Protester

Yo, how did Protester start and when was your first live show?

Protester started in my bedroom at my parents' house in early 2013. I wrote all the songs, recorded the demo with my friend Jeff, then moved up to DC and got a band together. We played our first show in August 2013. 

You recorded instruments yourself for all recordings, yes? Is that going to be the case for the LP?

Yeah I recorded all the instruments on the demo and both 7"s. The LP is going to be full band which I'm really excited about. It'll be nice to have everybody's unique individual flavor on the recording, ya know? 

I quite often see Protester referred to as "hate filled straight edge hardcore". How would you describe your sound to somebody who is yet to hear your band?

I would describe it as clumsily written Xclaim worship with some Clevo spice played by morons.

Who are the other members in Protester and what other bands do they play in?

We got Robin on the drums. He plays in a million bands, including but not limited to Pure Disgust, Hard Stripes, Red Death, Stand Off, Civic Duty, and a bunch more. Dan plays bass in Barge, Line Of Sight, and True Head in addition to Protester. Brendan plays guitar and he's in a million bands too. Pure Disgust, Kombat, Stuck Pigs... I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch. Last but not least we got the loon balloon himself aka Ian on guitar. You can also catch him playing guitar and shaking his stuff in Give.

You're also in Red Death (as well as a bunch of other bands), how do you go playing 2 sets in one night? As I see both bands are going to Europe in May/June

That's going to be pretty rough, not going to lie to you haha. Playing two sets is generally pretty easy, but drumming for Red Death can be pretty exhausting sometimes and singing for Protester always knocks me the fuck out. We'll see how it goes!

DC is popping off at the moment, with so many great bands like Give, Pure Disgust, Stand Off & Zoom. Whats DC's secret?

I don't really think there is a secret other than us having way too much time on ours hands haha. People here are very dedicated to playing music and pushing themselves which I think plays a big part in a lot of those bands' success. 

On the most recent recording (paincave sessions) you covered NY Wolfpack, why did you choose to cover them?

I fuckin' love NY Wolfpack! Recording that cover was actually my little tribute to the late, great SOCIALCIDE from Virginia. They were a sick Straight Edge band that broke up in 2009 or something. On their 2nd 7" they covered "Suicide" and that's how I found out about NY Wolfpack. That LP is so fucking cool. The art is sick, the vocals are wild, and the riffs are top notch. I like it so much I own two copies! Haha.  

Who did the artwork for the No Identity 7"? Its very mad and very reminiscent of classic 80s Sean Taggart and even early Spolier.

Dylan Chadwick from NYC did the art! You might know him as the guy who does the Drug Dogs  zine. I really liked some stuff that he did for Give and Lockin' Out so I hit him up and asked him to draw something like the Cause For Alarm art with a twist. The first 7" had a pretty minimal feel aesthetically so I wanted the art for No Identity to contrast that. I'm really stoked on how it turned out. Thanks Dylan!

Are you playing Damaged City this year? Seems to consistently have one of the best line ups of all the US fests

Yeah we're playing. I'm psyched to mosh for Depths Of Reality.