Protest The Hero @ Le National

One of my greatest concert regrets is that I've never seen Monster Magnet live.  Also, I'm sad that I didn't catch a tour that came close to me featuring Soilwork, Devildriver, Lamb of God, and a then-non-emo Killswitch Engage.  We all have live music dreams that are unfulfilled.  Without them, what would be the point of getting excited to see anything live?  Well, this past week, I was able to scratch one of my concert "To Do"s off my list. I finally got to see Protest the Hero.

I actually had an opportunity to see the band three times and missed out each time.  Once, I was NXNE and they played a not-so-secret "secret show" which was charging at the door, and since everything else was free at the festival I didn't attend.  Another time I missed them when they were on tour with All That Remains and Shadows Fall and they went back to Ontario to some college show near their home town.  It was the only date of the tour they didn't play.  And then, finally, I missed them the last time they came through Montreal and played Fortress in its entirety, all, again, because of monetary issues. But now, finally, on March 23rd, 2010, I got to see Protest the Hero.

Now, let me say that, like all of us, I have had to sit through some stuff I didn't like in order to see bands that I've wanted to witness.  I've sat through Silverstein to see Rise Against, and through the Chariot to see their infinitely superior "big brother" Norma Jean, as well as countless no-name, never to be seen again bands.  This time however, I was prepared for the worst, because I had the displeasure of getting to see Protest the Hero as they toured with Hawthorne Heights.

For those unfamiliar, Hawthorne Heights are a whiny emo band, who, I assume, think their parents are big meanies, are sad that their girlfriends broke up with them, and were just seen at either American Apparel or Urban Outfitters buying skinny girl jeans and other scene clothing.  I have a less-than-favorable view of them.  I'm not sure if you picked up on that.

Imagine my surprise and downright glee when I got to club and saw a sign that declared "Due to unforseen circumstances, Hawthorne Heights will not be here tonight."  Now, officially, the story according to their website is that they didn't have proper paperwork at the border and were turned away.  This is a believable and not uncommon story.  However, its not very entertaining, so I'm going to make up a more unbelievable story, which is that they got attacked by a stray Chupacabra, and are currently undergoing the lengthy process of having blood pumped back into their bodies.

Back to the show, though. I went through the whole "coat check/check out merch tables/look for place to park self for night" rigamarole.  First up on the bill was a band from Ottawa called simply Doll.  The four piece consists of two females, one singing and on guitar and one on bass, and two guys playing guitar and drums. 

They say on their site that they're, quote, "spearheading the new wave of Grunge music," which, after I read it I could see where they wanted to sound like Veruca Salt or L7, but at the time, all I could think was, "Oh Good Lord, this is so bad."  In their defense, I didn't think the mix was very good.  The lead singer's vocals were louder than anything else, and the guitar was buried so far down in the mix that I was never sure what it was playing aside from quiet distortion.  But really, I don't think that a perfect sound mix would make them sound appetizing to me.

Doll was followed by a band called Elias, who I guess were brought on to make Hawthorne Heights look like the most brutal metal band in comparison, had they not been laid up in the hospital after the vicious Chupacabra attack. This four piece were a mainly piano- and drum-driven.  As I listened I was reminded of pop indie rock bands like Mae and Something Corporate, though with significantly less energy.  I can pretty much sum them up with the phrase "inoffensive, yet boring."

They were followed by a band called Theset.  I'm not sure if its supposed to be spelled "Theset", or "The Set", but either way, this Victoria, B.C. band had some pretty high energy.  I know they sounded like some band specifically, but the best I could up to compare them to were bands like Thursday and The Sleeping.  The most innovative thing about them was that the lead singer had an effects board onstage for his vocals, so he got to create gang vocals with just himself, and boy howdy do I love me some gang vocals.  Also, apparently they were the first band to get the memo that interacting with the crowd is usually looked upon favorably by people going to see a show. Well played young lads, well played.

Finally, after the long wait, I got to see Protest the Hero.  Now I've heard many people bitch about how they have "noodley" guitars and how they generally just wank around on the guitar, but I'm a fan of talent, so it's pretty damn impressive to me to see someone move around the guitar seemlessly.  And, as far as I can tell, they don't speed themselves up in the studio like some "guitar wankers", *cough*Dragonforce*cough*. Also, their singer, Rody Walker, has a great set of pipes on him.  He can scream and croon, and everything in between, and for the life of me, I don't know how a human voice can do all those things for 30 minutes everyday and still be able to then talk.

I think they played a really good set of songs from both Kezia and Fortress. I got to hear all the things I wanted to hear: "Sequoia Throne", "Heretics and Killers", "Bloodmeat", "Limb from Limb", it was all there in all its glory.