King Prawn

King Prawn fuses ska, punk, hip-hop, metal, and hardcore into an energetic strain of alternative rock and roll. The group drew from the Dead Kennedys, Crass, Public Enemy, Rage Against the Machine, and Bob Marley while holding steady as a central presence in the British ska punk circuit from the late 1990s through the early 2000s. Four well-received albums followed, opening with First Offence in 1995 together with an EP, before the band stopped operations in 2003. Four-fifths of the original lineup returned in 2012 and delivered the long-awaited fifth album, Fabulous New Sounds of King Prawn, in 2019.

Vocalist Al-Farabi Rumjen, bassist Babar Luck, guitarist Aryan Devil, and drummer Nick Swindonboye assembled the band in London during the mid-1990s to test new directions in punk and hardcore. Their first major release arrived in 1996 with First Offence, produced by Ace of Skunk Anansie. The record stirred strong interest in the local underground scene and steadily expanded a dedicated audience throughout London and the wider United Kingdom. After several 7"s, the live album Fried in London appeared three years later as the second full-length. The studio EP Your Worst Enemy followed in 1999, and Surrender to the Blender, the third album and first for Spitfire Records, surfaced in 2000. A reissue of First Offence loaded with bonus material came out in 2002 and preceded Got the Thirst the next year.

The band disbanded shortly after that album yet closed the chapter with two farewell concerts, the penultimate at The Forum in Kentish Town and the final at the Pitz club in Milton Keynes. Most members stayed active in music, with Swindonboye forming Left Step Band, Luck working solo and with East End Trinity, and Rumjen joining Asian Dub Foundation. In 2012 the group reformed and scheduled festival and club dates that included a full brass section. Two new singles reached Bandcamp in 2014, leading to the Cherry Red release of the fifth studio album, Fabulous New Sounds of King Prawn, in 2019.