Direct from Detroit, the boys of Protomartyr stopped by San Diego's The Hideout Sunday for a night or raw, impassioned punk. Hot off the heels of a tremendous showing at this year's SXSW music festival, the Motor City four piece is currently touring in support of the band's latest release, Under Color of Official Right.
This was my first time inside San Diego's Hideout, the retro decor reminding me a bit of Costa Mesa's dearly departed Detroit Bar. The crowd gathered seemed a bit timid at first, keeping the band at arms length but gradually moving in closer as the set went on.
Raging frontman Joe Casey has been compared to Nick Cave and The Fall's Mark Smith, those are good reference points to be sure and should give you an idea of what to expect sonically. On stage, the band seemed to be bursting at the seams on The Hideout's limited space with a power and energy that could hardly be contained.
While latter day punk is nothing if not a genre rife with angry young men and women venting poetic, Protomartyr's sound seems to be more pointed and have more of a purpose. There's a certain anger, a frustration within the American psyche that Casey and company seem to be tapping into and perhaps much of that is due to having roots in a city as downtrodden as Detroit. This immediacy only serves to reinforce the notion that this is a band that demands not just to be heard but listened to.
Be sure to like Protomartyr on Facebook to stay up to date on the band's latest shows and check out photos from the night below.
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