Up-and-coming North Carolina-based metalcore band Prone played their first headlining show in Wilmington, NC, on Friday, February 6th, 2026. Prone played their first show together as a band in June 2025, and in just a few months, they have worked their way up to headlining events. Prone consists of 6 members, including vocalist Jeremy Johnson, guitarists Daniel Coyner and Wycuff Skipper, bassist Vincent Bove, drummer Elliott Gunther, and keyboardist Chris Gore. Joining them on stage for their first headlining show were fellow NC-based bands, Ocytic and Fire For Scarecrow. The show took place at Barzarre and was one of the shows included in the Friday Night Fight Riffs series that Wilmington's Aaron Johnson puts together on the first Friday of each month.
Ocytic is a fairly new death metal band based out of Wilmington, NC. I have seen the bassist, Adrian Mills, at countless shows over the last few years. It seems like we have very similar music tastes, so I had a feeling that they would sound great—and they definitely did not disappoint. They were an amazing band to kick off the night; everyone was hyped up and moving for them throughout their whole set! They brought out a younger crowd, and I thought it was awesome that the majority of them all stayed for the whole show. I am personally a huge fan of death metal—especially groovy death metal—so I thoroughly enjoyed the sound of this band. I will definitely go see them play again!
Fire For Scarecrow, based out of Fayetteville, NC, took the stage next. The guitarist, Ronnie Walker, used to play for He Is Legend, a fairly well-known band based out of Wilmington, NC. This band had a lively sound, and the crowd went nuts for these guys! At one point, the vocalist stopped and said, "I don't know if you guys are enjoying us this much, or if this is just how you all get down here in Wilmington, but let's keep it going!" The crowd was loving the riffs; they were moshing like crazy, and at one point I caught someone doing pull-ups from the rafters. I wish I could have gotten more pictures to showcase the fun, but I was preoccupied with making sure a man who fell out of the pit and hit the back of his head on a door hinge was ok. He had a gash on the back of his head, but after cleaning it up, it seemed like he was ready to keep going! I suggested that he try to take it easy the rest of the night, but I lost track of him after that, unfortunately. The rest of the set was incredible and kept everyone hyped for the headliner.
The night was progressing well; the crowd was full and excitable, and everyone seemed to be having a great time. In between sets, I was able to meet up with the members of Prone before their set to talk to them about how they started, headlining, and some of their future plans as a band:
MSM: This is your first headlining show; how are you guys feeling about that?
Jeremy: Great!
Vince: I'm excited.
Daniel: I feel alright about it!
MSM: It's pretty incredible that you guys are already headlining after, like, what, six months? Your first show was in June?
Jeremy: Yeah, June was our first show. We've been grinding, and we've been pushing. We weren't expecting it so soon. Hopefully we're taking it to the next level tonight. There's a bigger crowd here than I was expecting.
Cuff: Oh yeah, there is a better turnout tonight than I thought. I'm really glad that there are some people here!
Daniel: We had time to warm up a little bit and everything; feeling good.
Cuff: Ocytic wrapped it up pretty good!
Jeremy: Their first show was with us a couple months ago. So it was really cool to see how they've grown since then too. They have already come a long way. They've done really well!
MSM: I always see Adrian at other shows, so I was excited to see him playing!
Jeremy: Yeah. He was throwing down in the pit, too. It's awesome to be doing this again. A good chunk of us were in bands back in the early 2000s, and we all grew up and got jobs and had to move on with our lives. But we've all kind of come back and started doing it again. It felt weird playing shows again, being, you know, pushing 40. But it's been a good time, and I feel like we've got to go to some good spots.
Cuff: I'm really having a good time.
MSM: Yeah, you guys seem like a really good group. From the outside looking in, it seems like you all work well together.
Jeremy: We've got six of us. We've got to try to roll together.
Elliott: Yeah, we're all best friends. We all had mutual friends and became best friends from this.
Daniel: Nobody's perfect. We have our moments, but I think that our relationships kind of lend themselves to being able to work past those things and come back to the point.
MSM: Yeah, that helps because it’s all about the music in the end.
Jeremy: Exactly. We all like heavy music.
Elliott: But different genres!
Jeremy: I can tell we're all into different types of, you know, heavy music. You know, I'm more of a hardcore guy.
Elliott: He's hardcore; Vince is deathcore; I'm more tech.
Daniel: Yeah, tech, djent. I’m metalcore.
Vince: I'm goregrind; I'm not deathcore.
MSM: I can definitely hear those influences while listening!
Jeremy: I think that has an effect on our sound; it makes it sound unique. I hope we don’t sound like everybody else.
Daniel: That's what people say. Like, we might not be the greatest, but we have something kind of different going on. So I'm proud of that.
Vince: Yeah, I think all our varied musical tastes and backgrounds are helping to shape our sound in a unique direction.
Jeremy: I'm just going to keep pushing. As long as we're always writing songs. Daniel: As long as it makes people hurt each other and bounce, I love it.
MSM: But then also have people be like, hmmm. Do a little head jerk.
Cuff: Yeah, I keep on trying to make a jazz break.
Daniel: We've done, like, some reggae breaks at practice and stuff.
Jeremy: Just get fucking weird.
Cuff: Oh, we're getting weird tonight. It's going to be a special, special time.
Jeremy: Yeah, we're featuring Mark (Mark Cessna from EscapeVelocity). He’s going to be on our second to last song. He's guesting on a new track. We haven't played that song out; this will be the first time we play it tonight.
Daniel: Yep! The unveiling.
MSM: And will that be produced soon?
Jeremy: Yeah, I think that's going to be the next song. I think we're probably going to pivot and put that out.
Daniel: We’ve already got a really cool shirt for it that he’s already got cooked up. I really want to see it hit the merch stand.
Jeremy: I don’t want to put it out until we get the song released. Yeah, sure. Yeah, sure.
Elliott: Yeah, that shirt you made is badass!
Jeremy: I don't know. I'm a nerd. I’m a merch nerd!
MSM: What are your future plans with everything?
Jeremy: I don't know. Just see where it goes, I guess.
Daniel: I think we're keeping expectations low, but our openness high. Whatever it can be is what it'll be.
Vince: My future plans are just to continue writing music.
Daniel: As long as we're having fun!
Jeremy: My next priority is getting the EP recorded. Get something out there. We've got a couple songs right now, but I want something more substantial to put out there for everybody. Get some physical media. I'd like to do a seven inch or, you know, tape or something like that. That'd be awesome.
Cuff: We've got two songs right now, and I recorded them in my building. I don't know what I'm doing.
Jeremy: But considering the circumstances, I think it turned out pretty good!
MSM: Are you guys going to be venturing out soon?
Jeremy: Yeah, we're playing a show in Charlotte on March 14th at The Milestone, and then on April 5th, we're playing at the old Arcadia in Myrtle Beach.
Vince: And we're doing the Heavyweights show here in Wilmington in August again!
MSM: Do you have any last things you want to say or push?
Daniel: Come see our fucking shows, dude.
Elliott: Do it for the Vine.
Jeremy: Do it for the TikTok.
Daniel: Just come to the fucking show; that's the last word for me!
To finish off the night, Prone took the stage. There were some minor issues with getting sound checked, but once they got going, it was phenomenal! Everyone in the room was moving and vibing to the music. It was impressive to see how much of a following these guys have built up over this amount of time. Their music truly speaks for itself. It is technical but heavy and melodic when it fits. For their second to last song, Mark Cessna from EscapeVelocity joined them on stage for an unreleased song. The set was a great length, and everyone was exhausted at the end from moving around so much.
Prone did a great job holding the audience's attention, even in the few minutes that they had to stop during their set. Daniel had to run to their trailer to restring his guitar after one of his strings broke in the middle of a song. The crowd did not disperse, and when Daniel made it back on stage, they continued throwing down as if they hadn't stopped playing at all.
Prone will be heading out to Turnip Farm Studios (previously known as Arcadia Studios) in Myrtle Beach on April 5th. They will also be in Charlotte, NC, at The Milestone, on March 14th with Respair, Vanta, Asleep Beneath the Soil, and Jiu Jitsu. I highly suggest seeing them perform if you're in those areas! These guys are incredibly talented and amazing performers. You'll have a wonderful time seeing them!
Take a sec to check out the songs that Prone has released, and watch some of their TikTok content below:
@pronenc
