Discipline is an American

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band formed in 1987 by singer-songwriter Matthew Parmenter. Based in Detroit, Michigan the band has released five studio albums, two live albums, a live DVD, and a live concert motion picture. Discipline may be best known for their 1997 release ''Unfolded Like Staircase.''

History

Discipline was formed in 1987, adopting its name from an influential

King Crimson King Crimson were an English progressive rock band formed in London in 1968 by Robert Fripp, Michael Giles, Greg Lake, Ian McDonald (musician), Ian McDonald and Peter Sinfield. Guitarist Fripp remained the only constant member throughout the ...

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

. The band have released multiple studio albums and appeared at several progressive rock festivals, including Nearfest, RoSfest, ProgScape, the Orion Studios progressive rock showcase, Summers End, Terra incognita, Veruno Prog Festival and six appearances at ProgDay. In addition, the band did a 1993 tour in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

to support their first studio recording ''Push & Profit''. The tour was organized by students of the

Norwegian University of Life Sciences The Norwegian University of Life Sciences (, NMBU) is a public university located in Ås, Akershus, Ås, Norway. It is located in Akershus (county), Akershus county and has around 7,700 students. History The institution was established in 185 ...

in Ås,

near

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. The band is best known for its 1997 album ''Unfolded Like Staircase.'' The band has remained independent since its inception. In 1995 Discipline was approached by the American progressive rock label

Magna Carta Records Magna Carta Records is an independent record label located in East Rochester, New York. Magna Carta was formed in 1989 and is owned by Peter Morticelli and his partner Mike Varney. The label, named for the 1215 English document advancing democra ...

and its European distribution partner

Roadrunner Records Roadrunner Records is a Dutch–American record label focused on Heavy metal music, heavy metal and hard rock music. Founded in the Netherlands in 1980, it is now a division of Warner Music Group and is based in New York City. Formerly seen as ...

(originally of the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

). Although an early version of the band's epic "Canto IV (Limbo)" appeared on a Magna Carta sampler in 1995, the label deal fell apart due to artistic differences. Later Discipline signed a European distribution deal with

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

's Periferic Records. In 2010

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

's Cyclops/GFT label released "Discipline. Live Days," a double CD compilation pulled from several live concert recordings. In 2011 the band released ''To Shatter All Accord'', their first studio album in fourteen years. Subsequently, in 2012, the band was featured on the cover of the Italian magazine Wonderous Stories and French magazine Koid 9. In 2013, after twenty-five years, the band reissued their first album ''Chaos Out of Order,'' originally released on cassette tape in 1988. In January 2014, the band released a double CD, ''This One's for England,'' recorded live in

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Gettysburg (; ) is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Adams County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the borough had a population of 7,106 people. Gettysburg was the site of ...

during their appearance at RoSfest in 2012. In 2015 Discipline performed at UK's Summers End music festival. Discipline performed at Italy's 2Days Prog+1 festival on September 2, 2017, billed as “the most important Prog Rock festival in Italy.” The band also played October 22, 2017, at Chicago's 3-day Progtoberfest. Discipline headlined the FestivAlterNativo music festival in Querétaro, Mexico August 25, 2018.

Style

Discipline's style and genre has been variously described. ''

The Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United S ...

'' described them as an "

alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (Kamen Rider), Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * Alternative comics, or independent comics are an altern ...

band." However, the progressive rock website

Prog Archives Prog Archives is an online fan-based website with information on progressive rock bands and musicians. Teams evaluate whether the band or musician should be added to the website or not. As of the summer of 2014, the website had web pages on 8,671 ...

classifies Discipline as "Symphonic Prog". Doug Levy in Detroit's South End newspaper writes of Discipline, "this is not some kind of over-the-top theatrical rock troupe of sorts as much as it is a welcome merging of both

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

and tightly-knit (hence the name) modern rock." John Collinge, publisher of ''Progression Magazine'', writes, "Discipline’s music demands focused attention—preferably with headphones and lyric booklet, at least on the first spin. Once you’ve locked into Parmenter’s vibe, strong melodies and gloriously edgy accompaniment seal the deal." Discipline is a registered trademark of Strung Out Records.

Members

;Current lineup * Matthew Parmenter (1987–present) – vocals, keyboards, violin, saxophone, guitarsTom Gagliardi's Gagliarchives
/ref> * Mathew Kennedy (1988–present) – bass guitar * Paul Dzendzel (1991–present) – drums * Chris Herin (2014–present) – lead guitar ;Former members * Jon Preston Bouda (1987–2014) – lead guitar * Don Bakerian (1987) – backing guitar * Woody Saunders (1987–1991) – drums * Dave Krofchof (1991–1993) – keyboards * Brad Buszard (1993–1995) – keyboards

Discography

* ''Chaos Out of Order'' (1988) * ''Push & Profit'' (1993) * ''Discipline Live 1995'' (VHS 1995) * ''Unfolded Like Staircase'' (1997) * ''Discipline. Live into the Dream...'' (1999) * ''Discipline Live 1995'' (DVD reissue 2005) * ''Live Days'' (2010) * ''To Shatter All Accord'' (2011) * ''Chaos Out of Order'' – 25th anniversary reissue (2013) * ''This One's for England'' (2014) * ''Discipline Live in Gettysburg'' (motion picture 2015) * ''Captives of the Wine Dark Sea'' (2017)

References

External links