Originally formed in 1999, the band comprised Guy McKnight (vocals), Andy Huxley (lead guitarist), Marc R. Norris (rhythm guitarist), Symren 'Sym' Gharial (bassist), and Tom Diamantopoulo (drummer), until May 2005, in which Andy Huxley "decided to leave due to a decrease in musical similarities"[1] to form the band Vile Imbeciles and was replaced by Rich Fownes from With Scissors.
The band were renowned for their intense live shows, where McKnight regularly left the stage during numbers to mingle with the crowd.
They also toured and supported many mainstream bands, including; System of a Down, Placebo, Klaxons, Murderdolls, Queens of the Stone Age, and Scars on Broadway.
Over a year after splitting, the band received an unexpected boost to their profile when in May 2012 their track "Chicken" was used in "My Time Is Now", a global advert for Nike Football.
[7] In June 2012, the band announced that they would re-form with original founding members Huxley and Norris to perform their debut material at three shows.
The reason given was that no shared musical common ground was found when recording new material and that the band did not have the strength to carry on.
[8] In 2015, The Prodigy released the album The Day Is My Enemy, which featured a cover version of the band's 2005 single "Rise of the Eagles" as a bonus track.
In 2015, Huxley and Gharial announced they had started a new project, Piano Wire, and released The Genius of the Crowd EP on Demand Vinyl.
In autumn 2016, Piano Wire announced they would release debut album Dream Underground on their own Hanging Houses record label in February 2017, along with lead single "Get a Life" produced by Gil Norton.
[9] In 2019, Norris – now based in Germany – formed The Famous Painters, releasing their debut EP "Shit Life Syndrome" that year, and follow up "Indigenous Perambulations" in October 2020.