EastScene was fortunate enough to sit down with Protest The Hero frontman, Rody Walker, on Thursday evening.
ES: So, you guys have had the same lineup since you started the band, what keeps you all together and all sane?
RW: It’s a weird relationship. Closer than friends, but not as close as blood. There’s a lot of bands that argue and bicker about shit, and we just try and keep laughing at all times.
ES: After graduating high school, you guys went on your first tour.. Were you looking more forward to graduating or getting out on the road?
RW: Definitely going on tour. It was pretty much directly after. I had an exam the day before, which I think I failed, I got out of the school and jumped in the van and we went to the east coast. So, it was directly after.
ES: Well then I guess it didn’t matter if you failed, right?
RW: Yeah, exactly. Well, I got my diploma.. I think..
ES: If you could chose any genre to play, like ANY genre, which one would you pick?
RW: New Country.
ES: Really?
RW: Without a doubt! I love country.
ES: When you guys signed to Vagrant Records (in 2006), did that change how you were as a band? Did you find you had more to live up to?
RW: Not really.. a lot of people put significance on being on a label or getting signed than there really is. And a lot of bands that get signed don’t do a fucking thing, and we may eventually be that shining example. So, we’ve always had the opinion that labels don’t fucking matter, so by the time we got signed it was just like “Oh, let’s just get as much money out of them as we can.”
ES: Was there any major sacrifices that you guys had to make to keep the band alive or has it been a smooth ride?
RW: It’s been a pretty smooth ride, miserable at most times. I guess we sacrificed a normal lifestyle, you know, we’re always moving around so it’s hard to maintain any form of a relationship.
ES: Do you find it hard not having a normal lifestyle?
RW: Kind of.. I never really had one, so I don’t know what it’s like. I didn’t have my license in high school, so I wasn’t driving around, I pretty much just stayed in my house. We figured out ways do de-stress. We blow each other in the band… That’s not true. MOSTLY not true.. just handjobs. It’s all handjobs.
ES: What was your first tour like? Who was it with and where did you go?
RW: We were 17 and it was on our summer vacation. We went out with Closet Monster, Bombs Over Providence and… I think that was it.. It was for like.. 3 weeks. We rented a mini-van and bought one of those things that you stick on the roof of it. It was pretty pathetic. And none of us could drive, none of us had our license, so we just had this friend that had to fucking drive us around.
ES: Were your friends and family supportive, or even the kids in your high school?
RW: Yeah, our families have all been pretty supportive, spare one who would prefer post-secondary education. Friends… I don’t know, it’s kind of hard to keep friends. Like, the friends that we kept from high school are still with us. Our merch guy, he’s actually one of our good high school friends. I actually hate running into people from high school. They’re always like, “How’s the band thing?” and I’m always like, “You don’t care!”. And then I’m like, “How’s the school thing?” and I don’t really care.
ES: You guys are going overseas soon, what’s your response like over there? Do you find you guys are bigger over there than you are here?
RW: Oh, it’s definitely bigger in Canada. We’ve only been to Europe a couple of times, we have certain hotspots that we weren’t expecting. On the Never Say Die tour in November, we visited Italy for the first time and it was just like a resounding audience response. It was really quite shocking.
ES: How involved do you guys get in the producing and recording of your records, or even like in the making of your videos?
RW: With the producing and recording, we’re pretty much 100% involved. As for music videos.. sometimes we come up with ideas and it gets made, sometimes other people come up with ideas and it gets made and it really sucks, so we try to be involved with that as much as possible. Sometimes we have these crazy ideas that don’t even translate and people think it’s dumb.
ES: But in your head it makes sense!
RW: Of course!!
ES: How do you find the industry has changed since you guys started out? Do you think it’s harder for bands now to come out and be successful than it was back then?
RW: To some degree, you know because of the internet saturation. You know, MySpace and all that shit, there’s so many fucking bands, everybodys punk rock brother is in a band, right? It’s harder, but it’s almost easier. North American people are so fickle with what they fucking listen to. You know, all these bands it’s just breakdown, after breakdown, after breakdown, shouting Jesus and starting clothing companies. And people are like “WHOA! AWESOME! THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, THEY’RE SO SWEET!”. And it doesn’t go over in Europe. That’s one thing that I liked about Europe. Bands like that go over there and it’s like, “Fuck you, get outta here!”. They have a more acclectic taste. I respect European musical decision, a fashion decisions!
ES: What’s the proudest moment for you guys? Or biggest accomplishment..
RW: That’s a crazy question. I don’t know! I never really think about it as an accomplishment.. I think that once I do that, I acknowledge that it’s dead. We’ve had some cool stuff happen, but nothing too great so far. We’ll just keep rolling with the punches, and if something good happens, I’ll call you and tell you!
ES: What’s the most rewarding thing for you about being in this band?
RW: Getting free booze. I don’t have to pay for it, I show up and there’s a case of beer and a bottle of whiskey and I’m a happy boy.
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