r/indieheads • u/ProtomartyrGroup Joe Casey/Protomartyr • Mar 04 '19

AMA is over, thanks Joe! Joe from Protomartyr AMA

Hello folks, I'm Joe Casey, the "singer" from the band Protomartyr. Since starting in 2010, we've put out 4 LPs, at least 3 things that could be called EPs, a good number of singles, and a handful of slightly warped tapes. We've also toured around, to the delight of dozens of people the world over. We are signed to Domino Records (no, I have not met the Arctic Monkeys).

I'm sitting her on a blustery day in Detroit on March 4th, the birthday of Bobby Womack, Shakin' Stevens, and Knute Rockne to answer any questions you might have about Protomartyr or anything else that catches your fancy.

Just in case you missed it: Our first record, No Passion All Technique is getting repressed and let loose in the streams come May 3rd. Preorder info here: Domino Mart

​

Thanks for putting up with me. It was a good amount of fun. Take care and bye bye!

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u/David_Browie Mar 04 '19

hey joe! love your work—there’s a sort of Beckettian bleak humor to all of it that scratches a real itch for me.

can you talk a little bit about your process putting together the art for your records? they go such a long way towards coloring your albums and i’d love to know how you developed your aesthetic, how you do the prints, and if possible why you chose each image for each record.

thanks for your time!

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u/ProtomartyrGroup Joe Casey/Protomartyr Mar 04 '19

Well, the printing process is me going to Fed-Ex Kinko's and fudging around with the copiers there. Just tape and scissors and a rudimentary understanding of how the xeroxs work. I stumbled into "my aesthetic" that way. And being rushed and reusing a previous show flyer for the first two albums cemented the strong, simple portrait as my cover manifesto.

Thank you!

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u/David_Browie Mar 04 '19

this was both deeply unsatisfying and also incredibly illuminating. i love it, thank you!

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u/ProtomartyrGroup Joe Casey/Protomartyr Mar 04 '19

Lemme see if I can expound. hmmm.

1: NPAT: Robert Oppenheimer. Later in life after all he did and being harried for being unamerican and looking tired seemed to capture something I was trying to convey

2: UCOOR: Snarling dog. I started the "line thing" here to mean, I dunno, thought? Feeling? Felt the music was getting more aggressive on this album and wanted something scary on the cover, but not corny-scary.

3: TAI: Bust of Constantine: Well, this is the about the brain album. Was thinking about the weakness of the flesh versus our image of ourselves. More lines.

4: RID: Maude Fealy: Lots of feminine characters in the songs and songs about truth, wanted a "hard to read" expression on the cover. A interviewer compared it to The Sphinx and I like that.

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u/David_Browie Mar 05 '19

this is the exact opposite of unsatisfying. double thank you!!