Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
"I want to hug the Prids. Seriously, I'm talking about a monster bear hug where we're all jumping up and down in elation. Though it seems like this brood of gloom poppers has no reason to feel blue, the band captures the beauty of love and loss through dark, esoteric rhythms bouncing with exalting, lush tonalities. The Portland, Ore. quartet charmingly mold melancholy-splashed guitar melodies with post-punk allure on its second full-length, ...Until the World Is Beautiful. The band lashes out with indie-rock sentiments on heartfelt songs such as "Back Up Slow "and" Infection" as dirty bass lines and pounding floor tom skate along and build up amid the cacophony of jangled guitar and hushed keyboards. Keith's angelic wail perfectly collides with Frederickson's deep yet soft lead vocals, with the pair simultaneously carrying the weight of lyrical gushing throughout the album. World dignifies the bleak-poems-penned-in-a-darkened-bedroom lifestyle of an adolescent recluse, and the candles just seem to burn brighter when the shades are thrown open." - San Francisco Guardian (Chris Sabbath)
"The story of the Prids' formation reads like a bizarro after-school special: Vocalist David Frederickson was living on the streets, dabbling in drugs and crime before being saved by music and forming a pop band. Bassist Mistina Keith found him and decided they should form a new band. The pair moved to Oregon, married, divorced, and now play with Eric Hold on keys and Joey Maas on drums. The band are releasing their sophomore album, Until the World is Beautiful.
What's the Deal? Until the World is Beautiful reflects Frederickson and Keith's view of the world: Beautiful but gloomy. The pair sing together, mixing Keith's delicate delivery with Frederickson's moody, muddy vox as on "Shadow and Shadow," a dark pop track with poignant verses like "If he was looking I would try to cry / I froze that frame for the longest time." "Let it Go" is led by a thick, fuzzy bass, and "Back Up Slow" mutes the pair's high-pitched voices with an insistent, gritty riff.
Fun Fact: The band that munches lettuce together stays together: The Prids line-ups have all been vegan since 2002." - Spin (Alyssa Rashbaum)
"There is electricity in the air when you listen to The Prids. Your skin tingles, your hairs stand on end. You can feel the lights dim, even if you're listening to their album at home, and you feel like you're down in front of the stage, watching them slowly come out from the wings, prepping their gear, anticipating the music that's about to wash over you, overwhelm you, take you to another world where waves of sound and texture wash over you, bringing you to a physical and mental state unparalleled in music. The Prids have been working for years at perfecting this effect on listeners, and with this album they've hit their stride, mixing rock & pop, noise and punk, music and magic in a way that is attracting fans from every nitch of the music scene. What can I say about a band that has found a way to blend their imagery, performances, recorded output and off-stage personas in a way that never contradicts, and always entertains. They have managed that oh-so-difficult attribute of cool in a way that is attractive and exciting, without being obnoxious or too cool. Ever since I got this album, I've been listening to it over and over again, memorizing every moment, searching through the crevices and secret areas of their soundscapes in a hope that I'll find what it is about them, what it is about this album, that has so enamored me that my dreams are filled with their songs, and their bass player in particular. I've found in this album a comfort...it's great to know that I can feel this way again, and that I'm not just imagining it." - KPSU (Austin Rich)
"When I first saw The Prids, I was instantly comforted. Like a mysterious childhood memory I had been missing for so many years. And as they powered through every song all in black, there was sincerity in the air, rare in most bands they'd be wrongfully-musically grouped with nowadays. I cursed myself for all the moments they weren't in my life. Properly based in Portland...yes, they are all vegan. Just that alone should be reason enough for their praise... Their newest album is captured perfection of the heart. With one listen, you know they were there with you, back in the day, a lonely outsider listening to The Smiths, misunderstood and knowing you're beyond everyone else. Brooding and whining guitar and bass lines, mesmerizing keyboards, sharp drums, and strong, weaving vocals show command for your devotion. Every song makes you want to fall in love, break up, get in a fight, overcome, swoon, cry, smile, and sigh all at the same time. Tough and epic with a hint of sweet, there is no precise way to describe this album but a masterpiece of authenticity in this time of barely-20-year-old ex-jocks in eyeliner, wearing black with red ties, screeching about online crushes, and making Ian Curtis turn in his grave. The Prids are the band you daydream of. Each live show is always the best time you've seen them, and just listening to them at home will leave you anxious to push play again and again. You'll wake up with their songs in your head, and you�ll miss them every time they're not there. It's kind of like falling in love." - Herbivore Magazine (Emiko Badillo)
"From Quasi to George Jones and Tammy Wynette, some of the greatest show-business duos have managed to divorce as man and wife, yet continue making incredible music together. Whether the seething chemistry between guitarist David Frederickson and bassist Mistina Keith is rooted in their overlapping personal lives, or just growing up listening to the same weird records, PDX pair The Prids craft captivating songs: the rumbling "The Glow," the dense din of "Infection," lickety-split guitar licks woven into "Forever Again." Their forthcoming sophomore full-length, ...Until the World Is Beautiful, relies on traditional post-punk timbres, melodic bass riffs, buzz-saw guitars, whip-crack percussion, yet heightens the tension with disquieting boy-girl vocal harmonies. Now that you've exhausted your Siouxsie and Cure B-sides/rarities box sets, lavish attention on these equally adept and bewitching practitioners of smart, ominous rock." - The Stranger (Seattle) (Kurt B. Reighley)
"The charm of The Vaselines has been reincarnated into one of Portland's finest bands: The Prids. Sophomore effort ...Until the World is Beautiful from Five 03 Records is a hypnotic rock album filled with catchy bass and guitar riffs with moody lyrics. Vocalist David Frederickson and ex-wife/bassist Mistina Keith both sing on many of the album tracks in enthralling form. The song "The Glow" is the perfect album opener with a buzzy guitar and fast psychedelic appeal. "All That You Want" has a jam and trippy keyboard appeal in classic post-punk Joy Division style. Definitely a must have and one of the best well-rounded rock albums of the year from start to finish." - Zero Magazine (Julianne Shapiro)
"Heavily influenced by British post-punk bands like Wire and The Smiths, The Prids have never pretended to be something they aren't. They aren't a punk band, because "punk" is just a marketing term. And punk bands have become little more than fodder for reality TV shows. But if they existed in the late-1970's or early-1980's, when punk met respect, The Prids would be punk. Respect comes hard-earned. The blood, guts, stubbornness, passion for creating music and refusal to do it someone else's way garners respect. The Prids have respect." - DeadJournalist.com (Chuck Norton)
"This Portland duo's 2nd album is a first-rate set of dark post-punk highlighted by strong songwriting, angular guitar lines and male/female harmonies."
- KEXP.org (Don Yates)
4.5 Stars
"...All told, a sublime set, that will make you ache for all that is gone and still yet to come." - All Music Guide (Jo-Ann Greene)
"The first thing you notice when listening to Portland's The Prids is that they really like the bass guitar, which then makes you think of bands like Interpolivision. Oh great, you're saying, another "retro" band (they even play synths too!). But The Prids aren't as doom and gloom and gothy as those other bass bands tend to sway. Just because they like it low on the strings and keys doesn't mean they expect your spirit to sway the same.
The catchiness makes their songs almost, dare we say it, sort of uplifting. Sure, this has the "retro" thing and the "are they British?" thing, but it also has the "good songs" thing too. There's lushness, there's atmosphere, and yes, even some brooding. But it's happy darkness." - OhMyRockness.com
Discography
2001
Duracraft CD
2002
Glide, Screamer CD/EP
2003
Love Zero CD/LP
2004
Shadow And Shadow 7"
Let It Go 7"
2006
...Until the World Is Beautiful CD
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
This article was written by a kind person, who got our history right. Thanks R.
Imagine the sound of listening to your favorite band on headphones while halfway between the 23rd floor and the ground via the balcony and you may have just a fraction of an idea of what it is to hear The Prids bashing out articulate, gloomy post-punk in some dark club, some late night, in some lame town.
Until the World is Beautiful (five03) is a follow up to the band's 2003 debut LP, Love Zero. Nailing down the heart-bursting experience of a Prids' live show, the band's latest record is an exponential build on all the things David Frederickson (vocals, guitar, pompadour) and Mistina Keith (bass, vocals, tough-as-nails) have been affected by in rock 'n' roll - music that is drunk on sadness, finds beauty in letting go, and keeps hope alive when things fall apart. Built on the foundations of obscure British post-punk (The Sound, early Wire, Comsat Angels), Until the World is Beautiful hits square in the chest. Seething keyboards, chiming guitars, fuzzed-out, melodic basslines, and hushed guy/girl vocals all buzz together to tug at the deeper roots of loss and living as hard as possible.
The story of The Prids goes like this...David found salvation after hearing Louder Than Bombs at one of the houses he used to crash at when he was just another messed up teenager kicked onto the street by his folks and mixed up in drugs and petty crime. He starts writing songs and playing guitar almost immediately. Later, Mistina sees David lead a so-so pop band through a set of songs at a house show in Missouri in the mid '90s. Without ever picking up an instrument in her life, she convinces him that he should ditch those losers, walk hand-in-hand to the nearest pawnshop, buy cheap guitars and start a band. In another decade, instead of forming The Prids, David and Mistina would have boosted a car and left a wake of knocked-over banks from there across the dustbowl.
They bounce around the backwaters of Midwest scenes - Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska, and Saint Joseph, Missouri - before landing in Portland, Oregon in the late '90s.
Somewhere in between, David and Mistina fell in love, got married and got divorced. They still live together in a sprawling, isolated house (referred to as either 'The Compound' or, less seriously, 'Castle Sadmore' by the same wide-eyed fans that sell out clubs and choke the band's myspace site) surrounded by mud and trees and bursting with gear, obscure British post-punk vinyl, Kurt Vonnegut paperbacks and Morrissey posters.
Unlike the majority of bands on the scene, The Prids have never been a weekend project in the way that Van Gogh or Hemingway were never weekend hobbyists. While middle class trustfund bands were contemplating their next hairstyle in the suburbs, Mistina and David were giving each other prison-style Prids' tattoos with sewing needles. While other bands start as a way to kill time before getting accepted to the right grad schools, David and Mistina - neither of whom bothered with college or even graduating high school - are in this for life.
If you don't hear this just below the surface of Until the World is Beautiful - a poignant, loud album by a band tearfully aware that there will always be something equally brutal and beautiful about life - you aren't listening.
Band Members
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