| Protest the Hero | |
|---|---|
performing on July 17, 2008 |
|
| Background information | |
| Origin | Whitby, Ontario, Canada |
| Genres | Progressive metal, mathcore |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Labels | Vagrant, Underground Operations |
| Associated acts | Cheddar Cheese & the Mousetrap |
| Website | www.protestthehero.com |
| Members | |
| Moe Carlson Rody Walker Tim Millar Arif Mirabdolbaghi Luke Hoskin |
|
Protest the Hero is a Canadian progressive metal band from Whitby, Ontario.[1] Originally named Happy Go Lucky, the band line-up has remained the same since their formation in 1999.[2] The band changed their name to Protest the Hero shortly before releasing their debut EP, Search for the Truth, in 2002. In 2005, the band released their first full-length album, Kezia, on the indie label Underground Operations.
On January 23, 2006, the band signed with Vagrant Records for Kezia's American release on April 4, 2006. Their second full-length album, Fortress was released by Underground Operations in Canada and by Vagrant Records worldwide on January 29, 2008.[3] The band released their third studio album, Scurrilous, on March 22, 2011.
Contents |
In 2002, they release their first recording, Search for the Truth 7" vinyl, which included only two songs ("Silent Genocide" and "Is Anybody There?"). Five more songs were recorded that year ("I Detest", "Just Defy", "The 5th Commandment", "Asperity of Sin" and "Break the Chain") but never released on any album of the band. Despite this, three of these songs can be found on the Internet and the other two were released in the compilation album (Coles) Notes from the Underground. Luke Hoskin stated on his Formspring page that Search for the Truth was recorded when they were 13 years old.[4] The day that the band members finished their senior finals, they went on a three-week "Rock the Vote" tour from Toronto to Halifax to garner recognition and raise awareness for the upcoming Canadian election.[5]
In 2004 the band won the Canadian Independent Music Award for Favourite Metal Artist/Group, beating out the better-known Alexisonfire.[6] They were nominated for the 2006 Canadian Music Week Indie Awards' Favourite Metal Artist/Group, which Kataklysm won in March of that year. Also in 2006, the band was nominated for the CASBY Award.[1] In addition, members of the band appeared in a televised commercial for the musical instrument store, Long & Mcquade. Bassist Arif was also featured in the Closet Monster music video "Mamma Anti-Facisto (Never Surrender)"; he can be seen to the left of London Spicoluk during the main group scenes.
A music video for their song "These Colours Don't Run", from the EP 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, with the album music dubbed over the actual live recording. 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 "The Divine Suicide of K.", "Blindfolds Aside", and "Heretics and Killers" from Kezia, and for "Bloodmeat", "Palms Read", "Spoils", "Sequoia Throne" and "Limb from Limb" from Fortress. The video for "Heretics and Killers" received airplay on MTV2 and FUSE, partially because of the interesting premise of the video: the band play the flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz who work odd jobs after The Wicked Witch is killed. At the 2009 Golden God Awards, Protest the Hero won best Viral Video.[7] The video features Rody, Luke, and Tim doing a dance on the side of a road when their van broke down.[8]
Protest the Hero played Fortress from start to finish from November 20 to December 23. This stretch marked the last of the band's shows for a while as they took the first part of 2010 to work on a new album, which was to feature a more progressive sound. The band officially began recording on August 30, 2010.[9][10] On December 15, 2010, Walker posted a video indicating the completion of work on the third album.[11] The new album is titled Scurrilous and was released March 22, 2011.[12]
Protest the Hero has performed and toured with many well-known acts, including Killswitch Engage, In Flames, Alexisonfire, Bullet for My Valentine, Against Me!, Between the Buried and Me and many others. From September 2005 until the beginning of June, 2006, the band toured across 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. They then took part in the Vans Warped Tour during the Summer of 2006. Following this, they 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.
In November 2006, Protest the Hero toured with Welsh metal band Bullet for My Valentine and As I Lay Dying. Beginning in the middle of December 2006, they embarked on a cross-Canada tour, named Bring Out Your Shred, with I Hate Sally and The Human Abstract. This tour was the first in which Kezia was played in its entirety. In late May-early June they co-headlined the Tour and Loathing 2007 Tour with co-headliners All That Remains, Blessthefall, Threat Signal and The Holly Springs Disaster.
In September 2007, guitarist Luke Hoskin was detained at the Vancouver–US border for possessing a bag with less than 0.2 grams of marijuana, preventing him from continuing on their tour with Trivium and The Sword.[13] In his place the band recruited Marco Bressette from the Canadian rock band Hypodust from September until November 2007.
On January 28, 2008, the band began a tour through Canada with A Day to Remember, Silverstein, The Devil Wears Prada, and illScarlett. In April they toured with Chiodos before joining Warped Tour 2008. They were on tour with Unearth, The Acacia Strain, Whitechapel, and Gwen Stacy after Warped Tour in the United States; and then will be on a European tour with Unearth, Parkway Drive, Despised Icon, Architects, Whitechapel, and Carnifex.
In January 2009 Protest the Hero toured with As I Lay Dying, Darkest Hour, The Human Abstract, and Mychildren Mybride. Then they started a European Tour with The Human Abstract and The Chariot. In April 2009, they headlined the Heads Will Roll tour in the US with Misery Signals, The Number Twelve Looks Like You, Fall From Grace, and Scale the Summit. From September 8–17, 2009, they supported In Flames and Killswitch Engage with Between the Buried and Me.[14]
On November 21, 2009, at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, the band performed their album Fortress in its entirety for the first time. On November 26, 2009, they played in Halifax and on the 27th in Newfoundland, the only two eastern Canada tour dates for the year.
Protest the Hero was the third band announced to be playing at Australia's Soundwave Festival in February/March 2011, and in March and April of that year the band supported the Scurrilous album, headlining a tour across Canada and the United States with Maylene & The Sons Of Disaster and TesseracT.
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN [15] |
US |
US Ind | US Rock | US Hard Rock | ||||||||
| 2005 | Kezia
|
— | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| 2008 | Fortress
|
1 | 95 | 10 | 24 | 14 | ||||||
| 2011 | Scurrilous
|
8 | 81 | 12 | 20 | 4 | ||||||
| "—" denotes a release that did not chart. | ||||||||||||
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Ind | ||||||
| 2009 | Gallop Meets the Earth
|
47 | ||||
| Year | Song | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | "These Colours Don't Run" | A Calculated Use of Sound |
| 2005 | "Blindfolds Aside" | Kezia |
| 2006 | "Heretics and Killers" | |
| 2007 | "The Divine Suicide of K" | |
| "Bloodmeat" | Fortress | |
| 2008 | "Sequoia Throne" | |
| "Palms Read" | ||
| 2009 | "Spoils" | |
| "Limb From Limb" | ||
| 2011 | "C'est la Vie" | Scurrilous |
| "Hair-Trigger" |
| Song | Game | Year |
|---|---|---|
| "Divinity Within" | NHL 07 | 2006 |
| "Bury The Hatchet" | Guitar Hero II (as DLC) | 2007[notes 1] |
| "Goddess Gagged" | NHL 2K9 | 2008 |
| "The Dissentience" | NHL 09 | 2008 |
| "Bloodmeat" | Guitar Hero World Tour (as DLC) | 2009[notes 2] |
| "Limb From Limb" | Guitar Hero for iPhone | 2010 |
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