Protomartyr is a post-punk band formed in 2008 hailing from Detroit, Michigan. They just released their second full-length album, Under Color of Official Right, on Hardly Art. The Charlatan‘s John Forte sat down with Joe Casey, Greg Ahee, and Scott Davidson in the basement of Club SAW before their show at Ottawa Explosion Festival on June 13.
TC: What’s the deal with Butt Babies?
GA: That was a band Alex and I started in like 2008, where we would just write songs in our parent’s basements and record them onto the built-in speaker of a laptop computer. We would do like a song a day. We recorded like a couple hundred songs. But then we started to play live a little bit and we realized we needed bass, so we asked Scott to join. (To Scott) I don’t know if you had really played bass that much before that.
SD: Yeah I never . . .
GA: He played guitar.
JC: You had a bass though.
GA: He had a bass and we would play shows in his basement and we thought, he’s someone with a bass and a house, let’s ask him to join. Then once Joe came into the picture that was a totally different thing and that’s when Protomartyr started.
TC: Can you guys tell me about your hometown, Detroit?
JC: I didn’t realize it was as messed up as people say it is until I kind of left it, went away, saw other cities, seemed like a perfectly normal place to live. If you have a car you can get around and if you don’t mind having your car stolen on occasion, then it’s a great place to live.
TC: There’s been a lot of coverage of your most recent album, good reviews online, do you feel like you achieved your goals with it?
JC: I was worried that it was a little bit too different from the first record or that people wouldn’t like it, but the reviews have been good and people at shows have come up and said that they like it.
TC: How do you guys feel about all the comparisons that get made between your sound and the classic post-punk sound of bands like Joy Division, and how your vocals (Joe) compare to those of Ian Curtis?
JC: I think it’s because I kind of sing in a monotone people think, “who else sings in a monotone? Oh, Ian Curtis does. Bingo.” We never set out to make a sound, but I think what they try to do is because my voice is kind of limited, they made sure the music kind of fit my voice. That’s what kind of gives post-punk edges to the music and they just try to make sure my ass isn’t out song-wise.
GA: I think if we fell into that genre it happened completely by accident.
TC: How do you feel like all the mainstream coverage you have been getting? How do you feel like you’re getting exposure?
JC: It’s been nice for our families because I’ve told them I’m in a band but I don’t think they really realized it until we got some national coverage.
GA: It’s definitely nice for our families and it legitimizes it for people that aren’t in the same music scene that we’re familiar with.
TC: Would your 13-year-old self think of your current self as cool?
JC: No.
GA: No.
SD: No.
GA: I would probably have wanted my band to sound like Screeching Weasel. In that I failed. I would think we sound like shit. I wouldn’t like it at all.
JC: This band, you guys are boring. Why are you wearing glasses? You lose your eyesight kid. You get fatter! Noooooo!
SD: You used to work out every day!
JC: I was pleasantly plump when I was thirteen, now . . . I’m morbidly obese.
TC: What were the first records you guys bought?
GA: In the third or fourth grade I bought “Dookie” by Green Day and right after that, one of the Smashing Pumpkins records. Around the same time I also bought the CD single for Mariah Carey’s “Always Be My Baby.” I probably liked that more than the Smashing Pumpkins and Green Day records.
JC: My first tape was unfortunately the New Monkees, not the Old Monkees.
SD: Jock Jams Volume II, ESPN Presents. It still influences me.
TC: My first album was Smashmouth.
GA: Was that before or after “All Star?”
TC: I think it was post-All Star.
JC: If I can record a song where I just go “SOME-“ and you know what’s coming next.
GA: If we can record a song that’s that recognizable, just from that first half second, then we’ll know we’ve made it.
