For close to 15 years, the Manhattan-based band The Prodigals have been firmly rooted in the Manhattan music scene, playing a blend of traditional Irish melodies with wall-rattling accompaniment. But on March 11, the band will strip down to an all acoustic set as part of the Hudson Riverfront Performing Arts Center’s (HRPAC) UBS Atrium Series.
Vocalist and accordion player Gregory Grene is a man on a mission fronting the five-piece rock band, who himself hails from the green country sides of the Emerald Isle.
“The band can be as crazy as anyone would desire.” – Gregory Grene
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“The whole craziness of a rock show is organic and the fans love it,” Grene said. “The band can be as crazy as anyone would desire. But at the acoustic set people listen to the specific performance. I’ve even had people e-mail me sometimes three weeks after, asking about a certain lyric in a song. It’s more of a two-way conversation, rather than a speech.”
The acoustic mix, as the band calls it, evolved over a series of acoustic shows Grene played in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Austin, Texas, during the Christmas season.
“[Acoustically we] sounded so interesting and different,” Grene said. “There was a whole untapped reservoir of material.”
Now, the band continues to brandish their traditional rock Irish sound at clubs and larger venues where the audience is ready to throw back a Jameson and dance the jig. But, for those who want to listen a little more closely, the band strips down to the basics.
“All in all,” Grene said, “it’s the same animal.”
‘From glen to glen’
Growing up in the countryside in County Cavan, Ireland, Grene fell in love with the accordion at harvest parties, where neighbors would come from miles around to celebrate the harvest season.
“When I was a kid,” Grene said, “there were harvest parties, where famers and blacksmiths from miles around would come to the house and drink whiskey. And the musicians would line up on the old wooden stairs and play. Well, one of them had an accordion.”
Since then Grene has made a second home in the States, but he didn’t always want to pursue music. Grene got the acting bug in the big city and even landed a role on the Broadway show, Philadelphia, Here I Come.
“I was lucky,” Grene said about his career in acting, “but it wasn’t for me. You’re either are or you aren’t.”
Not having the ability to create while acting was frustrating for the musician.
“I don’t regret acting a bit,” Grene said, “and I don’t regret a bit having left it. Ultimately, the powerlessness of acting [was frustrating] – saying someone else’s words they way they’d have them be said.”
In 1997, Grene returned to the music industry and formed the early Prodigals with an acting friend, and has been pursuing music ever since. Today, Grene is the sole founding member of the band.
The whole thing is a gift that fell in my lap,” Grene said. “I’m still kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
For more information on the Prodigals visit www.prodigals.com or to check out the band’s acoustic mix visit www.gregorygrene.com.
When and where
The Prodigals will play at HRPAC during their free lunchtime concert series, the UBS Atrium Series at 1000 Harbor Blvd. in Weehawken on Wednesday, March 11 at 12:30 p.m. Proceeds of the event benefit the center in an effort to build a new performing arts center on the Weehawken waterfront. For more information on the concert, visit www.hrpac.org or call (201) 716-4540.
Sean Allocca can be reached at current@hudsonreporter.com.