Protest the Hero

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Protest the Hero
From Left to Right: Tim Millar, Rody Walker, Arif Mirabdolbaghi, Moe Carlson, Luke Hoskin
Origin	Whitby, Ontario Canada
Years active	1999 – Present
Genres	Post-Hardcore Mathcore Metalcore Punk Rock
Labels	Vagrant Records, Underground Operations
Members	Rody Walker Tim Millar Luke Hoskin Moe Carlson Arif Mirabdolbaghi

Formed in 1999 under the name Happy Go Lucky, Protest the Hero (abbreviated as PTH or simply Protest) is a Canadian post-hardcore metal band with punk influences (see genre section) from Whitby, Ontario . They have released the EP A Calculated Use of Sound (2003) and their recent full length Kezia (2005) with the indie label Underground Operations. On January 23, 2006 the band officially signed with Vagrant Records for United States releases. Kezia was released in the US on April 4, 2006.

Many of their older lyrics contain obvious political/social commentary, especially concerning the United States. However, on their latest release this commentary has been toned down significantly, using persistent themes and metaphors rather than blatant accusation, demonstrating their new outlook on the world and as song writers. Protest the Hero cites Between the Buried and Me, Jorge Salan and The Red Chord as some of their main musical influences, and Fyodor Dostoevsky and Dane Cook as some of their inspirational influences.

1 Overview
2 Releases
- 2.1 Discography
- 2.2 Videography
3 Trivia
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Overview

[edit] Biography

The band is comprised of five members: Rody Walker (lead vocals), Tim Millar (guitars, live backup vocals), Luke Hoskin (lead guitars, live backup vocals, piano), Morgan "Moe" Carlson (drums) and Arif Mirabdolbaghi (bass guitar, live backup death/clean vocals). For their most recent album, rather than writing songs in their musical boundaries, Protest wrote music that they could not play, and then forced themselves to learn how to play it over the last two years.

Protest the Hero's popularity is slowly expanding outside of punk/metal/hardcore scenes in and around the cities and towns they have performed in. Now teamed up with Universal Music Canada for distributional services, Protest the Hero hopes to become popular over most of Canada and, with their recent signing to Vagrant Records, the United States as well. In 2004 they won the Canadian Independent Music Award for Favourite Metal Artist/Group, beating out much more known Alexisonfire. They were nominated for the 2006 Canadian Music Week Indie Awards' Favourite Metal Artist/Group, which Kataklysm won in March 2006. In addition, members of the band appeared in a televised commercial for the instrument store, Long & Mcquade.

A music video for their song These Colours Don't Run from the album A Calculated Use of Sound was released in 2003. The video begins with the band discussing the meaning of the song and features the band playing the song live at numerous locations in Toronto, Ontario, with the album music dubbed overtop of the actual live music. At each location, the band would hand out lyrics to passers-by and encourage them to listen or sing along. The band has also released videos for the songs Blindfolds Aside and Heretics and Killers, both from Kezia.

[edit] Genre

Beginning as a punk-rock group with prominent pop tendencies, influences from bands such as Propagandhi were apparent. Their EP A Calculated Use of Sound defined them as a technical punk-metal band; the album was filled with moderate song structures and advanced soloing and guitar riffing work. Their current sound (from Kezia) is more difficult to classify. It can be loosely defined by merged elements of the following genres:

Modern post-hardcore - heard in their fast riffing song structures and gang-vocals.
Modern metalcore - heard in their sweeping solos, inclusion of screams and growls in the vocals, and inclusion of breakdowns.
Mathcore - heard in their alternating time signatures and complex rhythmic patterns.

To a lesser extent, Protest's sound includes characteristics of progressive metal and thrash metal, while their punk-rock roots remain at least partially evident. Many have said that Protest the Hero's music also contains elements of emo/emocore, mostly attributed to Rody's singing style and some of the lyrical content. Their music is technically advanced, and somewhat accessible to mainstream audiences with mostly clean singing, many dynamic/tempo changes, and some sing-along type lyrics.

[edit] Protest the Hero Live

Protest the Hero is working hard to make a name for themselves and has performed and toured with many big-name acts. They have played with Alexisonfire, NOFX, Against Me!, Sum 41, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Between the Buried and Me, fellow label-mates Bombs Over Providence and Closet Monster, and fellow Whitbians, Arms To Illustrate. From September 2005 until the beginning of June, 2006, Protest the Hero toured over Canada, the United States and Great Britain in support of Kezia with bands such as Death by Stereo, Bad Religion, Anti-Flag, The Fall of Troy, The Bled, and DragonForce. The band took part in the Vans Warped Tour during the Summer of 2006. Following this, Protest the Hero toured with Avenged Sevenfold and 3 Inches of Blood until October 2006 when they began "The Crusade" tour with Trivium, The Sword and Cellador, taking them across Canada and the United States.

Protest the Hero are known for playing with a large stage-presence, largely due to frontman Rody's unique and energetic persona, and the band's own moving about. In the past this has led to some comments that their music degenerates from its recorded quality when live, although their act has greatly improved with the release and performances from the album Kezia, where the band is more clearly focused on accurate playing than going crazy on stage.

[edit] Releases

[edit] Discography

Search for the Truth 7" (2002)
- Contains songs Is Anybody There? and Silent Genocide
(Coles) Notes from the Underground (various artist compilation) (2002)
- Features songs Break the Chain and Asperity of Sin
A Calculated Use of Sound EP (2003)
- Contains songs I'm Dmitri Karamazov and the World is my Father, Led Astray, Fear and Loathing in Laramie, Red Stars Over the Battle of the Cowshed, An Apathetic New World, and These Colours Don't Run
A Calculated Use of Sound reissue (2004)
- Contains re-mastered original tracks in addition to Soft Targets Dig Softer Graves.
Greetings from the Underground (various artist compilation sampler) (2004)
- Features the song Soft Targets Dig Softer Graves
The Power of Music (2-CD various artist compilation) (2005)
- Features the song An Apathetic New World
Kezia (2005)

[edit] Videography

These Colours Don't Run music video from A Calculated Use of Sound (2003) streaming video from Bedlam Society

Orange and Grey DVD (2005)
- Compilation DVD featuring live footage of Protest playing the songs Silent Genocide, These Colours Don’t Run, Red Stars Over the Battle of the Cowshed, and Fear and Loathing In Laramie

Blindfolds Aside music video from Kezia (released Nov. 2005).
Heretics and Killers music video from Kezia (released Apr. 2006).

[edit] Trivia

Bassist Arif Mirabdolbaghi is native of Iran.
Some members of the band have the word "protest." tattooed on them.
Protest The Hero are completely against playing encores during their live show.
The band absolutely refuses to play any old song live besides "I Am Dmitri Karamazov And The World Is My Father" because they feel that they have moved past that stage in music, and find that that album is too bland and does not properly reflect the type of music they stand for anymore. They've even added a new technical part to the song during the slow outro to spice it up and have it fit in with their other songs.
Protest has stopped selling copies of their old album "A Calculated Use Of Sound" at shows.
The song "Divinity Within" from the album "Kezia" is featured on the NHL 07 videogame soundtrack

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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Categories: 2000s music groups | Canadian hardcore punk bands | Canadian heavy metal musical groups | Post-hardcore groups