited album The Fat Of The Land, which became a real breakbeat sensation. Musical part was filled with all sorts of hard rhythms and industrial samples, as well as the punk vocals of Flint, who began sharing vocal duties with Maxim. Last but not least, the growth of interest in the Prodigy is due to the infamous song “ Smack My Bitch Up", as well as an explicit video clip for it. Various organizations fighting for women's rights took up arms against the group, although the musicians themselves stated that the public (as often happened) misinterpreted the lyrics and concept of the song. Also in British music festival Reading there was a conflict between Prodigy and Beastie Boys– the latter demanded that the song “Smack My Bitch Up” be removed from the former’s setlist, which did not happen. The Wal-mart and Kmart store chains refused to sell the disc, although they managed to sell almost 150,000 copies together.
In 1999, the controversial The Dirtchamber Sessions Volume One was released, which was Howlett's solo work rather than a Prodigy product. The team parted ways with Butt, and then Thornhill left due to life's troubles, and the Prodigy temporarily went to the bottom - on the main page of the official website until 2002, only the logo and the phrase “We will be back” were posted. The musicians, in turn, took up their own solo projects. After a long break in 2002, the Prodigy (now as a trio - Howlett, Maxim, Flint) released the single "Baby's Got A Temper", written by Flint and his band Flint - Howlett participated in the recording, as well as guitarist Jim Davis. The song received mostly negative reviews, but in the same year Q magazine included Prodigy in its list of "50 bands to see in your lifetime". At the same time, the video for “Smack My Bitch Up” took 1st place on MTV’s list of the most controversial video clips.
The Prodigy's new album, Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned, was released in August 2004. The disc was well received at home, but in the United States the public did not try the new material. The singles were “Memphis Bells” and “Girls” - 5,000 copies of the first could be purchased via the Internet and, despite problems with the server, the “circulation” was sold out in 36 hours. The unsuccessful single “Baby’s Got a Temper” was originally planned for this album, but then the musicians decided to exclude the song from the tracklist and rework the material somewhat. In 2005, the compilation Their Law: The Singles 1990-2005 was released - it included remixes of old songs and video clips. In August 2008, the first two Prodigy albums – Experience and Music For The Jilted Generation – were expanded and re-released.
At the same time, the group presented the public with several new songs, one of which, “First Warning,” was included in the soundtracks for the film “Smokin’ Aces” and for the game Need for Speed: Undercover. In February 2009, the Prodigy released a new album, Invaders Must Die, which sold 97,000 copies in the UK in its first week. Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters) performed drums on several songs. According to the musicians, they tried to return to their roots. The single "Omen" topped the charts. After this, Prodigy toured extensively, and at the end of 2010 they announced the start of work on their new album.
Our today's hero is the bright and crazy musician Keith Flint. The biography of this blond man with tattoos is of interest to many fans of the Prodigy group. All information about him is presented in the article. We wish you pleasant reading!
short biography
Keith Flint was born on September 17, 1969 in one of the administrative districts of London - Redbridge. He comes from a middle-income family. WITH early years the boy was dancing. They predicted a brilliant future for him in this direction of art. As a teenager, Keith became seriously interested in rock music. His idols were the participants groups Pink Floyd.
Creative path
In the 80s, the guy became interested in rave culture. He grew long hair, wore bright T-shirts and a leather jacket. In the late 1980s, at a party in a rave club, Keith Flint met DJ Liam Howlett. Our hero highly appreciated his talent. Soon he offered Liam cooperation. The DJ agreed.
In 1990, The Prodigy was created. It included: Flint himself, his friend Leeroy Thornhill and Liam Howlett. At first, Keith was a dancer. And he became the lead singer of the group only in 1996.
Over the 26-year history of its existence, the Prodigy group has released 6 studio albums, shot dozens of videos and given hundreds of concerts around the world. This group is still very popular among listeners aged 14 to 40 years. Many of us remember and love the following tracks such as Breathe, Smack My Bitch Up, Voodoo People and others.
Flint experimented several times with solo and side projects. He created two groups - Flint and Clever Brains Fryin." At the same time, the musician did not intend to leave Prodigy. Our hero managed to release only one commercial single AIM4 of his group Flint. But the debut album Device #1 never went on sale.
Personal life
WITH youth The daring musician and dancer was popular with girls. Keith Flint often had affairs with young beauties.
His first serious relationship began with TV presenter Gail Porter. They lived under the same roof and established a common life. However, things never came to a wedding. In 2000, Gail and Kate separated.
7 years ago our hero met a new love. His chosen one was model and DJ Mayumi Kai (Japanese by nationality). At first, the couple lived in a civil marriage. And 3 years ago, Kate Flint and Mayumi officially became husband and wife. They don't have children yet.
Finally
We briefly studied the biography of Keith Flint. Before us is a bright and extraordinary personality who always achieves her goals. Let's wish him creative prosperity and family happiness!
Liam is the main man in the group. He writes, performs and records almost all of the Prodigy's songs. Howlett's main place of work is his home studio (Earthbound Studios). Liam has knowledge of classical piano and is also proficient in the art of DJing. His musical career began with the role of DJ in the local hip-hop crew "Cut 2 Kill", which he later left, disillusioned with hip-hop culture. After that, he used the money he earned at a construction site to buy his first synthesizer, “Moog Prodigy.” The name of this synthesizer later gave the name to Liam’s future group. Liam - big fan horror films. Many Prodigy tracks contain samples from various horror films, such as "Poltergeist III" (Crazy Man) and "The Shining" (The Heat The Energy). Howlett even has a collection of items from various horror films in his home. For example, in his room there is a two-meter coffin, adapted for a bar. Rumor has it that Liam has a ten-foot green rat in his living room.
Maxim is the voice of the group. He is the permanent host of all Prodigy live performances. Maxim became interested in the art of MC at the age of 14. He watched his older brother (MC Starkey) perform with rapture. It was his brother who gave Maxim the first few lessons in using a microphone. And from that time Maxim began to develop his performance style. (He even DJed for a while). Maxim's harsh, aggressive vocals make any audience go wild. Maxim's voice is very difficult to portray, since his vocal power is approximately 100 decibels. Maxim has been writing music since childhood. He's already released 2 solo album- "Hell's Kitchen", which was released on October 4, 2000, and "Fallen Angel", which was released in 2005. Maxim showed himself not only as talented musician, but also as the author of high-quality, meaningful social lyrics that abound on the albums. A solo career provided an opportunity to fully reveal Maxim’s abilities and musical passions. Despite his active career in Prodigy, Maxim continues to engage in solo work. He has his own recording studio at home, where he spends a lot of his free time. It should be noted that in the mid-90s Maxim also released the white label "Grim the Reaper". But only 500 copies of this work exist somewhere in London. And getting them is considered almost impossible.
Kate is probably the most famous person in Group. Kate is the face of Prodigy. First of all, this is due to his appearance and a strange manner of behavior on stage. Almost every part of Keith’s body is pierced and painted with various tattoos. At the band's live performances, Flint behaves like a maniac who has escaped from a mental hospital: he tries in every possible way to warm up the crowd, sometimes even pouring water on the audience or spitting on them. He even once offered to set himself on fire at one of the group’s performances, but, thank God, he was dissuaded. As a child, Keith loved Pink Floyd and all British rock culture. This is also evidenced by his image of those times: long hair, leather jacket. Keith traveled a lot on his motorcycle and went to a lot of different places. In the 80s, he, like other Prodigy members, became interested in rave culture and did not miss a single rave party. But, despite the image of a psychopath, Kate is a very kind and sympathetic person. One of his favorite hobbies is tinkering in the garden. But what Kate is really passionate about is motorcycle racing. A motorcycle is EVERYTHING for him! I think everyone remembers how Keith scared all the Prodigy fans by almost crashing on a motorcycle. This happened just a couple of weeks before the concert in St. Petersburg.
Liroy was interested in dancing from an early age. He was and still is a big fan of James Brown. As a child, he could sit for hours in front of the TV, watching his idol dance. A little later, Leeroy himself was swept up in the wave of hip-hop, and in particular, its irreplaceable component - break dancing. He and his friends played break all night long right in the center of the city on a piece of linoleum they had taken with them. With the formation of the Prodigy group, Leeroy took on the role of the main and indispensable dancer. (Not many people know that Leeroy did more than just dance. Early on, he played keys during "Rock n' Roll" while Liam played drums.)
Beginning in 1994, Leeroy began assembling his own recording studio, and on April 4, 2000, he left Prodigy to begin a solo career under the pseudonym Flightcrank (by the way, Flightcrank is the name of a very expensive BMX model that Leeroy really wanted to have as a child, but there was no money for it. Now he has it). His debut album "Beyond All Reasonable Doubt" was released on April 2, 2001. Now Leeroy has become seriously interested in DJing, and it was as a DJ that he became a frequent and long-awaited guest in Russia. When asked if it’s easy to be a DJ, Leeroy replied: “It’s so easy that anyone can be one. I’m just nuts when a DJ starts to consider himself something like God. Anyone can become a DJ. In the world there are a lot of people who are cooler than me, but they are simply in the shadows, they have no chance to come out into the light, to express themselves. But I like DJing - it gets me through." On this moment Leeroy seems to be completely happy. Him loving wife, my little daughter is growing up. At the same time, he continues to actively tour and host major dance shows in Europe. He lives with his wife and daughter in windmill in a remote English village. (His recording studio is also located there). Of course, he still has a connection with the group. "I don't know what's going to happen after The Prodigy's next album. But I'd love to do something together."
Rob Halliday joined Prodigy on May 16, 2005. He was the live guitarist for the industrial metal band Marilyn Manson and the bands Gary Numan, Sulpher. He participated in 2007 as live bassist for Marilyn Manson, but became electric guitarist in January 2008 due to the return of former bassist Twiggy Ramirez. In 2005 he took a place in The Prodigy replacing Jim Davis, who decided to take up solo career, stayed in the group for 2 years, after which he left. In 2008, Rob rejoined the Prodigy and remains with them to this day.
Joined Prodigy in 2008 while performing in Poland. Since childhood, he loved to bang on pots and create a lot of unpleasant noise. When Leo was born, his first gift was a drum, which he got from his grandfather. After listening to his father's recordings, he decided to start a career as a drummer. When Leo turned 12, he was given a drum kit. For several years he performed in the school orchestra with his sister, mostly in jazz performances. After leaving school, he worked for several years as a music teacher at the university in Birmingham. He met former Prodigy drummer Kieron Pepper several times. One fine day, Kieron invited him to record a video of Leo playing the drum kit. Soon Leo got an audition and became a permanent drummer in the group.
Kieron Pepper joined the Prodigy as drummer in December 1997 for a tour of England, and has been with the band ever since. At some concerts he performed as a guitarist.
Before Prodigy, Kieron played in the bands The Changelings, Earlandpepper, Garp and Realtv. With "Realtv" he released the mini-album "Now Wash Your Hands". After Realtv split up, Kieron and Realtv bass player formed a new band called Happy Gilmore. In it, Pepper acts as a vocalist, guitarist and is responsible for electronics.
Kieron played guitar on Maxim's hit single "Carmen Queasy". And he co-wrote some songs on Leeroy's solo project "Flightcrank".
Musical influences: The The, Nine Inch Nails, U2, The Soupdragons, Depeche Mode, Pixies, Electro and Streetsounds, Led Zeppelin, Lalo Schifrin. Currently collaborating with Gordy, together with him they organized their own project. The project was formed in 2010 and during this time they have already managed to perform in many cities of Russia and Ukraine, including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Odessa, N. Novgorod and Kyiv, invariably gathering full dance floors of lovers of high-quality electronic music.
After Jim Davis left the Prodigy in 1996, the band needed a new guitarist, and after some time a journalist from Kerrang!, who was a good friend of Gizz Butt, passed on his phone number to the band. And so Gizz joined Prodigy.
Gizz (real name Graham) was born and lives in Peterborough. He is not new to the music arena. Butt began performing with various punk bands at the age of 14! Since the same age, he has gone by his pseudonym - Gizz (short for Gizzard - a character from a popular TV show). His first team was the punk band "English Dogs", in which he played guitar and sang a little. Afterwards, together with two other members of the group, Gizz assembled a new band - "Janus Stark" (a character from the comics of the 70s) - a punk band with an interesting sound. The group released their debut album, Great Adventure Cigar, in 1997. In his new band, Gizz Butt proved that he is not only an excellent guitarist, but also a talented songwriter and a good frontman.
As for Prodigy, Gizz fell in love with this team when he was still touring with the English Dogs. The guys let him listen to "" and he was completely delighted. Gizz toured with Prodigy throughout the entire tour in support of " The Fat of the Land"and took part in many other concerts. It is worth noting that many Prodigy fans prefer this particular guitarist, since he and Keith Flint looked very cool together on stage: both ran around like crazy, jumped and did the unimaginable!
Currently, Gizz devotes all his free time to the group "Janus Stark".
Jim Davis is known as a member of the English noise terrorist group Pitchshifter (since 1999), leader of his own band The One Condition, and for his collaborations with the Prodigy, both live and in the studio. My musical career Jim started out in several obscure punk and cover bands famous songs. Then he was engaged in studio work as a session musician. He first met Prodigy in 1995 when the band played at the university where Jim was studying. Davis went to that concert with the goal of seeing their guitarist, but when he didn't find one, he recorded a demo tape and gave it to Liam Howlett. After 2 weeks, Liam called back and offered to perform with them.
Jim Davis performed with the Prodigy until 1996. At concerts, his guitar work was used to perform such tracks as "Their Law", "Break And Enter "95" and various interludes. Jim's guitar parts appear on the albums " Music for the Jilted Generation" And " The Fat of the Land"He also took part in Keith Flint's solo activities, and performed guitar parts on the tracks "Scheming" and "Prism" from Maxim's album "Hell's Kitchen".
Along with Prodigy's return to concert activities in 2002, Jim began performing with the group again at festivals and concerts. But on May 12, 2005, it became known that he was leaving the group in order to fully concentrate on his group “The One Condition”. Jim assured all fans that he would continue to collaborate with Prodigy on studio recordings.
Jim's biggest musical influences include Jimi Hendrix, The Edge (U2), Damebag Darrell (Pantera/Damageplan), Page Hamilton (Helmet) and Steve Vai.
Favorite bands: NOFX, Rage Against the Machine, Korn, The Jam, Helmet, Smashing Pumpkins, Atari Teenage Riot.
With your greatest musical achievements Jim thinks: first sentence Prodigy perform with them, perform with Pitchshifter on main stage Reading festival, two sold-out shows in Astoria in support of Pitchshifter's "Deviant" album, and the subsequent offer from Prodigy to perform with them again.
The only girl to ever perform live with Prodigy. Sharkey stands at the origins of the group. Along with Liam, Keith, Maxim and Leeroy, she is considered the founder of Prodigy. Sharky was Keith and Leeroy's girlfriend, and they often partied together in various clubs in Essex. She danced on stage during the band's very first and early performances. The first performance took place in 1990 at the Labyrinth club in east London. The last concert with her participation took place at the end of 1990. It is worth noting that the girl simply liked to dance to her favorite music. Perhaps this was the reason why she left the team so early. When the guys signed their first contract with XL-Recordings, she felt that it was all too serious and professional for her. She was a big influence on Keith and Leeroy's dance style! On the first singles from the album "Experience" and two albums, Sharkey is mentioned in the "Acknowledgments" section. And in 2005, Sharkey took part in the filming of the video for Voodoo People (Pendulum Remix). This showed that even after so many years, the Prodigy members remember Sharkey, who helped the group break through musical Olympus in the era of harsh rave.
The Rev (Paul James) met The Prodigy in December 2005 when his punk band Towers of London supported Brixton Academy. Liam got to know the band better, and after Rob left, 22-year-old The Rev received an offer to play for them. According to Paul, becoming a guitarist in a rock band has always been his dream.
"I was in three bands when I was 14, and if it hadn't been for all that, I wouldn't be where I am today. It just goes to show that if you work hard, you'll get what you deserve. I was a fan of The Prodigy before getting the chance to play with them and go have a beer with them Now I can’t even believe it - “Wow! We're friends now!' But I have to be cool when I'm performing in front of 45,000 people and Kate Flint is constantly jumping around me."
The Rev will always remember its Lancastrian roots and will not leave Towers of London, although it does not know what is best for the future.
