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Thursday, November 21, 2013

Protest The Hero's Luke Hoskin Gives The Rundown On Album Number Four


Canadian progressive metal act Protest The Hero has been around for some time and through the time span they have gotten up to their fourth album to date "Volition". Having released this album independently this made the guys quite pleased with themselves and they have so much more ahead of them just in time for the upcoming year. Guitarist, piano, and backing vocalist Luke Hoskin discusses their latest album and much more.


1. Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Protest the Hero, and how long the band has been together.

Luke: My name it Luke.  I slop my way through guitar in protest the hero.  We have been together for ulna and around 13 years.

2. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?

Luke: We are based out of Toronto, Canada.  The scene is great in my opinion.  We have made some very great friendships with bands in the area which I hope continue long into the future.  I would recommend Intervals over everyone else at the moment.  Their guitar player makes me look like the David Schwimmer of guitar players.

3. Can I get a backstory on the band/ band biography?

Luke: I am sure this can be looked up online.  We just had a great music journalist write us up a flashy one!

4. How did you guys come up with your band name?

Luke: Honestly, we were young and through some words together that we liked.  There weren't many /9or any/0 "verb the noun" bands out at the time so we liked how it sounded different.  The whole idea is to look at things differently, which we still naturally do.

5. Original drummer and founding member Moe Carlson parted ways with you guys and was replaced by Lamb of God's drummer Chris Adler for the recording sessions what was it like working alongside someone like him?

Luke: It was great.  I think he and us had great chemistry, and developed a musical kinship which I assume is rare given the short time frame we rehearsed and recorded in!

6. Have you guys found a permanent drummer to replace Moe Carlson?

Luke: Yes we have.  Mike Ieradi.  He is Italian and laughs at our jokes (so far).

7. What bands have influenced your band and its sound?

Luke: Dream Theater, Propagandhi, Katy Perry to name a few.

8. You guys are signed with Razor and Tie Records which will be releasing your fourth album "Volition" how has the relationship with them been going?
 
Luke: R&T are licensing our record from us.  It has been great so far.  I have really enjoyed our correspondence so far.  Seems like we have found a great creative partner to help release and distribute this album.

9. What runs through your mind about being on album number four? Did you see you guys lasting until this point and time in your musical careers?

Luke: Tough question.  As an "invincible kid" I probably did.  Now a days, I take everyday I get to travel around playing music as a good one.  It's tough out here - there is definitely a reason so many musicians write songs about being musicians.  We are all lucky to be where we are.

10. Why did you want to turn to using Crowd Funding this time around and were you surprised when your main goal ended up being tripled?

Luke: This gets asked in every interview.  you c an definitely find an answer online.

11. Can you tell me about the new single for the song "Clarity".

Luke: Clarity is a special one for me.  I wrote it with one of my best buds / producers Cam.  He and I loved to grab a bunch of beer, chug coffee and come up with riffs on his couch.  When we weren't able to get together, we would try to one up each other on Guitar Pro over email.  it turned out wonderfully, and our idea was to write an album opener which threw as much at you as possible - only to be one-upped by the other songs on the album.  I think we achieved that.
  
12. Who produced "Volition" and what was it like working with them?

Luke: Cameron McLellan (mentioned above).  It was great because we were already wonderful friends with him.  He has a great ear and really gets what we have been going for all these years.  Cant say enough about him.

13. Who did the cover art for "Volition" and how much input did you have on it?

Luke: Jeff Jordan did the standard release (Vultures).  Jeff and I went back and forth on ideas over email for weeks until we cam up with the imagery you see.  I definitely let him take control and interpret the album the way he naturally went though.  I was just there to offer encouragement and praise.  Truly awesome to have worked with him.  I couldn't imagine going elsewhere in the future.  Such a tremendous artist!

14. What's your take on "Volition" as a whole?

Luke: It's my favorite album so far.

15. What would be the cinematic equivalent of "Volition"?

Luke: "In Good Company" starring Dennis Quaid would do the job quite nicely.

16. What's your favorite song on the album right now?

Luke: Without prejudice.  We all stand behind the lyrics of that one.  And it's very personal to us.  We are reaching out to a former friend who we feel has lost their way.  We still believe they can return to the amazing person they once were.

17. What is your opinion on sites posting your guys material and other bands material?

Luke: Post away!

18. How do you guys feel about the classifications in metal? like deathcore, metalcore and other subgenres and how some get a negative rep.

Luke: I classify music as "good" or "bad".  Sub genres are for kids and musical supremacists (often, people are both!)

18. What is your opinion on the current state of metal?

Luke: I don't really know.  I / we have no allegiance to any genre. I don't really care what the state of metal is like.  I am sure it's just fine.

19. What can the fans expect to see from you in the future?

Luke: Hopefully a lot of musical and artistic experimentation.  Hopefully most of it turns out half decent.

20. Any final words you'd like to say?


Luke: Thanks for the questions!  I hope the ones I left out aren't too important.  And I am not trying to be a dick with the "look up the answers" quips.  There are just some questions I can only answer so many times.

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