As someone who loves photographing bands and putting myself through the hell of shooting at low light venues – I always keep my eyes peeled on what bands are playing in areas I cover. This is how I initially came across Protomartyr.
Protomartyr are an American post-punk band formed in Michigan, in 2010. The band consists of 4 : Joe Casey, Greg Ahee, Alex Leonard, and Scott Davidson. With an additional member, Kelley Deal ed the band in a touring capacity, providing additional keyboards, guitar and backing vocals in the US. The only way I can think to describe the sound of this band is if you went on an acid trip during the apocalypse. For the record, I think that’s a good thing. What I’m trying to say is they have a vibe, when listening to the music. The band’s most popular track is ‘The Devil in his Youth’ which currently has 2 million streams on Spotify, which feels like it belongs in a gritty western film soundtrack.
The band is ed by Bobby Would on their UK leg of this tour. The venue is sold out for tonight, so I’m expecting a hot room with a stench of sweat permeating the room.
Bobby Would opened up the night around 19:45 with a feel I can only describe as like a singing Mogwai but less heavy. The soloist came on stage with just a tiny guitar and his laptop and had the venue in his palm. The audience were so quiet during his set, not because they didn’t enjoy it but because they were so enthralled by the atmosphere that had been built. The lighting design of the set stood out to me. It’s hard to describe but it was only a single spotlight on the singer, with a filter that had alternating s to give bars across the singers face. It’s always nice to see artists consider their lighting design when performing live.
The deep vocals of the artist are enough to make you stop talking altogether. I listened to Bobby Would before the gig and still found myself shocked at the depth to his vocals. For a solo artist in a predominantly rock music venue and nothing but his tiny guitar, which I will keep talking about, he had a strong presence. It would’ve been great to see more interaction with the crowd, but I also do realise that probably just isn’t Bobby Would’s style. It seemed he kept avoiding looking down to the crowd, but this could just because he was in the zone and didn’t want to risk getting distracted. So that isn’t something I’ll hold against the artist as many artists with a certain type of sound are like this.
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We now had a 30 minute intermission waiting for the headliners to take the stage. The audience filled up the entire room. I had a quick observation of the type of crowd Protomartyr attract and was intrigued to see a mix of teenagers fresh from University and older rockers with dreads. At 20:45 it was finally time for Protomartyr. They came onto the stage, without too much of a glance but with cheer from the pit to accompany their arrival. The band didn’t have much interaction with the crowd from the get go, but as with Bobby Would – that just seems to be there schtick.
The band opened with a recent track, “Make Way”. The steady voice of the vocalist, Joe, having a grip on the audience. There wasn’t much singing along to the band, as the audience were so enthralled with hearing the raw vocals. Already, I could tell that the fans of this band are very much those who like to be taken away from reality and thrown into the world created by the artist. Protomartyr definitely have a way of creating an atmosphere without even having to explicitly demand it.
My only could be gripe of the set was just the lighting design. With how visual the band’s music videos are it would’ve been nice to see that replicated in their stage. For a lot of bands this isn’t a priority however, and it’s more my own want than need. The audience themselves seemed completely captivated, regardless.
The band didn’t move around the stage much, but that didn’t stop the head banging of the guitarists. We did get thanks from the vocalist around mid-way through the set to the audience for their enthusiasm, which is always great to see from a band that mostly don’t address the crowd, which was then swiftly followed by the steady drummer’s beat for the next song.
Whilst taking notes, I jotted down how the room wasn’t as humid as I thought it’d be. To be fair, I was sat to the side… but this isn’t the type of band where you have moshers and crowd surfers. As a “woo-er” at concerts, I felt oddly out of place with how uniform the crowd were. No random WOOs during a song. I couldn’t even see one phone up recording. Everyone was just there for the moment…I can’t relate though, when I go to a gig you can guarantee my phone will be out recording every song as I want to relive the memories afterwards because I know I’ll forget.
From what I’d heard of Protomartyr before the gig, I was impressed to hear just how much they sound like their recordings. The guitar riffs that fill the room and vocals that paint a picture are definitely something I think any fan of this band should experience live.
I definitely recommend looking into what bands are performing at some of the smaller venues near yourself (that won’t cost an arm and a leg to get a ticket). You’ll never know who you’ll come across and music in recent years has taken such an experimental turn it’s exciting to see what bands we’ll come across next.
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Pics by Jayne Slater
