Jim Prange

James Matthew Prange was born on November 20, 1975. He began taking piano lessons at age 6, and sang in a boys' choir from '83 to '85. He primarily played and composed on piano until '94, when his musical focus shifted to rhythm guitar, vocals and songwriting.

In May '94, he quit his job of 2 1/2 years as the video game reviewer for The Grand Rapids Press and worked a summer job on Mackinac Island, a carless Michigan resort island between the Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The songs written that summer became the bulk of his first studio recording in '95.

His first long-term band was founded in Ann Arbor, Michigan in late '93 with drummer Tim Wilson. At the time of the '95 recording, the band was called Uncle Sol. With the addition of lead guitarist Brian Relph in early '96, the band evolved into Erehwon Hill, a heavy, melodic prog-rock quartet in which Jim played rhythm guitar and sang lead vocals.

By early '97, Jim's musical interests began to take a different path than the rest of the band. Before Jim moved to Tucson, Arizona in May '97, they recorded a 30-minute EP titled "Leaving Now," which preserved the culmination of Jim's work with heavier rock music. After Jim's departure, Erehwon Hill became a trio called Erehwon and moved to Oakland, California; the band later changed its name to The Betty Expedition, and later disbanded in 2002.

In July '98, Jim formed a new quartet which practiced in his rented dome house in the foothills of the Tucson Mountains. Originally named The Lemmon Summit (after Mt. Lemmon, the highest peak of the Catalina range visible across the valley), the band changed its name to Scatterdome by the end of the year. Before the original rhythm section moved to Phoenix in May '99, the group began recording "Grummet." Due to it being independently financed, "Grummet"  took over two years to complete properly, with the final overdubs occurring in August '01.

While in Tucson, Jim formed two other side projects with D. Adam Estner, who first moved to Tucson and joined Scatterdome in August '00. Cosmic Slop was a "party band" that veered from free jazz to AC/DC to straight-up funk, and also featured  Geoff Lamden on bass; The Insane Theatre is a Doors cover band featuring Chris "Clorbs" Kemler on vocals. (Go to the dates page to see when the Insane Theatre is performing next.)

In September '01, finally finished with recording "Grummet," Jim moved back to Grand Rapids to continue Scatterdome with D. Adam, who had moved back in the summer. Jim also played keyboards for the Heart Of Gold Band, of which D. Adam was also a member and Geoff an alumnus and founder, for their last few months (September through December '01).  

Since September '03, Jim is also a member of the Grand Rapids-area band The Lighthouse Commission, playing keyboards and guitar, and singing backing vocals. Since September '04, Jim has also been playing bass and singing with Headlight (formerly Grüv Unit), a Grand Rapids-based band specializing in Grateful Dead covers and other tasty cover tunes of a similar ilk.

In the summer of 2007, Jim joined Black Rose & The Disciples of Funk as their keyboard player. The band plays an energetic mix of funk, blues, classic rock, and R&B, featuring the powerhouse vocals of Serita Crowley (a.k.a. Black Rose), former lead vocalist for The Heart of Gold Band. The band also features  D. Adam Estner and J.D. Jones, who are both also members of Scatterdome, Headlight and The Insane Theatre.

Musical influences: The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, Beck, Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, Phish, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, The Band, Primus, Guided By Voices, The Flaming Lips, Tom Waits, Klaatu, fusion jazz. 

Jim likes waffles with real maple syrup and butter.

To link to my MySpace page, click here.

A note to anyone who enjoys traveling through the looking glass: if you're ready to read two strange-but-plausible theories I've formed, one on the subject of the crop circles that appeared in Howell, Michigan in July 2003 and September 2006 and my decoding of the designs, and the other on the subject of Paul McCartney (presented in the form of messageboard posts over the course of almost 2 years, with a theory that evolves over the course of the posts), click on the corresponding picture below. Enjoy.

-- Jim Prange