WARNING – AT :36 MARK, LOUD NOISE.
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Interview: The Protomen August 6th 2011
TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS
CHRIS [Me]: Do you wanna give me a brief overview of who you are and what you do in the band?
MURPHY [to Bakker]: You wanna jump on it?
BAKKER: I’m Sir Doctor Robert Bakker. I’m the paleontological expert of this dig.
MURPHY: I’m Murphy Weller and I do lots of… things and make synthesizer/bass insanity.
HAWKINS: I’m Commander B. Hawkins and I’m generally pretty awesome.
CHRIS: I noticed.
HAWKINS: And that’s about it.
CHRIS: But yeah, first off I’d like to apologize for my ealier tweet about not being able to go to the show because I don’t have a ride.
HAWKINS (snapping finger): And I got you.
CHRIS: You did, in fact. That was you?
HAWKINS: Yep.
CHRIS: I should’ve known. Yeah, you called me out. I’m definitely gonna be at the show. Um, I’m gonna have to take a taxi fucking it’s worth it.
HAWKINS: How far away is your hotel?
CHRIS: Ten miles.
HAWKINS: See you can walk that.
CHRIS: Uh I could and I have walked ten miles to get to someplace but I think I’m gonna pay for a taxi.
HAWKINS: Naaah, that’s lame. Walk it.
CHRIS: So let’s uh…
HAWKINS: Ours is-
CHRIS: You’ve already called me out once man you can’t do this TWICE!
HAWKINS: Ours is like at least nearly five blocks away. Ours is that far away and you can’t walk ten miles?
CHRIS: You’re probably at the same hotel I stayed at like two years ago.
HAWKINS: Ours is like around the corner around the corner around the corner…
CHRIS: Do you have to walk by like three bus stops full of people that look at you sullenly?
BAKKER: And the Salvation Army.
CHRIS: There’s a pharmacy there, a CVS.
HAWKINS: Actually we are right across from the…
MURPHY: A comic book store.
HAWKINS: No it’s the Dick’s… wait, what is it…
BAKKER: Dick’s Sporting Goods?
HAWKINS: No.
BAKKER: (inaudible) …hammer?
HAWKINS: Dick’s Bodacious BBQ.
CHRIS: Dick’s Bodacious BBQ. That’s…
HAWKINS: That’s where we are. And it was very good.
CHRIS: Oh, you tried it?
HAWKINS: Yeah, it was very good.
CHRIS: So, just to get a quick view, how do you guys think of Indianapolis?
HAWKINS: I think it looks a lot like Nashville for some reason.
MURPHY: I don’t know what he’s talking about.
HAWKINS: Not the downtown area but like driving into it & all the streets, the way it’s laid out. It looks a lot like Nashville. But once you get into town it’s very pretty.
MURPHY: Yeah we show up here and we’ve only been here and I don’t know anything else of Indianapolis other than just walking from this con to our hotel and loading gear.
HAWKINS: Driving in and out. It’s pretty cool so far.
MURPHY: We’ll know after the show if the kids are or the fans are receptive and not terrible.
CHRIS: So out of Turbolover and the Commander and all this stuff are any of you guys here for the convention, out of sheer curiosity?
MURPHY: I didn’t even know this thing existed until we got asked to play. So me, no, I don’t have the time.
HAWKINS: We know some people who came here.
MURPHY: Yeah we have other friends that came here but personally I didn’t have time.
CHRIS: Are you guys familiar with Powerlifter?
HAWKINS: Yes. I’ve heard of them.
CHRIS: I was actually just saying. Cuz’ you know, I got to see them here last year and they put on a killer show and then when you guys were announced for this year I of course immediately had dreams of Powerlifter jumping on stage with The Protomen and doing all kinds of killer awesome shit. And then I was talking with some friends about how this Capcom character that was created right around the same time Mega Man X came around. He’s from Ghouls n’ Goblins; the Red Arreemer known as Firebrand.
HAWKINS: Yeah.
CHRIS: In the original video game so he’s if you’ve ever seen Marvel vs. Capcom where they have him in it.
HAWKINS: I just remember from uh.. guh… the game boy game.
CHRIS: The Gargoyle’s Quest. Yeah.
HAWKINS: That’s what I remember.
CHRIS: That’s where he gets his kick-off at is the game boy game. The idea of doing another kind-of collaborative, epic concept album around the Demon’s Crest storyline because it fits that sort of epic you know, there’s the collection of the three crests or the five crests and there’s Firebrand’s conflict with General Arma and it’s very much like a Mega Man-esque storyline that could easily be manipulated into something that Powerlifter and The Protomen could like… I know this is like…
MURPHY: You’ve blown my mind. I have no idea what you’re talking about.
CHRIS: Thing is I’m like a huge video game/music geek. The funny thing is I knew about Protomen before ACT I had come out. (I had meant ACT II)
MURPHY: Oh, you’re one of those. Oh you’re rare. A rare beast.
CHRIS: But I’d never listened to anything besides-
MURPHY: “Due Vendetta”?
CHRIS: Actually “Unrest in the House of Wily”.
MURPHY: House of Light.
CHRIS: House of Light, sorry.
MURPHY: We haven’t gotten to “Unrest in the House of Wily” yet. That’s the sequel song.
HAWKINS: (inaudible) …lots of rest. ‘Cuz he’s smug, man. He’s gonna hate back.
CHRIS: That guy’s um… I heard some early versions of that ["Unrest In The House Of Light"] but never really listened to the full album until ACT II came out.
MURPHY: Man, that was a long time.
CHRIS: And I felt really bad because here was this band I’d known about but never actually investigated anything because, eh… I don’t really like a lot of video game cover bands.
MURPHY: Well, good thing, ‘cuz we’re not one.
CHRIS: And you’re not. I mean, that’s the really cool thing about Protomen is you guys AREN’T a video game cover band. You’re smart enough-
HAWKINS: Not yet.
CHRIS: HEY.
MURPHY: We need to make some money.
BAKKER: That’d be great.
CHRIS: And you know what, to be totally fair, if you guys did a video game cover album and sold it, I wouldn’t begrudge you because you already put out two of the most interesting concept albums I’ve ever especially because you guys managed to navigate around the Mega Man name & mythology, the Rockman mythology, on the first album and still made it sound like it was a part of that universe. That’s really cool that you guys pulled that off ’cuz anybody else would’ve been like “oh screw it we’ll just cover Mega Man songs”. But you composed your own stuff and then appropriate some of the content from it anyway so enough of me basically drooling all over your [work]. You guys have a vinyl out. How did you guys pull that off?
MURPHY: Well it’s this technology of putting out a record on vinyl it’s just this new idea that came out in like 1911. This, they said, after the cylinder, they said “Oh, shellac. Just flatten that damn thing.”
At this point, my recorder died. We spent the next half an hour discussing, in depth, the significance of vinyl’s comeback, as well as other meaningful things that would make me sound less like an ass than this transcript does. Sadly, this is all I have. IT WAS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE. Thanks to THE PROTOMEN for their patience, kindness & awesomeness that evening. Go get their music!
:[ DOn’t lie. Those “half hour” are really 12 minutes, adn the other 18 are the nixon minutes. Also, they soundddd very down to earth and fun. It’s nice that they can make fun great music to boot.
They put on a great show. The acoustics of the venue I saw them in weren’t great, though, so I couldn’t make out the majority of the lyrics, unfortunately. I had a massive Mega Man kick around middle school, so I remember lots of random bits and bobs about the universe, etc.