Initially I was drawn to the band by the mix of male and female vocals. The gruff male vocals came from one Mick Derrick. Who wasn't from Leicester at all. He's Scottish. As you can tell when you hear Prolapse. The softer female voice was supplied by Linda Steelyard. The contrast between their voices is strangely hypnotic. But that doesn't tell the whole story of Prolapse and their sound. Ferocious guitars and tight rhythms combined to produce a cacophony of sound. Add to this the band's desire to do more than 3 minute pop songs - you had a recipe for a band that had a fairly unique sound - but oddly not having a sound that was always the same. They had a range to their sound. If you want comparisons with other bands - The Fall, Sonic Youth, Joy Division and 'French Disko' era Stereolab spring to mind. But Prolapse will always be something a little different to the sum of their influences. They really are one of the great 'lost' bands. There was an intelligence to the band and the words that they sung. Prolapse were one of those rare breed of bands that were instantly recognisable as themselves. No one else could sound like this.
As I have already mentioned I started with the bands most critically and commercially successful LP - 'The Italian Flag'. To this day it remains one of my all time favourite records. It has melody. It has noise. It has tunes. It also has a desire to dare. It's not an LP of verse chorus verse. Although there are times when Prolapse can do the straight forward like on the single 'Autocade' for one. But the beauty of the LP for me is clash between songs and noise and the way the band use tension, aggression and softness in equal measure. Guitars are used to dispense shattering bursts of noise. But they are also used to keep the songs tuneful.
After falling in love with the Prolapse sound in 1997 I was lucky enough to see the band play a shitty little music festival in Swansea. They were a compelling live band - the difference between the tall Mick and the small Linda only heightened the tension that their vocal duels created. It was a shame this was mid afternoon and most of the crowd were waiting for the latest indie darlings. I was transfixed. By this time I had already got my hands on their older CDs - 'Pointless Walks To Dismal Places' (1994) and 'Back Saturday' (1995). Both of these are interesting CDs. It's nowhere near the finished article that came later on. There were more experimental soundscapes and a little less 'production' - but I came to love these CDs nearly as much as I did 'The Italian Flag' .
After I discovered the band they only released one more LP - 'Ghosts Of Dead Aeroplanes' in 1999. Initially I was underwhelmed by the record and it was soon filed in the CD shelves and forgotten. Well not forgotten, just, y'know if I got the urge to hear Prolapse I'd play one of the earlier CDs. But that's changed over the past few years - as it became apparent that the band were no more - I returned to their final LP. And it is a less violent sounding release than 'The Italian Flag' but it has a beauty and other-worldly feel to it - that draws me into the sound. It's certainly a return to longer songs and soundscapes that came before.
Before today I had always been searching for the two early EPs - 'Doorstop Rhythmic Bloc' and 'Pull Thru' Barker' - but I discovered that they're now available to buy from the Cherry Red download store. That hasn't ended my hunt for Prolapse goodies - as there are countless other 7"s and EPs that I need to find. But getting these tracks today has made my day.
Prolapse have a small presence on the web - My Space and Prolapse - the my space page has songs for streaming and a couple of cracking videos to view.
I've also uploaded a few MP3s. This is a band you should hear. And if you like them, track down their CDs. They're worth it.
Prolapse - Autocade (from The Italian Flag)Prolapse - Adiabatic (from Ghosts Of Dead Aeroplanes)
Prolapse - Doorstop Rhythmic Bloc (Single Version)
And scottish mick's nephew is in 'Fury of the Headteachers', factfans.