protomartyr uk tour 2023

Protomartyr

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Past Events

Here are the most recent UK tour dates we had listed for Protomartyr. Were you there?

October 2023

• Thu 26 Oct London, Electric Ballroom Protomartyr
• Wed 25 Oct Birmingham, Hare & Hounds Protomartyr
• Tue 24 Oct Bristol, Trinity Protomartyr
• Mon 23 Oct Manchester, YES Protomartyr

August 2023

• Sat 12 Aug Leeds, Brudenell Social Club Protomartyr
• Fri 11 Aug Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach Protomartyr
• Thu 10 Aug Nottingham, The Rescue Rooms Protomartyr
• Wed 9 Aug Brighton, Concorde 2 Protomartyr
• Sun 1 May Various Venues Glasgow Stag & Dagger Glasgow 2022 Let's Eat Grandma, Protomartyr, Death By Unga Bunga, Dictator, Fauves…
• Sat 30 Apr Stag & Dagger Edinburgh 2022 Dream Wife, Let's Eat Grandma, Protomartyr, Death By Unga Bunga, Gustaf…
• Wed 27 Apr Leicester, The Y Theatre Protomartyr
• Tue 26 Apr Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach Protomartyr
• Mon 25 Apr Birmingham, Hare & Hounds Protomartyr
• Mon 18 Apr Newcastle upon Tyne, The Cluny Protomartyr
• Sun 17 Apr Leeds, Brudenell Social Club Protomartyr
• Sat 16 Apr London, Islington Assembly Hall Protomartyr TRAAMS, Rattle
• Fri 15 Apr Brighton, The Albert Protomartyr
• Thu 14 Apr Brighton, The Hope & Ruin Protomartyr

September 2020

• Wed 9 Sep London, The Lexington Protomartyr
• Tue 28 Apr London, The Lexington Protomartyr

August 2018

• Thu 30 Aug ➙ Sun 2 Sep Salisbury, Larmer Tree Gardens End Of The Road Festival 2018 Yo La Tengo, Kiran Leonard, Bas Jan, Laura Misch, Suggested Friends…
• Thu 30 Aug O2 Academy Liverpool Protomartyr
• Tue 28 Aug Sheffield, Picture House Social Protomartyr
• Fri 17 Aug ➙ Sun 19 Aug Lowlands 2018 Gorillaz, Kendrick Lamar, N*E*R*D, The War on Drugs, Chic featuring Nile Rodgers…
• Thu 10 May London, Scala Protomartyr, De Silva, Rattle
• Wed 9 May Birmingham, Mama Roux's Protomartyr
• Tue 8 May Hull, Social Protomartyr
• Sun 6 May Various Venues Glasgow Stag And Dagger 2018 - Ones To Watch Glasvegas, Bo Ningen, Protomartyr, Pulled Apart By Horses, The Slow Readers Club…
• Sat 5 May Handmade 2018 Circa Waves, Drenge, The Big Moon, Little Comets, Idles…
• Fri 4 May Bristol, Thekla Protomartyr

November 2017

• Sun 19 Nov Leeds, Brudenell Social Club Protomartyr
• Fri 17 Nov Glasgow, Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) Protomartyr
• Thu 16 Nov Newcastle upon Tyne, The Cluny Protomartyr
• Wed 15 Nov Manchester, The Deaf Institute Protomartyr, Sauna Youth
• Tue 14 Nov London, The Dome Protomartyr
• Sun 12 Nov Brighton, Chalk Protomartyr

October 2016

• Thu 27 Oct Nottingham, The Rescue Rooms Eagulls, Protomartyr, TRAAMS
• Wed 26 Oct Bristol, Fiddlers Eagulls, Protomartyr, TRAAMS
• Tue 25 Oct Brighton, Concorde 2 Eagulls, Protomartyr, TRAAMS
• Mon 24 Oct York, The Crescent Eagulls, Protomartyr
• Sun 23 Oct Hull, Adelphi Eagulls, Protomartyr
• Sat 22 Oct London, Barbican Centre John Grant, Wrangler (1), Scritti Politti, Alexis Taylor, The Pop Group, Protomartyr …
• Thu 14 Jul ➙ Sun 17 Jul Southwold, Henham Park Latitude Festival 2016 The Maccabees, Beirut, Father John Misty, Courtney Barnett, British Sea Power…
• Thu 14 Jul London, Bethnal Green Working Men's Club Protomartyr
• Sat 25 Jun ➙ Sat 2 Jul Roskilde Festival 2016 New Order, PJ Harvey, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tame Impala, Tenacious D…
• Thu 9 Jun ➙ Sat 11 Jun Nos Primavera Sound Porto 2016 PJ Harvey, Sigur Ros, Brian Wilson, Air, Algiers (1)…
• Thu 2 Jun ➙ Sat 4 Jun Primavera Sound Festival 2016 Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem, PJ Harvey, Tame Impala, The Last Shadow Puppets…
• Mon 4 Apr London, 100 Club Protomartyr
• Sat 2 Apr Glasgow, Broadcast Protomartyr
• Fri 1 Apr Liverpool, TheMagnet Protomartyr

November 2015

• Sat 7 Nov ➙ Sun 8 Nov Various Venues Cardiff Swn Festival 5th Spear, Aled Rheon, Alex Burey, Arms Like Legs, Baby Brave…
• Fri 6 Nov Birmingham, The Rainbow Venues Protomartyr
• Wed 4 Nov Manchester, Sound Control METZ, Protomartyr
• Tue 3 Nov Bristol, The Fleece METZ, Protomartyr, Idles
• Mon 2 Nov London, The Victoria (Dalston) Protomartyr
• Sun 1 Nov London, Scala METZ, Protomartyr

October 2015

• Sat 31 Oct Leeds, Brudenell Social Club METZ, Protomartyr
• Fri 30 Oct Brighton, The Green Door Store Protomartyr

August 2014

• Thu 21 Aug Glasgow, Broadcast Protomartyr
• Wed 20 Aug Leeds, Brudenell Social Club Protomartyr
• Mon 18 Aug Manchester, The Ruby Lounge Protomartyr, Autobahn, Deja Vega
• Mon 18 Aug Manchester, Fallow Protomartyr
• Sun 17 Aug London, The Windmill Protomartyr, Ultimate Painting, Mickey Gloss, Phobophobes, Ruiners

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Protomartyr

• October 26, 2023 Setlist

Protomartyr Setlist at Electric Ballroom, London, England

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Tour: Formal Growth in the Desert Tour statistics Add setlist

• Make Way Play Video
• 3800 Tigers Play Video
• Windsor Hum Play Video
• Elimination Dances Play Video
• Fun in Hi Skool Play Video
• For Tomorrow Play Video
• A Private Understanding Play Video
• Maidenhead Play Video
• Scum, Rise! Play Video
• The Author Play Video
• Polacrilex Kid Play Video
• My Children Play Video
• I Forgive You Play Video
• Feral Cats Play Video
• Pontiac 87 Play Video
• Processed by the Boys Play Video
• Jumbo's Play Video
• The Devil in His Youth Play Video
• Why Does It Shake? Play Video

Edits and Comments

3 activities (last edit by AndrewLindsay , 26 Oct 2023, 22:33 Etc/UTC )

Songs on Albums

• 3800 Tigers
• Elimination Dances
• For Tomorrow
• Fun in Hi Skool
• Polacrilex Kid
• I Forgive You
• The Devil in His Youth
• Why Does It Shake?
• A Private Understanding
• My Children
• Windsor Hum
• Jumbo's
• Scum, Rise!
• Processed by the Boys

Complete Album stats

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Electric Ballroom

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Protomartyr Gig Timeline

• Oct 24 2023 Trinity Centre Bristol, England Add time Add time
• Oct 25 2023 Hare and Hounds Birmingham, England Add time Add time
• Oct 26 2023 Electric Ballroom This Setlist London, England Add time Add time
• Oct 28 2023 Le 106 Rouen, France Add time Add time
• Oct 29 2023 Trix Club Borgerhout, Belgium Start time: 9:10 PM 9:10 PM

16 people were there

• Alchemist95
• AndrewLindsay
• CalendarMan
• commapotter
• danjamesphoto
• JohnnyTeardrop
• jonnycheung_
• laserninjashark

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Protomartyr Unveil New Album Formal Growth in the Desert: Stream

The post-punk outfit is supporting its release by embarking on a lengthy tour

Protomartyr are back with a new album called Formal Growth in the Desert . Stream it via Apple Music or Spotify below.

In a press release, Protomartyr singer Joe Casey recalled undergoing formal growth of his own — in his hometown of Detroit, though, more than the proper desert. The death of his mother following a 10-year-plus battle with Alzheimer’s combined with a series of break-ins in his family home prompted the artist to finally move out. “The desert is more of a metaphor or symbol,” he explained, “of emotional deserts, or a place or time that seems to lack life.”

Guitarist Greg Ahee co-produced Formal Growth In The Desert alongside Jake Aron. Lead single “Make Way” opens the album with alternating quiet and intensity, with western-sounding guitar and Casey’s low drawl building to commanding chants to, of course, “make way.” The track comes with a music video directed by Trevor Naud, who explained in a statement that “There’s a deliberate through-line between the videos for ‘Make Way’ and 2020’s ‘Worm In Heaven.’ The two songs feel partnered with each other, so I wanted the videos to feel like they exist in the same world.”

Watch the clip for “Make Way” below, and scroll onward for the artwork and tracklist for Formal Growth in the Desert . The follow-up to 2020’s  Ultimate Success Today was also previewed by the singles “Elimination Dances” and “Polacrilex Kid.”

Protomartyr are currently on a lengthy world tour that will wrap its North American leg in July before heading over to Europe and the UK. See their full list of tour dates below, and grab tickets via Stubhub .

Formal Growth in the Desert Artwork:

Formal Growth in the Desert Tracklist: 01. Make Way 02. For Tomorrow 03. Elimination Dances 04. Fun in Hi Skool 05. Let’s Tip the Creator 06. Graft Vs. Host 07. 3800 Tigers 08. Polacrilex Kid 09. Fulfillment Center 10. We Know the Rats 11. The Author 12. Rain Garden

Protomartyr 2023 Tour Dates: 06/13 — Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern 06/14 — Montreal, QC @ Fairmount 06/15 — New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom 06/16 — New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom 06/17 — Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s 06/20 — Washington, DC @ Black Cat 06/21 — Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle 06/22 — Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West 06/23 — Nashville, TN @ Blue Room 06/24 — St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway 06/26 — Oklahoma City, OK @ 89th Street 06/28 — Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole 06/29 — Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room 07/01 — San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel 07/02 — Santa Cruz, CA @ Moe’s Alley 07/05 — Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom 07/06 — Vancouver, BC @ Cobalt 07/07 — Seattle, WA @ Crocodile 07/08 — Spokane, WA @ Lucky You 07/11 — St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club 07/12 — Madison, WI @ High Noon 07/13 — Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall 08/06 — Frankfurt, DE @ Zoom 08/07 — Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso 08/09 – Brighton, UK @ Concorde 2 08/10 — Nottingham, UK @ Rescue Rooms 08/11 — Cardiff, UK @ Clwb lfor Bach 08/12 — Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club 08/14 — Eindhoven, NL @ Effenaar 08/15 — Hannover, DE @ Indiego Glocksee 08/17 — Copenhagen, DK @ Loppen 08/18 — Bodo, NO @ Parkenfestivalen 08/19 — Trondheim, NE @ Pstereo 10/19 — Galway, IE @ Roisin Dubh 10/20 — Limerick, IE @ Dolan’s Warehouse 10/21 — Dublin, IE @ The Button Factory 10/23 — Manchester, UK @ YES (The Pink Room) 10/24 — Bristol, UK @ The Trinity Centre 10/25 — Birmingham, UK @ Hare & Hounds 10/26 — London, UK @ Electric Ballroom 10/28 — Rouen, FR @ Le 106 10/29 — Antwerp, BE @ Trix Club 10/30 — Groningen, DE @ Vera 10/31 — Hamburg, DE @ Banhof Pauli 11/01 — Leipzig, DE @ UT Connewitz 11/02 — Berlin, DE @ Hole44 11/04 — Athens, GR @ Gagarin 205 11/06 — Munich, DE @ Strom 11/07 — Zurich, CH @ Bogen F 11/09 — Paris, FR @ La Station 11/10 — Lyon, FR @ Marché Gare 11/11 — Annecy, FR @ Le Brise Glace 11/13 — Bologna, IT @ Locomotiv Club 11/14 — Torino, IT @ Spazio 211 11/15 — Marseille, FR @ Le Makeda 11/16 — Montpellier, FR @ Le Rockstore

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Review: Protomartyr @ Trinity Centre

Biting with vicious noise the band were as loud as they were touchingly resonant with the audience, who watched the band back for the crown with a vengeance

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By Benji Chapman , Co-Deputy Music Editor

Despite recommendation from a close friend, who discovered the band through a rowdy game of Counter Strike circa 2017, I had previously squandered listening to Protomartyr much until the release of their most recent record, 2023's Formal Growth In the Desert. After missing my chance to see the band due to lockdown in 2020, it wasn't until summer 2023 that I was finally able to see the band on their earlier leg of the Formal Growth tour in Brighton.

Like almost all workers during the Covid pandemic, musicians were forced to drastically consider what their livelihoods would be during and- if there was ever was to be an end to the outbreak- after the crisis had passed. Musicians, more intensely than most careers, were arguably in the centre of this crisis as artists relying on live performance for income, which came to a grinding and sudden halt. Unbeknownst to myself at the time, this was a critical point for the band: who began to turn to the possibility that it may be time to throw in the towel.

But the sound of Protomartyr in 2023, armed to the teeth with new songs, is that of a snarling fury that refuses to quiet. The sounds of a band hardened by years of touring and putting out music in the Detroit scene, rich with a diverse musical history from techno to punk-rock. Lead singer Joe Casey has pointed out that it is a place which fosters artists to create music not for profit, but rather to tell compelling and meaningful stories for their own satisfaction. It couldn't be clearer onstage that the band have carried a stern determination to celebrate the album and its defiant insistence to keep the torch ablaze.

The band arrived 15 minutes earlier than their scheduled set-time, briskly taking place on stage in silence. As Casey nears the microphone, the stage erupts into a volcanic torrent of undulating guitar from guitarist Greg Ahee's twin tube-amplifiers. The opening song, Make Way , dives between softer passages before plunging back into the gothic sounds of mirth- all the while Casey narrates, introducing a world of the band's creation both sonically and narratively.

It's not till the third song of the night that the band interact the crowd when a fan screams "I love you Joe," whilst he adjusts the mic. Chuckling, he responds "no you don't" and magically produces another Heineken can from inside his jacket. There isn't much more interaction beyond stray comments as the band rattle through their set seamlessly- leaving time only for the songs- which eventually conjure up a healthy mosh pit in the crowd. As I dive for safety I'm free to watch the encore next to Greg's side of the stage and take in the crowd which ranges from diehards bellowing the lyrics at the foot of the band with arms raised, to people taking the show in from further afield.

Eventually the set comes to an end. Between the hazy lights, lingering sweat and feedback the band say their goodbyes with a spread of spent expressions across the group. I get the feeling they must be tired, now on the penultimate show of the UK tour and they've given it their all. It's funny, but I've never seen a band speak to the crowd less at a show. I think its because the music lets them speaks for themselves. The instruments: bass, guitar, drums are precise and loud at the same time, all synthesised into Casey's narrative creations. As the crowd leaves, the words of Pontiac 87 ring in my ears on a loop: "there's no use being sad about it, what's the point of crying about it."

Have you seen Protomartyr live?

Review: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard @ Bristol Beacon

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Protomartyr Share New Single/Video “Elimination Dances” – New UK & European Tour Dates Announced

Protomartyr

Share New Single/Video “Elimination Dances” Sixth Album  Formal Growth In The Desert  due June 2nd

  New UK & European tour dates announced

Protomartyr  — the Detroit post-punk band composed of  Joe Casey  (vocals),  Greg Ahee  (guitar),  Alex Leonard  (percussion), and  Scott Davidson  (bass) — “are sounding as vital as ever” ( Stereogum) . Today, the quartet presents their  new single/video ,  “ Elimination Dances ,”  from their anticipated forthcoming album,  Formal Growth In The Desert , out  June 2nd on Domino . Post-quarantine, Casey and his bandmates regrouped with a sense of uncertainty, questioning if and how to continue after the turbulence of the pandemic years. They found themselves using that ambivalence to hone a song they named after a chapter from a 1950’s teen dance manual. “Elimination Dances” refers to a game where “you get tapped out when you lose the dance,” and that felt an apt metaphor for just surviving. Life is a struggle, but “you might as well keep dancing until the tap comes,” Casey says.   Following lead single  “ Make Way ,”  “a tense waltz that explodes into a boisterous anthem” ( The FADER ), “Elimination Dances” is presented alongside a video directed by  Yoonha Park,  and features dancer  Kota Yamazaki . “ My dad once told me ‘Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end the faster it goes ,’” explains Park. “ That idea along with the lyrics led to the idea of a choreographic pattern that repeats as it grows outward in an expanding spiral. The choreography repeats with each cycle but has to be danced faster and faster to keep pace with the ‘pale youth’ until eventually devolving into chaos. I recently learned that the toilet paper quote was actually by Andy Rooney. ”   

Protomartyr delivers this dynamite arrangement, a track that grows with this intense ferocity. The body of the arrangement continuously adds to the critical essence of this composition. Whilst the brooding intensity pushes through with lashes of complexity, the burning nature becomes the body of the beast. The vocal notes consume the audience, addicted to the power of the lyrics and the deliverance. Another exploration that enthralls. Capturing the immense energy of this outfit and how they perfect a release filled with copious hooks and a truly innovative essence.

Protomartyr’s sixth album,  Formal Growth In The Desert , was recorded at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas. And though frontman Joe Casey did have a humbling experience staring at awe-inspiring Sonoran rock formations and reckoning with his own smallness in the scheme of things — as recounted in today’s “Elimination Dances” — the album’s title is not necessarily a nod to the sandy expanses of the southwest. Detroit, too, is like a desert. “The desert is more of a metaphor or symbol,” Casey says, “of emotional deserts, or a place or time that seems to lack life.” The desert brings an existential awareness that is ultimately internal.   The “growth” came from a period of colossal transition for Casey, including the death of his mother, who struggled with Alzheimer’s for a decade and a half. Now 45, Casey had lived in the family home in northwest Detroit all his life. In 2021, though, a rash of repeated break-ins signaled that it was time to finally move out. Protomartyr’s music — more spacious and dynamic than ever — helped pull Casey up. “The band still being viable was very important to me,” Casey adds, “and it definitely lifted my spirits.”   Having long served as Protomartyr’s unofficial musical director, guitarist Greg Ahee co-produced  Formal Growth In The Desert  alongside  Jake Aron  (Snail Mail, L’Rain). Ahee knew what Casey was going through and the challenges he’d been processing, and as Ahee was conceptualizing the music, he thought about how to make it all “like a narrative film.” The filmic sensibility is manifest in Casey’s storytelling, too, whether he’s critiquing ominous techno-capitalism or processing aging, the future, and the possibility of love.    Protomartyr have become synonymous with caustic, impressionistic assemblages of politics and poetry, the literal and oblique. Casey describes the underlying theme of  Formal Growth In The Desert  as a 12-song testament to “getting on with life,” even when it feels impossibly hard.

Protomartyr UK & European tour dates  Mon. Aug. 7 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Wed. Aug. 9 – Brighton, UK @ Concorde 2 Thu. Aug. 10 – Nottingham, UK @ Rescue Rooms Fri. Aug. 11 – Cardiff, UK @ Clwb lfor Bach Sat. Aug. 12 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club Mon. Aug. 14 – Eindhoven, NL @ Effenaar Tue. Aug. 15 – Hannover, DE @ Indiego Glocksee Thu. Aug. 17 – Copenhagen, DK @ Loppen Fri. Aug. 18 – Bodo, NO @ Parkenfestivalen Sat. Aug. 19 – Trondheim, NE @ Pstereo Thu. Oct. 19 – Galway, IE @ Roisin Dubh Fri. Oct. 20 – Limerick, IE @ Dolan’s Warehouse Sat. Oct. 21 – Dublin, IE @ The Button Factory Mon. Oct. 23 – Manchester, UK @ YES (The Pink Room) Tue. Oct. 24 – Bristol, UK @ The Trinity Centre Wed. Oct. 25 – Birmingham, UK @ Hare & Hounds Thu. Oct. 26 – London, UK @ Electric Ballroom Sat. Oct. 28 – Rouen, FR @ Le 106 Sun. Oct. 29 – Antwerp, BE @ Trix Club Mon. Oct. 30 – Groningen, DE @ Vera Tue. Oct. 31 – Hamburg, DE @ Banhof Pauli Wed. Nov. 1 – Leipzig, DE @ UT Connewitz Thu. Nov. 2 – Berlin, DE @ Hole44 Sat. Nov. 4 – Athens, GR @ Gagarin 205 Mon. Nov. 6 – Munich, DE @ Strom Tue. Nov. 7 – Zurich, CH @ Bogen F Thu. Nov. 9 – Paris, FR @ La Station Fri. Nov. 10 – Lyon, FR @ Marché Gare Sat. Nov. 11 – Annecy, FR @ Le Brise Glace Mon. Nov. 13 – Bologna, IT @ Locomotiv Club Tue. Nov. 14 – Torino, IT @ Spazio 211 Wed. Nov. 15 – Marseille, FR @ Le Makeda Thu. Nov. 16 – Montpellier, FR @ Le Rockstore   Formal Growth In The Desert  will be available on Dom-Mart exclusive splatter vinyl (w/ zine and poster), standard vinyl (w/ zine and poster), CD and digitally. Pre-order:  Dom Mart  |  Digital

http://protomartyrband.com/

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Protomartyr is an American rock band formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 2010. The band consists of Joe Casey, Greg Ahee, Alex Leonard, and Scott Davidson. In 2020, Kelley Deal joined the band in a touring capacity, providing additional keyboards, guitar and backing vocals. Delivering burly but intelligent music that played heavily on dynamics and physical impact.

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Protomartyr Unveil New Album Formal Growth in the Desert: Stream

The post Protomartyr Unveil New Album Formal Growth in the Desert: Stream appeared first on Consequence .

Protomartyr are back with a new album called Formal Growth in the Desert . Stream it via Apple Music or Spotify below.

In a press release, Protomartyr singer Joe Casey recalled undergoing formal growth of his own — in his hometown of Detroit, though, more than the proper desert. The death of his mother following a 10-year-plus battle with Alzheimer’s combined with a series of break-ins in his family home prompted the artist to finally move out. “The desert is more of a metaphor or symbol,” he explained, “of emotional deserts, or a place or time that seems to lack life.”

Guitarist Greg Ahee co-produced Formal Growth In The Desert alongside Jake Aron. Lead single “Make Way” opens the album with alternating quiet and intensity, with western-sounding guitar and Casey’s low drawl building to commanding chants to, of course, “make way.” The track comes with a music video directed by Trevor Naud, who explained in a statement that “There’s a deliberate through-line between the videos for ‘Make Way’ and 2020’s ‘Worm In Heaven.’ The two songs feel partnered with each other, so I wanted the videos to feel like they exist in the same world.”

Watch the clip for “Make Way” below, and scroll onward for the artwork and tracklist for Formal Growth in the Desert . The follow-up to 2020’s  Ultimate Success Today was also previewed by the singles “Elimination Dances” and “Polacrilex Kid.”

Protomartyr are currently on a lengthy world tour that will wrap its North American leg in July before heading over to Europe and the UK. See their full list of tour dates below, and grab tickets via Stubhub .

Formal Growth in the Desert Artwork:

Formal Growth in the Desert Tracklist: 01. Make Way 02. For Tomorrow 03. Elimination Dances 04. Fun in Hi Skool 05. Let’s Tip the Creator 06. Graft Vs. Host 07. 3800 Tigers 08. Polacrilex Kid 09. Fulfillment Center 10. We Know the Rats 11. The Author 12. Rain Garden

Protomartyr 2023 Tour Dates: 06/13 — Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern 06/14 — Montreal, QC @ Fairmount 06/15 — New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom 06/16 — New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom 06/17 — Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s 06/20 — Washington, DC @ Black Cat 06/21 — Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle 06/22 — Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West 06/23 — Nashville, TN @ Blue Room 06/24 — St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway 06/26 — Oklahoma City, OK @ 89th Street 06/28 — Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole 06/29 — Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room 07/01 — San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel 07/02 — Santa Cruz, CA @ Moe’s Alley 07/05 — Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom 07/06 — Vancouver, BC @ Cobalt 07/07 — Seattle, WA @ Crocodile 07/08 — Spokane, WA @ Lucky You 07/11 — St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club 07/12 — Madison, WI @ High Noon 07/13 — Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall 08/06 — Frankfurt, DE @ Zoom 08/07 — Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso 08/09 – Brighton, UK @ Concorde 2 08/10 — Nottingham, UK @ Rescue Rooms 08/11 — Cardiff, UK @ Clwb lfor Bach 08/12 — Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club 08/14 — Eindhoven, NL @ Effenaar 08/15 — Hannover, DE @ Indiego Glocksee 08/17 — Copenhagen, DK @ Loppen 08/18 — Bodo, NO @ Parkenfestivalen 08/19 — Trondheim, NE @ Pstereo 10/19 — Galway, IE @ Roisin Dubh 10/20 — Limerick, IE @ Dolan’s Warehouse 10/21 — Dublin, IE @ The Button Factory 10/23 — Manchester, UK @ YES (The Pink Room) 10/24 — Bristol, UK @ The Trinity Centre 10/25 — Birmingham, UK @ Hare & Hounds 10/26 — London, UK @ Electric Ballroom 10/28 — Rouen, FR @ Le 106 10/29 — Antwerp, BE @ Trix Club 10/30 — Groningen, DE @ Vera 10/31 — Hamburg, DE @ Banhof Pauli 11/01 — Leipzig, DE @ UT Connewitz 11/02 — Berlin, DE @ Hole44 11/04 — Athens, GR @ Gagarin 205 11/06 — Munich, DE @ Strom 11/07 — Zurich, CH @ Bogen F 11/09 — Paris, FR @ La Station 11/10 — Lyon, FR @ Marché Gare 11/11 — Annecy, FR @ Le Brise Glace 11/13 — Bologna, IT @ Locomotiv Club 11/14 — Torino, IT @ Spazio 211 11/15 — Marseille, FR @ Le Makeda 11/16 — Montpellier, FR @ Le Rockstore

Protomartyr Unveil New Album Formal Growth in the Desert: Stream Carys Anderson

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Album Review

Protomartyr - Formal Growth In The Desert

Their balancing act between decay and rebirth, love and hate, takes on an even sharper focus..

Reviewer: Matthew Davies Lombardi

Released: 2nd june 2023, label: domino.

“Can you hate yourself and still deserve love?” asks the tender yet acerbic Joe Casey, repeatedly, as he ends ‘Polacrilex Kid’. It’s a lot to ponder, but Protomartyr have never been the band to avoid delving into the philosophical. Six albums in and without ever relenting in quality, intensity and sheer abyss-like emotional depth, this Detroit foursome own such a space in the intellectual, nihilistic end of post-punk that they might as well charge rent to anyone else who dares to cross that territory. Like a melee in a ballroom, Protomartyr’s balancing act between decay and rebirth, love and hate, takes on an even sharper focus here. Touching on so many emotional themes that could swamp another album - his engagement; the death of his mother; leaving his childhood home after a series of break-ins - Protomartyr are uniquely equipped to express and elucidate in the most compelling of ways. They retain their characteristic dissection of contemporary America too - ‘Let’s Tip the Creator’ skewers the billionaire magnates, ‘Fulfilment Center’ the gig economy and ‘3800 Tigers’ might be the first extinction and baseball themed song. It’s definitely the most catchy. The band remain successful at finding lush nuances in their well-established formula and ‘Formal Growth in the Desert’ packs more hooks than any of their albums since 2015’s ‘The Agent Intellect’. Closer ‘Rain Garden’ addresses the earlier doubts, finding anyone deserving of love who works for it, in a cautiously optimistic, delicate croon of “Love has found me,” fatefully blissful and moving. For an act who have spent so much time contemplating their worth and their place, thirteen years into this journey they’re only going from strength to strength. While they’re one of the most expert chroniclers of our modern misfortunes one thing is obvious - we’re lucky to have Protomartyr.

Tags: Protomartyr , Reviews , Album Reviews

Find ‘Formal Growth In The Desert’ at Rough Trade

Vinyl LP (blue) - £29.99

Vinyl LP (black) - £27.99

Cd - £9.99

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Joe Casey has entered a new stage of life. After a decade as the self-consciously “miserable” frontman and lyricist of the Detroit post-punk institution Protomartyr , culminating in 2020’s Ultimate Success Today , he’s trying out a new, warily hopeful mode of existence. Protomartyr’s new project, Formal Growth in the Desert , is no stroll in the park, but it’s easily the most optimistic entry into their emphatically cynical body of work.

Part of Casey’s thematic pivot has been circumstantial. He got engaged (and, in May, married), which inspired a move from the crumbling family home on 6 Mile where he’s lived out the vast majority of his 46 years on earth to the more suburban 9 Mile — making him, in his own words, “one mile less cool than Eminem.” The love in his life, as well as the global pause brought on by the pandemic, also gave him the push he needed to work on himself after decades of neglect. It was, he told me last month, a way out during dark times.

Still, it would be a ridiculous stretch to say Casey now sees the world through rose-tinted lenses. The main factors that prompted his move out of the neighborhood he grew up in were not only new love, but also his mother’s death after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease and a series of break-ins that occurred the same week his then-girlfriend, now-wife moved to his home city. The robberies, to which Detroit police responded with complete indifference, are the subject of “We Know the Rats,” a standout track near the end of the new album.

Elsewhere, Formal Growth works in pairs: On “Graft Versus Host,” Casey plumbs the gulf between the “happiness in a cloudless sky” he knows his mother wishes for him and the “Vantablack in a starless sky” he actually feels in her absence. But later, on “The Author,” he celebrates her life from a much more accepting perspective. On “Polacrilex Kid,” he asks the question, “Can you hate yourself and still deserve love?” And on the album’s closer, “Rain Garden,” he answers it. “I am deserving of love,” he sings as Greg Ahee’s dense guitar chords and Alex Leonard’s heavy drum fills crash around him, radiating a serenity unprecedented in his earlier work.

Our conversation touched on Casey’s newfound confidence, as well as wild tigers, the Detroit Tigers, love, late capitalism, and grief.

This Q&A is taken from the latest episode of The FADER Interview podcast. To hear this week’s show in full, and to access the podcast’s archive, click here .

The FADER: In interviews surrounding Ultimate Success Today , you talked about that album as the end of a decade of Protomartyr. Did making Formal Growth in the Desert feel like the start of something new?

Joe Casey: I was setting myself up. I didn’t realize there was gonna be COVID, so it seemed like I was saying, “We’re done.” And then COVID hit, and it felt like, “Well, maybe we are done.” We didn’t know when we were gonna tour; money wasn’t rolling in; and creatively, we were completely sapped. I didn’t think about songs. Greg didn’t pick up a guitar for a year.

So when we started working on this record, it was kind of a benefit that during all those interviews, I was saying that was the end of a chapter. We didn’t have to be like, “We’ve gotta work on a new Protomartyr record.” We could just work on music. That gave us an out where we could start afresh, and it released the pressure of coming off a year of not doing shit and then being forced to recapture the magic.

I think this period after what we all hope is the darkest part of the pandemic feels like a new chapter for a lot of people. And I know you recently got engaged. Have you been feeling more hopeful lately?

That’s an underlying theme of this record: Whereas before, our Protomartyr [pandemic] record might’ve just pointed out how miserable and pointless life was, this album is like, “Okay, that’s a valid feeling. How do you get out of it without being too ‘Every cloud has a silver lining’ about it? What are realistic ways to continue living after something like that? Obviously, getting engaged is a great thing. And the album ends on an upbeat note, whereas we usually like to pull the rug at the end.

“You have to come to terms with the fact that the past is dying, and what’s coming behind you is coming, and you can be against it or you can accept it.”

You’ve been known to connect the closer of one album to the opener of the next one. In this case, do you feel like the open existentialism of “ Worm In Heaven ” was the precursor to the more future-oriented “Make Way?”

“Worm In Heaven” is a funeral song; it’s to be played at my funeral. It was pretty obvious early on that “Make Way” was gonna be the first song on the new one. And I learned from Greg that it’s in the same key. I just figured that after the years of COVID where millions of people died and everybody was face to face with mortality, the living still have to exist, in a non-religious sort of rapture way. Everybody’s gone, and now the people that remain have to continue on.

“Make Way” is an especially anthemic opener for a Protomartyr album. The statement at the end, “Make way for tomorrow,” is a much more direct call to action than you usually write.

The most interesting thing about going through COVID was when everybody was like, “It’s over. Stop wearing masks.” Everyone had a collective delusion that it was back to business. That’s also the thing as you get older: My parents’ generation, they’re all dying off. I’ve been to too many funerals, and it’s not because of COVID; it’s just because they’re old and they’re dying off. Then my generation’s gonna start dying off. You have to come to terms with the fact that the past is dying, and what’s coming behind you is coming, and you can be against it or you can accept it.

On the next track, “For Tomorrow,” you hint at both Detroit’s industrial past and its gentrifying present.

I’m a very lazy person. I’m like, “I’ll put it off till tomorrow. Tomorrow is when I’m gonna start really working.” And then, immediately after I wake up, I’m like, “Time to go back to bed.” I was capturing that mental state. And then, in Detroit, you could either go to the liquor store — we call them party stores here — get some booze, and go back, and that’ll be your day, or [you could go to one of these] new art galleries popping up. “For Tomorrow” is a lazy, depressed person’s anthem.

You moved out of your family home recently. What was the move like, where are you living now, and how has it changed the lens through which you view your city, if at all?

I got engaged, and I convinced somebody to move to Detroit, which is a point for me. The week she moved, we were staying at an Airbnb, and I was like, “I can’t wait to show you the house. It needs a lot of work, but we can live there for a while, because trying to buy a house now is impossible.” And that week, for the first time in my existence, the house was broken into — not only once, but four times in the span of two weeks. I was like, “This doesn’t usually happen!”

I called the cops, and the cops said, “Do you have a security system?” “No, I don’t have a security system.” “Do you have a gun?” “No.” “Well, it’s gonna keep happening.” It was the cop equivalent of “you had it coming.” They said they’d send a detective. Nobody ever came. As it’s developing, you hate the thief because he’s taking away your sense of safety and your things. But then you start wondering, “Why is this guy breaking into my house?” There really wasn’t much. He went through everything — 60 years of accumulated junk, mementos, important things to us — to not find much. The most important thing I lost was a laptop that had all the Protomartyr demos on it.

After a while, you’re like, “The guy’s breaking into my house because he needs the money.” “Why does he need the money?” “Well, in Detroit right now, there’s not a lot of jobs. Housing is ridiculous; people are buying cheap houses, slapping some shitty paint on them, and raising the price to where no one can afford them.” I slowly stopped being mad at the thief, and then I was mad at the cops for ignoring me, and then I was mad at the systems that made it so. It went from, “I’m scared of being broken into,” to, “I’m scared of a system that makes you scared of your neighbor, that makes you worry about the immigrant stealing your job.” It went from being something very specific to something very abstract. That’s “We Know the Rats.”

“I slowly stopped being mad at the thief, and then I was mad at the cops for ignoring me, and then I was mad at the systems that made it so.”

You wrote this album in the wake of your mother’s passing from Alzheimer’s. On “Graft Versus Host,” you contrast “happiness in a cloudless sky” (what you imagine your mom wants for you), and Vantablack in a starless sky (how you actually feel). How do you find a balance between those two poles?

My grandmother died of Alzheimer’s, so we brought her into the family house, and we got to see her going through it first hand. But that’s your grandma. That’s an old lady that’s been old since you were a child. Alzheimer’s goes down the family line, so my mom was like, “I don’t want to be a burden to you boys if I ever get it.” After my dad died, thought, it was almost immediate. I think the grief of my dad dying exacerbated it. She kind of quickly started losing her memory and being able to do things. It was a decade-long spiral to the end. It’s impossible to explain, watching someone you love slowly drain away. So her death was very sad, but I had almost a decade to grieve her.

“Graft Versus Host” was one we wrote early. I remember when they came to take [my mother’s] body out of the house — my brother’s house at the time — I tried to really think about what I was feeling and seeing, rather than just sitting there blankly. Immediately, there was that feeling of, “That light is now out. What would she want me to do?” She wouldn’t want me to be sad about this, because it was a relief, and she was a very happy person. But that’s easier said than done. The music that the band had written had this amazing coda to it, and I was like, “This is expressing more emotion than anything I could say. I don’t want to gum it up with words.”

With “The Author,” Greg had a fairly upbeat song. I was like, “This is gonna be another mom song, but it’s gonna be more about celebrating her and getting through it.” Again, that song has a coda that expresses more than words could. I didn’t even realize until we started doing interviews about this record that both those songs have a part where I’m not singing and the music kind of takes over. I’m really happy with those two because they sum up going from grief and depression to hopefulness. The narrative arc on those two songs is — if I can say so — pretty well done.

“The Author” ends with a simple, poignant message: “Kiss the ones that love you for the song you sing.” Do you think that revelation was possible for you because you’re in a serious romantic relationship now?

I think it would be a lot harder if I was lonely and had nobody. That’s why “Rain Garden” is the first love song I’ve ever written. We got engaged during COVID, so during these darkest times, it was a way out: “I think I’m a piece of shit, but this person cares about me. I need to clean myself up and try to find the good in life, because this person is willing to be there for me, and I need to be there for them.”

In the past, maybe I’d be like, “Well, they love me for who I am. I guess I can be a miserable bastard.” This was more, “You’ve gotta at least attempt to try to make the world you wanna live in.” I would hope we get there in an interesting way that’s not just, “You know what the answer is? Love.” I think it’s a little more complicated than that. But with the music [the band] wrote, I had to follow the way it was making me feel emotionally, and it was giving me hope.

“Polacrilex Kid” asks the question, “Can you hate yourself and still deserve love?” And Rain Garden answers it: “I Am deserving of love.” Tell me more about that process of discovering your worthiness to be loved.

The interesting thing is when you’re in Protomartyr, your fans like the fact that you’re depressed, or at least that you’re able to capture that feeling. I’m a pretty miserable person, which makes it easier to write about that stuff.

The trick is to try to write a good workout song, and then people will play you on Spotify. But the problem is then you have to write the lyrics, and you’re not a “you can do it guy,” you’re not an “achieve your dreams” fella. So you have to talk about, “I’m back, but I still have to pay bills,” and nobody applauds you for that. On the road, it can be very miserable. This reality creeps into [“Polacrilex Kid”], the reality of being myself: “Do I have enough to offer?” “I don’t think so.” So, “Am I deserving of love?”

“Rain Garden” is interesting, because in the first half I wanted to talk about very mundane things. It’s about me and my fiancé going to get Taco Bell, sitting in the parking lot and seeing this rain garden, and being like, “I’m sitting next to the person that I love, and we’re both chowing down on Taco Bell. This is a beautiful moment.” Then the second half kind of becomes very cosmic, almost biblical in its love, because that’s the way it works: The day-to-day is very beautiful, and then you can have flights of fancy about how much you love somebody.

“Baseball in the future… It’s gonna be a cloud where you can’t even see through it, and somewhere inside there’s some violence happening, and the crowds are screaming.”

“3800 Tigers” is at once fatalist regarding tiger extinction, nostalgic for the Lou Whitaker days of the Detroit Tigers, and futurist: dreaming of the brutal statistics that will arise by the year 3800. Beyond the word tiger, how do all these things connect in your head?

My favorite songs to write are the songs where I have no idea what I’m writing about, and I’m just trying to stay on the back of a very busy rocking song. What can I shout that will be interesting to me, as opposed to, “Rock and roll,” or, “I love to rock?” I was thinking about the number of tigers [in the world], which fluctuates — you Google it and it changes. Just last week in an interview, someone told me, “Actually, there’s been an explosion of the amount of tigers, and they’re starting to become a problem, going into villages and attacking people.” I guess that’s good news, that there’s more tigers.

But I always like talking about the Tigers. There’s two things specifically: ’84 was the last time we won the World Series. Those days are gone. We’ve come close once… 2007, 2008. So for longer than we’ve been a band, the Tigers have sucked. It was nostalgia for that period, and then, I was like, “Baseball in the future…” It’s gonna be a cloud where you can’t even see through it, and somewhere inside there’s some violence happening, and the crowds are screaming.

Speaking of puns, there are some good ones about capitalism on this record. There’s “Fulfillment Center,” “Let’s Tip the Creator,” and “Elimination Dances,” which you’ve called a metaphor for life but also feels relevant to the corporate rat race. Having spent half a lifetime in Detroit, which a lot of people consider the microcosm of American capitalist decline, what parts of our current stage of late capitalism feel like the most surreal?

What’s happening right now with all this AI stuff… I find it so amazing that these tech people, the first thing they go after is art: “Oh, my AI can replicate paintings and songs.” That, to me, shows you the hubris of these people. Art is an expression of the human soul. What’s not an expression of the human soul is being a CEO of a fucking company. AI could probably do that — pay bills, give out paychecks to workers, figure out where to cut costs — much better. It’s so funny that these soulless people always go after the thing with the most soul.