Prairie Prince

thombo

Junior Member
I wish Prairie Prince was listed here on the GREAT SITE! He is a drummer that should be reconized as one of the greats too. Did anyone know that he was actually one of the founding
members of the band Journey along with some of the old Santana band members, and actually did all the demo recordings for Journey that landed them their first record contract.
But he ulitmately opted to stay with his original band the Tubes. (great drum stuff there guys
and girls) especially some of the early recordings. I understand that he is also the drummer for the "New Cars" which is the "Cars" without the original singer.

Later

Thombo
 
Prairie Prince. Awesome cat. Great drummer and a wonderful guy to talk too. Met him at a NAMM show a few years ago. He was hangin' out at the Yamaha exhibit. He had done a custom airbrush paint job of dragons on one of the kits there. He's a killer painter also. Love his stuff with the Tubes. I've seen them 4 times. And when Mingo Lewis joined them, wow.
 
yes i've also know he owns the original John Bonham green sparkle Ludwig kit.must be nice.

Bonzolead
 
I almost posted him a while back. Being from the Bay Area I am used to hearing his name a lot. I didn't know he was associated with Journey before Ansley Dunbar.

He also played on a few Richard Marx CDs, he does some great grooves.
 
harryconway: I've seen the Tubes a lot too, they're great! I think he does those custom kits
as a side business too.


bonzolead: I wonder if he ever recorded with that kit?


resqguy:

yeah, the early Journey stuff was Jazz rock, so they needed Dunbar to keep it alive.
Check out the Tubes Young and Rich album, Pimp and Brighter day are the two songs
I think best show off his virtuosity.


Later
Thombo
 
thombo said:
harryconway: I've seen the Tubes a lot too, they're great! I think he does those custom kits
as a side business too.


bonzolead: I wonder if he ever recorded with that kit?


resqguy:

yeah, the early Journey stuff was Jazz rock, so they needed Dunbar to keep it alive.
Check out the Tubes Young and Rich album, Pimp and Brighter day are the two songs
I think best show off his virtuosity.


Later
Thombo
I seen a picture of that kit in the studio so probably he did I mean who wouldn't. what recordings they are I have no idea.

Thanks for the reply,
Bonzolead
 
I met Prairie at my community college back in the eighties. The Tubes put on a great show and Prairie just came out and chatted everybody up after the gig. That was a classy move.
 
If you want to listen to him in a AOR/melodic rock setting listen to The V.U. a band he had with Kevin Chalfant, Stef Burns, Ross Valory and a keyboards player whose name escapes me at the moment (Tim Gorman?).

He is also on Neal Schon's "Piranha Blues" album which is quite a good blues rock record.
 
Prairie Prince...

Prairie Prince is one of the greatest drummers and deserves to be on this DRUMMERWORLD site. His decades-long dedication, his sincere feeling and sheer craftsmanship show through in all of his performances and recordings. It is a serious oversight that he's omitted from this site. Ask knowledgeable drummers and many will tell you that Prairie Prince is at or near the very top of their lists. Here's his website: www.prairieprince.com. And of course, you can check out his work on the Tubes recordings, among many others. Can somebody at DRUMMERWORLD fix what must surely be a mistake? Thanks.
 
I wonder why Prairie Prince isn't more celebrated? His drumming in the pre-Capitol Tubes releases was top drawer - more complex, versatile and satisfying than many more-regarded drummers.

I agree with thombo that Prairie puts in a monster performance in Pimp. Love his ride cymbal work late in the song. He shows off some nice fusion chops in Brighter Day too. He's pretty spectacular in their two opuses too: Under the Deep from their eponymous debut album and Poland Whole / Madam, I'm Adam from Young and Rich.

For sheer power, speed and precision, try You're No Fun off either Now! or What do you want from live?.
 
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Great drummer. Did nice work with Jefferson Starship, one of my all-time favorite bands.

Totally cool name, as well.
 
Alright, I know I'm really late to this thread (2+ plus years, ouch!). Many know about Prairie's playing with the Tubes, Starship, Journey & now Todd Rundgren, he's also done stints with Chris Isaak Brian Eno, David Byrne, XTC, Tom Waits, Dick Dale, John Fogerty, and Tommy Bolin amongst many others. Anyway I stumbled across these to clips playing covers with some locals called Don't Push the Clown. Enjoy!


Some Zappa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRrqZ3m9hPQ

Bill Withers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGHPvcPeV-0

The Whole Show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSbtWo8Kh1U

D'oh! Just realized that Ray White is vocalist/guitaristin these clips, he was in Zappa's band from the mid 70's to mid 80's.
 
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Love PP, especially on those early Tubes albums. Went down to LA last weekend for NAMM, and caught The Tubes playing in a mall in San Clarita. They still got it!
 
I'm a huge Prairie Prince fan. Sadly, I discovered the Tubes too late to have caught the original lineup live, and the current incarnation never seems to play anywhere in the Midwest.

One thing I've always wondered about: the Yamaha kit he played from the early to mid 1980s had a metallic purple finish that looked like anodized stainless steel, but didn't appear to be a wrap. I've never been able to find any information on that particular finish, or how the metallic "texture" was achieved. Also, the two smallest toms on that kit were single-headed and had a silver finish on the interior, similar to the silver sealer on Gretsch kits, which is something I've never seen on other Yamaha kits.

In an interview a few years ago, he made a cryptic reference to the current whereabouts of the purple Yamaha kit. Something to the effect of "It's in a secure, undisclosed location, but I can't say anything more about it." Huh?
 
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