I’m in a band called Tedious, and as soon as we formed, we decided we were going to break up after high school. How could a small high school band ever make it work after graduation?
Marvel Prone is an indie rock band that started performing in 2014 at Oyster River High School (ORHS). Although many of the original members have left the band has been playing ever since.
Growing up I always watched Marvel Prone at local open mics, so I wanted to learn more about their history and how their leader Rainor Vigneault, the only consistent member, has kept the band alive.
Marvel Prone started as most bands do, a few musically talented friends getting together to have fun. Originally consisting of Vigneault, Emily Donovan, Reilly Webb, Peter Dubois, and Bailey Weakley, Marvel Prone got their roots practicing in Vigneault’s dad’s basement and performing at ORHS Coffee Houses. “It was a super cool atmosphere, and it was special to perform exclusively for kids our age,” said Vigneault.
At that time the band was called DAVE, after a joke made by Webb, before being changed to Marvel Prone a little under a year later. “My mom was actually the one who came up with it. It means something like being drawn to beauty and mystery at your own expense. It felt like a cool oxymoron,” said Vigneault.
The band name is what holds the group together. I remember struggling to come up with a name with the other members of Tedious, but when we eventually got there, we knew the band would work out, at least for a little while.
Marvel Prone started to change when Donovan decided to leave. “Things were moving in a different direction than I had envisioned, so I left to start my own band,” said Donovan, who has since rejoined.
Soon after Donovan left, the band decided to record and release their first original, Nocturnal Life. “We submitted it to a regional high school songwriting contest, placed top ten, and had it aired on 92.5 FM The River Boston.”
Releasing original music can immortalize a band, and I hope to one day with the rest of Tedious. Having music recorded and released means even if the band does break up, the music can still float around in the cosmos of the internet.
After graduation, Dubois left for college and only three of the original members remained. “I decided to keep the band going strong with Bailey and Reilly. I took a gap year to work and to finish recording an album with the band. We released the album Moonlightning in 2016 just around the time I started my freshman year at UNH,” said Vigneault.
During their time at UNH, the band performed mostly at local venues and house parties, which according to Donovan are always the best shows. “We played most of our shows at venues like The Stone Church in Newmarket, The Freedom Cafe, the WSCA Radio Station Button Factory stage in Portsmouth, and a smattering of other gigs across the seacoast NH area,” explains Vigneault. “In more recent years we’ve ventured to Boston quite a few times, playing at popular venues such as The Middle East and O’Brien’s pub.”
Through constant iterations, Vigneault has managed to continue the legacy of Marvel Prone. “I’ve kept the band alive by playing with whoever wants to play with me. I’ve always had a wealth of incredibly talented friends to reach out to.”
The band’s most recent album, 11:22, is the most monumental achievement of Marvel Prone thus far, says Vigneault. “We recorded 11:22 in Chicago at Electrical Audio Studio with legendary sound engineer Steve Albini, who’s best known for his work recording The Pixies’ Surfer Rosa and Nirvana’s In Utero. That is by far the biggest highlight for Marvel Prone to date.”
Any band or artist who’s been performing for as long as Marvel Prone is bound to have lost inspiration at some point, according to Donovan, and she has figured out a remedy. “Sometimes it means you need to make some changes, whether that be in members, sound, or something else, and sometimes it means you need to start looking at the world through a different lens to find inspiration again.”
Ten years is a long time for a high school band to be around, but with the current lineup of Vigneault, Donovan, Madison Russo, and Matthew Bickerstaff, the fire of Marvel Prone is burning bright. “I’m hoping to play a lot more shows in Boston; we’ve met some really cool bands down there. I also want to experiment with different styles of music in our future projects.”
Recently, the band has been working on writing and recording demos and hopes to release an album by the end of the year. According to Donovan, the future of Marvel Prone is looking up. Her final advice to high school students, even if it doesn’t work out in the end: “learn an instrument and start a band with your best friends, you won’t regret it!”
– Micah Bessette
Mouth of the River 
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