Originally formed in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, this uncompromising rock band are built around a creative core of Robert Griffin (guitar) and Doug Enkler (vocals; ex-Offbeats) and 'anyone else who'll put up with them from time to time'. Rock 'n' roll purists, their admiration is for 'people who backed into fame' rather than embraced it. Griffin originally ran his own fanzine, Scat Seven, which focused purely on 7-inch vinyl records. Eventually this grew into a label, Scat Records, which also distributes a number of other small independent labels. The fanzine eventually closed with Griffin's decision to concentrate on the band and label but its philosophy is still fundamental to Prisonshake. Beginning in 1987 they released a limited number of EPs and albums which helped cultivate a strong reputation within the American underground rock community.

The Singles 87-89 EP compiled their first four singles, and was followed by the typically uncommercial I'm Really Fucked Now, which comprised a CD, a vinyl album, a cassette, and a 7-inch single (the CD was re-released in Australia as A Girl Called Yes ). After 1991's Della Street EP the band broke-up, but Griffin and Enkler regrouped two years later to record their first 'proper' album with producer Andy Shernoff (ex- Dictators ). The Roaring Third was a stirring example of bar band rock at its best, reminiscent of the Replacements greatest moments. In 1995, Scat Records and Prisonshake relocated to St. Louis, Missouri.

And for the bilinguals:

Per tutti gli anni '90 i Prisonshake furono per anni i rocker piu` selvaggi di Cleveland. In un'era in cui la new wave aveva lasciato una scia di intellettuali, Doug Enkler (canto), che aveva pubblicato l'album di punk-rock Evolution Of The Stickman (Relativity, 1986) con gli Offbeats, e Robert Griffin (chitarra), che aveva pubblicato l'album ferocemente sperimentale Disease Is Relative (Trans Dada, 1984) con gli Spike In Vain, rappresentarono un ritorno alle radici rozze e maniacali del rock and roll. La loro storia e` soprattutto la storia di innumerevoli singoli (memorabili almeno Deanna, Fairfield Avenue Serenade, Bedtime Beats You Senseless, Shopgirl, Act Like Nothing's Wrong, From Down Here, Carnival Game, Two Sisters), canzoni che sposano il melodismo nevrotico di Neil Young e Replacements con la perversa verve di Stooges e Rolling Stones. I loro primi singoli vennero raccolti sull'EP Singles 87-89 (Scat, 1989), e l'album A Girl Named Yes (Rubber Box, 1990) venne assorbito nel monumentale I'm Really Fucked Now (Scat, 1990), composto da un CD, un LP, un EP e una cassetta, per un totale di circa tre ore. Se l'LP fa scempio dei singoli, il CD presenta un gruppo tanto reboante quanto sentimentale (By The Side Of The Road), piu` simile ai Replacements che agli Stooges. E` quello anche lo stile di Stuck In St Louis, la lunga arringa dell'EP Della Street (Scat, 1991). Persa la sezione ritmica, The Roaring Third (Scat, 1993) li proporra` fra le "bar-band" per eccellenza (Carthage Burns, 2 Sisters). Nel 1995 il duo si trasferi` a St Louis (Missouri).