In 2020, Protomartyr’s tour was cut short due to the pandemic. Today, they announce a fresh North American tour in support of Ultimate Success Today, their “eloquent, paranoid, and ultimately thrilling” (The FADER) album released last year on Domino. For this tour, they’ll be joined by Kelley Deal from the Breeders/R. Ring (some lucky fans got a sneak peek of this lineup prior to COVID lockdown). Additionally, Protomartyr are making their Ultimate Success Today visual album public. The visual album presents a video for each song, all made during quarantine except for “Processed By The Boys,” and edited together into a seamless short film. The filmmakers responsible for each song’s video are Dominic Ciccodicola, David Allen, Nathan Faustyn, Joseph Howard (with illustrations by drummer Alex Leonard), Trevor Naud, Ashley Armitage, Yoonha Park, and Jeremy Franchi. Tickets can be purchased here.
Today Protomartyr announce their fifth album, Ultimate SuccessToday, out May 29th on Domino. Following the release of Relatives In Descent, the band’s critically acclaimed headlong dive into the morass of American life in 2017 (featured on myriad “best of” lists, including The New York Times, Esquire, Newsweek, and more), Ultimate Success Today continues to further expand the possibilities of what a Protomartyr album can sound like. Along with today’s album announcement, the band shares the video for their first single “Processed By The Boys,” and announces a summer North American tour. WATCH THE VIDEO FOR “PROCESSED BY THE BOYS” http://smarturl.it/PBTBYT
PRE-ORDER ULTIMATE SUCCESS TODAY Domino Mart | Digital “There is darkness in the poetry of Ultimate Success Today,” says punk legend, founding member of the Raincoats, and friend of the band Ana da Silva. “The theme of things ending, above all human existence, is present and reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Our world has reached a point that makes us afraid: fires, floods, earthquakes, hunger, war, intolerance…There are cries of despair. Is there hope? Greed is the sickness that puts life in danger.”
“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?”
“This panic was freeing in a way. It allowed me to see our fifth album as a possible valediction of some confusingly loud five-act play. In the same light I see it as an interesting mile marker of our first decade of being a band – a crest of the hill along a long highway. Although just to cover my bases, I made sure to get my last words in while I still had the breath to say them.”
“There are exquisite, subtle gifts from other instruments that always heighten the guitar, instead of fighting with it,” explains da Silva. “They help to create a harmonious wall of sound all of its own. This was intentional. Greg Ahee wanted to use different textures other than pedals, and the drone quality of some of those instruments colours the guitar and the whole sound with a warm, rich in reverb, yet all-consuming landscape for Joe Casey’s voice.”
The video for “Processed By The Boys,” directed by David Allen & Nathan Faustyn and produced by HLPTV & LooseMeat.Biz, is a play on a bizarre Brazilian TV clip the band became infatuated with. A man sings to a studio audience, while a member of the audience becomes enraged by a puppet, leading the whole situation to devolve into total chaos. “As soon as we heard the concept, we knew how to take the band’s ideas and coalesce them into this sort of timeless public access chaos,” says Faustyn. “Because of the nature of HLPTV & LooseMeat.Biz and who we are – professional and hobbyist technicians – we knew we could pull off a really strange, funny and sardonically dark compendium to this song that is equally such.”
Protomartyr is Joe Casey (vocals), Greg Ahee (guitars), Alex Leonard (drums), and Scott Davidson (bass guitar). Ultimate Success Today was recorded at Dreamland Recording Studios, a late 19th century church, in upstate New York and co-produced by the band and David Tolomei (Dirty Projectors, Beach House) with mixing by Tolomei. Featured guest musicians on the album include Nandi Rose (vocals) a.k.a. Half Waif, jazz legend Jemeel Moondoc (alto sax), Izaak Mills (bass clarinet, sax, flute), and Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello).
Ultimate Success Today is available to pre-order now on LP, CD and digital formats. A limited blue-in-red colored edition of the LP is available exclusively on the Domino Mart.
ULTIMATE SUCCESS TODAY TRACKLISTING
1. Day Without End 2. Processed By The Boys 3. I Am You Now 4. The Aphorist 5. June 21 6. Michigan Hammers 7. Tranquilizer 8. Modern Business Hymns 9. Bridge & Crown 10. Worm In Heaven
PROTOMARTYR TOUR DATES (new dates in bold)
Mon. April 27 – London, UK @ Peckham Audio – SOLD OUT Tue. April 28 – London, UK @ The Lexington – SOLD OUT Wed. April 29 – Paris, FR @ La Boule Noire – SOLD OUT Thu. April 30 -Utrecht, NL @ Ekko – SOLD OUT Sat. May 2 -Berlin, DE @ Ubran Spree Sun. May 3 – Berlin, DE @ Urban Spree Mon. May 4 – Groningen, NL @ Vera Tue. May 5 – Brussels, BE @ Nuits Botanique Mon. June 1 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Tue. June 2 – Montreal, QC @ Le Ritz Wed. June 3 – Boston, MA @ Sinclair Thu. June 4 – Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere Sat. June 6 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts Sun. June 7 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat Tue. June 9 – Raleigh, NC @ Kings Wed. June 10 – Atlanta, GA @ Earl Thu. June 11 – New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa Fri. June 12 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada Mon. June 15 – Tucson, AZ @ Hotel Congress Tue. June 16 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge Wed. June 17 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah Thu. June 18 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room Fri. June 19 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room Sat. June 20 – Oakland, CA @ Starline Social Club Mon. June 22 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom Tue. June 23 – Seattle, WA @ Crocodile Fri. June 26 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry Sat. June 27 – Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club Sun. June 28 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall Protomartyr Online: https://www.facebook.com/protomartyr https://soundcloud.com/protomartyr http://pitchperfectpr.com/protomartyr https://protomartyr.bandcamp.com http://www.dominorecordco.us/artists/protomartyr
Protomartyr Announce Fall Co-Headline Tour With Preoccupations
“The four-song EP from the Michigan post-punk band features Kelley Deal of the Breeders and some of the most pointed and impactful songwriting of their career.” – Pitchfork, on “Consolation E.P.”
“Political, environmental, epistemological, social, familial and individual anxieties fuel the latest songs by Protomartyr, a band from Detroit that has been reclaiming the jagged, muscular dissonances of post-punk for 21st-century America.” – The New York Times, on RelativesInDescent
“Brooding and abrasive, the Detroit post-punk group’s new LP isn’t for the faint of heart – but beauty lies in its 12 knotty, pummeling tunes.” – EntertainmentWeekly, on Relatives In Descent
In support of this summer’s “Consolation E.P.” and last year’s Relatives In Descent (both out on Domino Recording Co), Protomartyr will hit the road with Preoccupations this fall for a slew of tour dates across North America. The co-headline tour kicks off in Toronto on Fri. Nov. 23rd at Lee’s Palace, taking the two bands over to the east coast, back through the midwest, and down the west coast before wrapping up in Los Angeles on Wed. Dec. 19th at the Regent. A full list of tour dates are below, and tickets go on-sale this Friday at 10am local time.
Protomartyr Tour Dates:
Fri. Nov. 23 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace * ^
Sat. Nov. 24 – Ottawa, ON @ 27 Club * ^
Mon. Nov. 26 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall * ^
Wed. Nov. 28 – Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw * ^
Thu. Nov. 29 – Washington, DC @ Union Stage * ^
Fri. Nov. 30 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry * ^
Sat. Dec. 01 – Columbus, OH @ The Basement * ^
Mon. Dec. 03 – Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place * ^
Tue. Dec. 04 – Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig * ^
Thu. Dec. 06 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall * ^
Fri. Dec. 07 – Omaha, NE @ Waiting Room * ^
Sat. Dec. 08 – Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar * ^
Mon. Dec. 10 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird *
Wed. Dec. 12 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall *
Thu. Dec. 13 – Boise, ID @ Olympic *
Fri. Dec. 14 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios *
Sat. Dec. 15 – Vancouver, BC @ Venue *
Sun. Dec. 16 – Seattle, WA @ Crocodile *
Tue. Dec. 18 – San Francisco, CA @ Independent *
Wed. Dec. 19 – Los Angeles, CA @ Regent *
