Detroit's Protomartyr have figured big time in my life throughout 2017. Not that I was unaware of them before that. They had already released three fine albums which I had heard and loved. But this year they dropped their fourth and to my mind finest Relatives in Descent, and last Thursday they landed on my doorstep, playing at The Cluny, in the Ouseburn Valley in Byker, Newcastle. Just down the road from me.
I'd been waiting for this gig for months, having bought the ticket a while back so when the day finally arrived it came as a surprise. Not managing to find someone who'd accompany me, I went alone, a pint at my local before taking a taxi to The Cluny. Second support Luxury were onstage when I arrived. Slightly generic, shouty punk, good enough at this point, and popular with the crowd.
Main support, Oh Boland! were a further step up. From a small town in Ireland and a three piece with a tall and pogoing bassist in the mould of Kris Novoselic, so Nirvana came to mind but they didn't sound like Nirvana. The expression came to me as they played that they were a Grunge Undertones, a fine idea and they realised this with a fine, sparky energetic and too brief set. I'll write more about them with a Song of the Day presently. They were also very nice guys. I chatted with the bassist and singer after their set and they were thrilled to be in Britain touring for the first time and to be supporting Protomartyr who they clearly revered.
And so to the main act, and a band operating on quite a different plateau from almost any band on the planet that I'm aware of right now. Sure they're intense, about as intense as they get and their themes are undeniably dark, but that's a whole vivid streak of existence in 2017 and to wish it away and live in a state of permanent blissed out happiness is a rather wilful rejection of the state of affairs that surrounds us at this point of time. Protomartyr are not prepared to settle for that and I for one am immensely grateful to them for their endeavour.
Of course, when writing about this band, it's inevitable that much will be said about singer Joe Casey who is undoubtedly their focal point. The other three are clearly content with this state of affairs providing a phenomenally structured musical backdrop, by turns kinetic, frantic and raging, waves for Casey to surf. When I got home I went straight to Joy Division, an obvious comparison, (I played New Dawn Fades for the record), and Protomartyr are not shamed for a moment. The Fall and Pere Ubu are other reference points, but at this stage in their development they have transcended all influences and are writing their own history.
Casey stalks the stage in a neat suit. Bottles of beer peeping from his hip pockets like molotovs, which he cracks open and consumes over the course of the evening. It's inescapably method of a kind, his face is a picture of involuntary twitches, a thousand yard stare, almost cartoon. The effect is quite mesmeric. I couldn't take my eyes off him all night.
They play a varied set, dipping into their back catalogue, not playing all of the highlights of Relatives in Descent including my own personal favourite The Chuckler. They're blessed with choice. There's occasional, good natured interaction with the audience, but for the most part the songs speak for themselves and Casey sticks to his pre-conditioned script. It's all startlingly good. They encore with Why Does it Shake? from 2015's The Agent Intellect which comes on as some kind of mission statement for the dark poetry they voice, and then they're gone. My gig of the year without a doubt.
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