It’s been a while since the last update, but this one’s worth it!

Jadea Kelly, best known to Protest the Hero fans as the angelic guest vocalist found on Kezia and Scurrilous, is currently raising funds for the production and subsequent release of her next album, titled Clover.

How about we help her out? All you need to do is go here, click Contribute, and give all that you can! There are a few different incentives for your charity, including a date night with the Jadea herself. Who could say no to that?

Have at it, friends!

AllProtest.com and UnionEvents.com are teaming up to give away two pairs of tickets to see Protest the Hero at Barracuda Pretty in St. Catharines this Sunday September 25th.  To enter, all you need to do is (1) follow @AllProtest on Twitter and (2) retweet the following link:

“RT this & follow @allprotest 2 win pair of tix to see @ProtesttheHero w/ guests @ Baracuda Pretty this Sunday! FB evnt: http://ow.ly/6zZkr ”

Facebook event: http://ow.ly/6zZkr

Ticket link: http://ow.ly/6zZmM

I might be a bit late to the party, but I recently uncovered some very well-produced live videos from Protest the Hero’s show in Germany at the Never Say Die! Open Air festival earlier this summer.

Enjoy…

Protest the Hero recently revealed that their newest music video will be for “Hair Trigger”, the second track on their latest release, Scurrilous. The video will feature guest vocalist Jadea Kelly, as well as fun depictions of the band doing weird stuff (what else is new?).

Click here for some nifty photos from the shoot, including Tim being a klutz.

No word yet on the release date for the video.

A lost track from the Scurrilous sessions has surfaced on the Internet today. Originally released as a bonus on the Japanese release of the album, “To Porter, With Love” has all the polish and badassery of any song off Scurrilous, except no vocals. Check it out below:

How about that? What a lovely piece of music. You can clearly hear some parts from the preproduction video that was released before the band ventured into the studio.

Now, the search continues for the 3 other lost tracks:  ”Every Single Day”, “Exordium: Part I” and “Exordium: Part II”. Have at it.

andPOP recently posted a video interview with Tim Millar of Protest the Hero, in which the guitarist describes himself as a bit of a math geek, which translates through their music’s complexity. Watch below:

If you wander over to MetalSucks right now, you can view the brand new video for C’est La Vie by Protest the Hero! Check it out.

After watching it a couple times, I must say that they did a pretty cool job with the “wooden set” concept. Very cool video, although I still think it looks slightly unnatural for metal to be played sitting in a chair. Oh well…c’est la vie.

How do you like the video?! Comment below!

Well, my friends, Scurrilous is out! Protest the Hero’s latest album hit the streets this past Tuesday to much delight. I was pretty stoked when I received my vinyl copy in the mail, followed soon by the autographed lithograph (photo included). Beautiful.

Some other notes to mention:

• There’s a discussion going on in our forums about the Star Trek references hidden in Scurrilous. Go here to read the thread and weigh in! I will likely do a post in the upcoming weeks, focusing on this scavenger hunt of sorts…
• Here’s an interesting article on the Trekkie nature of Scurrilous.
• The release of the C’est La Vie music video was planned, according to director Marc Debruyne, to coincide with the release of Scurrilous on March 22. Unfortunately they didn’t make that date — we’re still holding out for it! Can’t wait to see it.
• Lastly, if you haven’t read it, Rody of Protest was kind enough to answer some fan questions recently; click here to read.

Hope everyone’s enjoying Scurrilous and gets a chance to see Protest the Hero on tour soon!

I recently got the chance to collect questions for Rody Walker, vocalist of Protest the Hero, from fans. You guys and gals made it very difficult to pick questions, so in the laziest fashion, I left the choice up to you. Here are 15 fan questions, answered by Rody…also don’t forget to pre-order Scurrilous, which arrives in only 8 days!

What’s your outlook on album leaks, given the how far in advance ‘Scurrilous’ was leaked prior to release?

I think there is a huge difference between downloading a record and downloading a leak. I knew the leak was inevitable but I didn’t think it would happen so soon. Truthfully I was extremely disappointed and had to hold myself back from responding to a couple messages I received. When I think about it, the people who were going to buy it have either already pre-ordered it or will still buy it, and those that were just going to steal it anyway, already have… so no skin off my back.

On ‘Scurrilous’, did you enjoy taking control of the lyrics you sing and where did you find your inspiration to write them?

Yea I enjoyed it, it was freeing to a certain degree but also very stressful. Initially I didn’t want to talk about anything personal because the internet is a very opinionated place where young men goto lie about the size of their dicks… and giving those stupid pricks an opportunity to talk about my life is extremely unappealing to me. However I ultimately decided that it doesn’t matter, I couldn’t bring myself to write meaningless things, I pushed the kids from my mind, because I don’t do what I do for them, I do it for me.

That may seem like kind of a shitty opinion to have, but you have to do it for yourself if you’re ever going to be happy with what you’re doing.

Do you have any idea who will handle lyrical duties on future albums? Might another ‘concept album’ happen?

We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now there are no plans, we change our minds and our methods at a constant rate.

When are we finally going to get the 20 minute epic based on Star Trek: The Next Generation!? (For real.)

There are TNG references throughout our entire new record… have a look and a think.

What did happen in the men’s room at the truck stop in the second stall?

I thought that was a pretty obvious allusion to taking a shit… apparently that wasn’t as clear as I thought.

How do you go about writing vocal melodies and hooks over such intricate progressions, timings, etc. I can imagine approaching instrumentals with lyrics to fit into them can be quite daunting. Is it just yourself writing them or do the rest of the band have a say?

I don’t know… I get that question all the time and I’m never really sure how to answer it…. I just do it, it’s really tricky I’m not as well versed in theory as the rest of the band…. so I just sit and stew on it for a long time and ultimately I decide to sing what sounds best to me…

How do you ensure that your influences simply “influence” the writing on your albums and not affect the uniqueness of your sound? With that said, do you feel that you’ve stayed true to your own unique sound as much as possible on the last three albums?

I think we have a unique sound because we’re unique people… maybe unique is the wrong word… it makes me sound like I think we’re cool… which I certainly don’t. We’re strange guys, it’s not often that we meet fellas in bands that we have much in common with. We have a different outlook on the lifestyle and situation than most bands.

As for musical influences, we don’t really have many that would fall into the category of “heavy music” …speaking for myself, I don’t like the direction heavy music is headed, it’s becoming super saturated and down right boring. No one’s willing to take any risks any more, there are some very talented players out there right now that couldn’t write an interesting song to save their lives. That’s just my opinion, I’m sure most heavy music fans disagree.

What is your personal favourite track from Scurrilous and why?

I think my favourite track on scurrilous is Tandem, it ventures to a place that we’ve never been before and that’s a place from deep down inside. It’s my favourite thing that we’ve ever written and it means more to me than any song in the world.

What kind of progression will we be seeing from you guys in the future? You started out pretty punk and have gone to very progressive and technical music. What do you think influenced this progression?

I don’t know really, we never want to write the same album twice, we want to constantly be growing, if not as musicians than as song writers. We’ll never let ourselves stop growing however in which direction we grow I can not say.

Was it a conscious decision to move away from the harsher vocals on ‘Scurrilous’ or did it happen naturally during the writing process?

There was really just no place for it. I only ever screamed when it felt totally necessary. I know a lot of people thought that travelling from the low screams to the high screams and then into singing is what truly made it something special… In their eyes this album will be total shit, and that’s okay… because I think those people don’t see the big picture… in fact I consider those people to be very small minded.

Some songs from the pre-production video didn’t make the album. How many songs were axed and why? Will Protest fans ever hear them?

The fellas wrote 14 songs in total, the last 4 just weren’t in a state that we were totally happy with when we finished so we’re still working on them and at some point they will be released somewhere on something.

In a recent interview, Arif stated that he wouldn’t exactly say that everyone in PTH are “buddies”, but through time you eventually have become closer and know how to deal with any problems that are presented between each other. With that said, do you feel your relationship in your band has become more like “business partners”?

I wouldn’t say business partners because we don’t look at it like a business. Buddies is certainly the wrong term for us, because we’re closer than that, I have “buddies” and the four fellas in the band are certainly not them… there’s a relationship there that’s difficult to define, a connection that we have that can’t be penetrated by any outside party…. unlike our asses.

In your live performances, as soon as your start screaming or growling, you have a much harder time singing more demanding vocal parts. Eventually by the end of the set (or after singing “Bloodmeat”), it sounds like you find it almost impossible to sing higher notes. What impact has this had on how you arrange your set list, how you sang on “Scurrilous”, and how you take care of your voice outside of your performance?

When I’m in studio my voice is at it’s most well rested and peak condition. When I’m on the road playing night after night my throat has a tendency to become a little fatigued, it’s unavoidable. It’s inevitability is why it has no effect on the set, there’s nothing I can do about it… so I don’t do anything about it. Also I’m not the best at taking care of it ‘I like to party fuckin hard’ finding the balance between partying and taking care of my voice is a very difficult thing to do… and I don’t do it well.

How do you want to be remembered as a musician and as a band in years to come?

I’d like to be remembered as some kind of iron horse, or like Hachiko the Japanese pooch. Unwavering through the ages despite the mountain of odds that are stacked against me.

Did the decision to release Scurrilous on March 22nd have anything to do with the fact that that is William Shatner’s birthday?

Purely Coincidence my man, but a wonderful coincidence at that. I actually didn’t know that until now, and am very excited to hear it!

————————-

And that’s it! Feel free to share this wonderful interview with your friends, colleagues, and grandmothers.

With less than 2 weeks left until the release of Protest the Hero’s third album, Scurrilous, I figured that some of you would like to read some reviews of the album! All reviews seem to be very positive — not surprising, at all. See below, and remember to pre-order your copy here!

All Metal Resource – Rating: GOOD
OneMetal – Rating: 4/5
ResonanceUK
Punktastic – 4/5
Decoy Music – 3/5

Feel free to post any other reviews in the comments below.