Ridgewood, New Jersey emo band
Prawn were formed in the summer of 2007 by guitarist/vocalist Tony Clark, drummer
Jamie Houghton, guitarist Andrew Vilchez, and bassist
Kyle Burns. Taking cues from '90s Midwestern emo bands like
American Football and
the Promise Ring, the band quickly self-released several EPs and toured the U.S., building a dedicated following. Their debut album,
You Can Just Leave It All, materialized in 2011, and they quickly followed the next year with the lengthy EP
Ships. At some point in their ceaseless touring schedule (which extended to cover European dates around the summer of 2012), Vilchez left the band and
Burns moved from bass to guitar and vocals. Bass duties were taken over by multi-instrumentalists Corey Davis and
Ryan McKenna, each of whom also contributed various miscellaneous sounds. A split release with
Joie de Vivre arrived in early 2014 and the band's proper sophomore album,
Kingfisher, arrived in the summer of that same year. ~ Fred Thomas