DETROIT post-punk band Protomartyr are on a European Tour promoting their recent album ‘Ultimate Success Today’ and drop into Limerick for a show at Dolans on Thursday April 21.
Protomartyr’s sound has influenced much of today’s punk bands, Idles, Fontaines DC and Shame among them. The band has some noteworthy fans such as Iggy Pop(“the best band we’ve got in America right now”), Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs and Kelley Deal of The Breeders, regularly goes on tour with Protomartyr.
She is a part of this European tour that is coming to Limerick next Thursday.
The band’s latest album was preceded by a re-release of their out of print debut LP ‘No Passion All Technique’ from 2012.
Speaking about the re-release, vocalist Joe Casey commented, “My memory is shot, but I appreciate now, looking back, how raw and off-the-cuff it was. There’s tons of mistakes in it and that wasn’t because we planned on it. We still can’t really admit that it’s as good as it is. You never want to say that your first is the best, but I’m happy that the first ended up not being terrible. It gave us a doorway to what we’d want to do later.”
When it came to writing and recording the latest album, Casey took inspiration from their debut.
“The re-release of our first album had me thinking about the passage of time and its ultimate conclusion,” says singer Joe Casey of Ultimate Success Today. “Listening to No Passion All Technique again, I could hear myself hoping for an introduction and a long future, but also being cognizant that it could be ‘one and done’ for us.
“So, when it came time to write Ultimate Success Today, I was reminded of that first urgency and how it was an inverse of my current grapple with how terribly ill I’ve been feeling lately. Was that sick feeling coloring how I felt about the state of the world or was it the other way around?”
Seoda Shows presents Protomartyr at Dolans on Thursday April 21. www.dolans.ie
