Naked Prey

Naked Prey
OriginTucson, Arizona, United States
GenresAlternative rock
Desert rock
Country rock
Cowpunk
Paisley Underground
Years active1982–1996
LabelsEnigma Records, Down There
Frontier Records
Epiphany
Past membersVan Christian
David Seeger
Richard Baden
Tommy Larkins
Jason Steed
Pete Holmes

Naked Prey was an American rock band from Tucson, Arizona. United States, which was formed in 1982 by the former Green on Red drummer Van Christian[1] and David Seeger, who had been in the original line-up of the Giant Sandworms (who later became Giant Sand) as well as The Pedestrians, a band credited with having performed the first punk rock show in Tucson.[2] Other artists who recorded or performed with the band included members of Green on Red[3] and the Sand Rubies, John Convertino and Joey Burns, later of Calexico, Chuck Prophet, Rainer Ptacek[4] and longtime drummer Tommy Larkins, who currently plays with Jonathan Richman, famously appearing with him as half of the two-man Greek chorus in There's Something About Mary. Christian himself also performed with The Band of Blacky Ranchette (an occasional project of Giant Sand's Howe Gelb)[5] and was in the original lineup of The Friends of Dean Martinez.

Naked Prey's aggressive, distorted sound was characterized as "rough-edged country rock" and "folk-distorto-rock"[6] and the band was credited with helping to pioneer the guitar-heavy "Desert Rock" sound associated with Tucson in the 1980s and 1990s.[7] The band was also associated with the vaguely psychedelic Paisley Underground scene out of Los Angeles.

In 1984 Naked Prey recorded their first record, produced by Dan Stuart of Green on Red for the Down There label of Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate). Two subsequent releases were on Los Angeles–based independent label Frontier Records. Though they never achieved commercial success, they, like many Tucson bands, acquired a substantial following in Europe.[7] The band broke up in the late 1990s,[8] but Christian re-unites Naked Prey from time to time for occasional performances.[9]

  1. ^ Safier, David. "Who's Who | Feature". Tucson Weekly. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  2. ^ "kxci: : The Pedestrians - 1976-1979 (2005-08-25)". Publicbroadcasting.net. 2005-08-25. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  3. ^ "40 Miles from Nowhere". Archived from the original on March 23, 2011. Retrieved December 30, 2009.
  4. ^ "And then I Shot Everyone". Archived from the original on August 29, 2008. Retrieved December 30, 2009.
  5. ^ "Howe's Tour Journal » 2008 » October". Archived from the original on June 23, 2009. Retrieved December 30, 2009.
  6. ^ "Naked Prey". TrouserPress.com. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  7. ^ a b wil gerken; nathan hendler; matthew bardram; jason steed (1996-01-10). "Soundbites (January 4 - January 10, 1996)". Tucsonweekly.com. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  8. ^ Garcia, Gilbert (2000-04-27). "From Mohawks To Mullets". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  9. ^ Hoch, Heather. "Soundbites | Soundbites". Tucson Weekly. Retrieved 2016-07-07.