Prisonshake b. Cleveland, 1986 at Beat Farm Nursery. d. Saint Louis, 2008. Last rites performed at the Empty Bottle, Chicago, 10 Oct 2008. Preceded in death by Spike in Vain, Squelch, Ragged Bags, and the Offbeats. Members: Robert Griffin, guitar & vocals, Doug Enkler, vocals (1988-2008), Chris Burgess, bass (1987-1993), Steve Scariano, bass (1995-2008), Scott Pickering, drums (1986-1992), Patrick Hawley, drums (1996-2008), and several shorter term helpers (1993-1995). Survived by 17 singles and EPs, a 3 hour multi-format set, two foreign-born compilation albums, a half dozen compilation appearances, a kind of lost album, a proper album, and a double album tombstone. Associations were known to have existed with recordings by My Dad Is Dead, Happy Flowers, Pufftube, A Bullet for Fidel, and Finn's Motel. The original lineup is now memorialized on Always Almost There 1 & 2, featuring some highlights recorded 1987-1992. The band were known for its joyously vicious, high-energy rawk as well as its embrace of beauty and introspection, and its willingness to experiment with genre and structure. The group's recordings are often purposely far from perfect, with an audio verite aspect that invites the listener in, and aims for feel and transcendence rather than accuracy. The people and experiences in the songs come from a hard living POV, but not without self-awareness, keen observations, or surprise. It is a self-contained world, come on in, or go the fuck away.