29/09/2026
FROM DRAWING BOARDS TO MIXING DESKS:
Oxford Architect Builds A Sound Career
Prod Pritchard has spent most of his life making music, but he can still pinpoint a moment when somebody else’s song made him hear it differently. In 1997, Radiohead’s “Airbag” knocked him off his feet. Nearly three decades later, it still does.
Prod grew up around the Oxford music scene, where Radiohead were among the artists testing how far a band could push its sound. Their willingness to cross musical boundaries struck a chord. So did the song craft of the Wannadies and the Candyskins, two indie bands he believes never received the recognition they deserved. Then there was Joy Division: short-lived, unmistakable and, in Prod’s view, capable of changing the direction of a music genre.
Those are some of the sounds that have accompanied a remarkable musical journey. Prod has been singing and playing instruments for 50 years. Since 1990, he has written, recorded and gigged with UK bands including Albuquerque, Flow and Adore. His work has taken him to festivals across Britain and Europe, while a performance at Brixton Academy remains one of his standout gigs.
He has shared bills with Katrina and the Waves, Roachford, Tiger and Kitchens of Distinction. Another chapter saw him gigging and recording with Owen Paul, best known for the hit “You’re My Favourite Waste of Time”. That work brought performances at Liverpool Arena and the Royal Albert Hall, along with support slots for Culture Club and Paul Carrack.
It’s an impressive list of names and venues, but it tells only part of Prod’s story. He is a musician who plays guitar, bass and synth as well as singing, and who has kept writing his own material throughout a career that could easily have been consumed by other people’s songs.
From 2000 to 2015, he made music under the name Airstar. Now he’s writing and recording a new project, The Coastguard Agency. His main act appearance at The Gig Room is a chance to hear the songwriter behind those years of bands, sessions, festivals and shows. Prod says he barely ever performs covers. Originals are mostly part of his showcase nowadays.
The songs he does single out as favourites offer a glimpse into his musical world: Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, the Wannadies’ “You and Me”, the Candyskins’ “Car Crash” and the Radiohead track that floored him back in 1997. His vocal inspirations include Mark Everett of Eels, Nick Cope of the Candyskins and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. Elsewhere in his musical orbit are Sigur Rós, Primal Scream, the Pixies and My Bloody Valentine. It’s a collection of artists with strong identities and little interest in standing still.
For years, Prod ran an architecture practice while writing, recording and performing with bands, somehow finding room for session work as well. Music was never something he left behind at the end of a working day. Today he runs a boutique recording studio in Oxford, helping singer-songwriters and emerging artists bring their ideas to life while continuing to write and record his own. Five decades after he first began singing and playing, he is still making music and giving others a place to make theirs.
The Gig Room is delighted to welcome Prod Pritchard as the main act at our next Open Mic. Join us for an afternoon with an original songwriter whose path has run through the Oxford scene, across European festival stages and into some of Britain’s best-known venues, with plenty more music to come.
Sunday 4 October, 3 pm (Open Mic starts at 1pm).
The Gig Room at the Bundanoon Club
70B Erith Street, Bundanoon
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
