Read anything about Protomartyr and probably the first thing that will be ascribed to them is they’re a ‘Detroit band’. Whilst on one level this is obvious, the band live in Detroit, some of them for their entire lives, there’s nothing of the cities history in their sound. No mc5 or The Stooges can be heard in Protomartyr, instead you’ll find gloomy post-punk Britain: Joy Division and Wire.
 
Speaking of which support act Sauna Youth is exceptionally well executed post-punk by numbers. They’re all angular rhythms, abrasive guitars and chanted melodies. Like many of the most successful groups who’ve mastered the sound, Sauna Youth prove they know their way around a tune as well, ending with the infectious single ‘Transmitters’.
 
In an extensive interview with SPIN last year, Protomartyr’s frontman Joe Casey revealed that to combat his stage fright, he removes his glasses ‘so that the crowd in front of him, large or small, is always one fleshy, contiguous blur’. Once you’re aware of this hindrance, its easy to spot when watching him perform live. Casey’s interaction with the crowd is almost non-existent, past the compulsory introduction and the occasional expression of gratitude at applause. But it doesn’t make him any less of a totally compelling frontman. Nothing about Casey should work. In his mid-thirties, stocky, balding and dressed in what looks like a very uncomfortable suit. The jacket from which he refuses to take off, despite constantly having to use a towel that he grips like a safety blanket to wipe sweat from his forehead. He feels like an embodiment of what he’s singing about: Blue-collar existential despair. Considering the common perception of Detroit is permanent and irreversible decay, this is what really makes Protomartyr a Detroit band.
 
Casey has complete mastery of his voice, whether being spat out with venom or slurred out of the side of his mouth, every syllable is carefully considered in the context of the songs. While he spends much of the show stock-still, one hand gripping the mic stand and the other firmly pushed into his pocket, his face is fired with expression. Deploying exaggerated frowns and gurns, he brings to mind the guy at the bar eyeing up those around him to see who’s the best candidate to get into a shouting match with.
 
It’s not all Casey however, the rest of the band are impressively tight and pristine in sound. ‘Staring at Floors’ is an all consuming wall of sound and the opening chords of ‘Devil in his Youth’ are suitably ominous despite their rock‘ n‘ roll, up-tempo feel. ‘Come and See’ has a syncopated rhythm and atmospheric guitar stabs, giving way to a mournful chorus of down strokes.
 
‘Free Supper’, one of the few songs from their first album to get a look in tonight, ends with Casey simply stating “You’ll die” over and over, as if he needs to keep reiterating it so the crowd will actually absorb the magnitude of his declarative. Maybe mortality isn’t something you want to have to think about on a Friday evening, but Protomartyr tells you with such constrain, you have no choice but to listen.
Louis Ormesher
Photos: Tom Barlow Brown