TIM MILLAR of Protest The Hero: Russian Guitars and Beastly Creatures
An interview by Sarah Kidd.
Canadian progressive metal band Protest The Hero first appeared on the scene in 2002 with their EP ‘Search for the Truth’. Previously called Happy Go Lucky they changed their name shortly before its release and have never looked back.
Four albums later and the five piece have played with some of the biggest names in the metal scene today from Killswitch Engage to Dragonforce. Pacific Myth is their latest 6 track EP which they will be touring with throughout Australia and New Zealand shortly.
So you guys are going to be in New Zealand soon, looking forward to it?
“It’s exciting, I feel like it has been a long time coming so yeah we are excited to be in a new place. We have heard nothing but good things, and [all] the New Zealanders that I have met have been nothing but great.”
With your last album ‘Volition’, the band decided to go down the route of crowd funding with Indiegogo which was very successful [nearly triple the amount required was raised]. As a band you stated that you had “finally decided to take matters into your own hands”; so what was the catalyst for this decision?
“I guess it was a few things, we were in a good place where we were free and we weren’t really looking to shop around to find another record label. So we thought if there was a time to kind of take matters into our own hands well [now] would be the best time.
I think there was an underlying feeling that to go with a record label again we would end up in debt. Every time we would like get a statement it would always say that we were tens of thousands of dollars in the hole. But for some reason we knew that the people out there that were interested wanted to support our band so we thought we would just kinda go to them directly and cut out the middle man.”
So with your latest work ‘Pacific Myth’ you went with the subscription method which saw fans receive individual songs over a certain time period.
“We just thought it might be the best way to get music to people as quick as we could. We are kind of notorious for having these huge breaks in between releases so we thought doing something like this would give us some time and not feel the pressure to go away and write an entire record. Also it kinda gives people new songs, new music, at a different rate so like for us it was thinking hey this might buy us a little more time til we start working on the full length album and also get music to our fans in the quickest way we can.”
The illustrations for each of the songs are animal themed, the artwork bold. Was there a particular reason why you chose animals for each of the covers?
“We had two different artists; they both did three of the art covers for the singles so yeah there is that continuity of very similar looking styles. There is a lot of water and animal imagery in the lyrics but there’s always kinda been. For a lot of our artwork we like incorporating animals, especially sharks and fierce looking beasts and stuff like that. It’s a way to kind of use some of that and kind of tie it into some of the lyrical themes of the album”
The first single released is a track by the name ‘Ragged Tooth’ which features the line ‘March not to the drum but off the beat’ would you say that applies to Protest The Hero as a band themselves?
“Referring to the band it is something that’s true; we kinda do march to the beat of our own drum literally and figuratively. It’s always been important for us to follow our own goals as much as we can run – without being completely unable to like compromise and work with other people. We just kind of kept to ourselves and you know, a lot of the stuff that we do is important for us to accomplish as a band.”
What track off the album did you enjoy working on the most?
“I am really a big fan of how ‘Harbinger’ turned out, I feel it’s a little bit different as far as some of the stuff we have done in the past. I really like how it incorporates piano and I think [it’s] one of the only songs that has a big break in the middle. It kind of it has a lot of chaotic-ness in the beginning but then it totally breaks down and then we build it back up again. That was the song where I had my first guitar solo – you know five albums into writing with this band – so I thought that was kind of a cool thing that I finally got to do”
Speaking of piano, your solo project work which is entitled ‘Timerity’ is absolutely outstanding. You have already released a couple of tracks, so will we be hearing an album any time soon?
“Yeah I hope so, it’s kinda something that I’ve always worked on and I would love to incorporate more piano in Protest The Hero. It’s [just] always been hard to mesh the two worlds together.
I’m always playing; I actually played a small set this past weekend. A friend of mine is getting married in July so he’s asked me to play piano as like a background lounge guy [laughs]. But I try to play as much as possible, I’d love to keep writing I think it’s just a matter of finding the right orchestration because I feel like the piano it covers a lot of ground, [but] I feel like it’s still kinda missing a little bit… so I would like to collaborate more and just work with some other people to just build the structures into something maybe a little bigger. It’s always on the backburner but every time someone brings it up and they say I like it, it gives me more reason to keep working away.”
In an interview last year you stated that you were currently using the ESP Horizon II with the Fishman Fluence pick-ups. Will you be using the same set up for this tour?
“Yeah that’s the same set up! I like the Fishman pickups, I think they sound great. The only thing that I don’t love about them is that they are battery powered; I just never really liked that for pickups in general and that’s mostly because I am lazy and never know when to change the battery [laughs]. They are great guitars and I know Fishman is doing great things as far as being the kind of ‘nation of the pickup world’ so yeah pretty happy with that.
I have one other guitar that I usually bring with me; it is from a small Russian boutique shop that is called a Padalka, so I will probably have that with me as well as back up.”
In all honesty do you prefer playing the piano or guitar or do you love them both equally?
“I think now, I get more enjoyment out of playing the piano and I think the main reason for that is that I kinda look at a guitar as my work tool. I don’t spend a lot of time playing guitar other than practicing songs in the set and performing. So if I did just sit down and learn songs and play covers and whatever I think I’d finally get a lot more out of it.
But for me now, piano is kind of an escape from all the practicing and technicality and stuff. It’s where I can just do whatever; there’s no expectation to build a song that has much structure there. They’re two different instruments and when you hit a wall with one it’s really nice to go to the other and the ideas come out entirely differently, so they have a good common track between the two.”
So for those people who may not know Protest The Hero very well how would you currently describe your musical style?
“I usually just say ‘progressive and aggressive’ [laughs] or maybe ‘Songwriters that cant entirely make up their mind and just try to cram in maybe three or four more ideas than really should be making it into the song’ [laughs]. I don’t know we just experiment and don’t really leave anything off the table; if we think something sounds cool and it works with the song we’ll just put it in there.”
So what can fans expect when they come along to your show?
“I think when we’re preparing we always try to think of all of our albums and try to include at least [one] song so we’ve got a mixture of songs from all our albums. We play somewhat seriously but we don’t take it too seriously; we like to have fun and goof off on stage. In between songs usually our singer [Rody Walker] will find a way to make fun of himself. So there’s a little bit of humour as we’re tuning and getting ready for the next track”
Protest The Hero will be performing live at Auckland’s Kings Arms Tavern next Wednesday, 19th April (With support from ‘Heavy Metal Ninjas’). Tickets are still available from Ticketmaster (But get in quick as they are selling FAST)!
