PROTRUSION (US) is based in Lafayette, Indiana. The four-piece recently unleashed a 3-track Demo on April 14, 2023 which is really excellent. A band like this, perhaps on the basis of the experiences they have gone through in addition to their skills and deep knowledge of what they do, is indeed capable of producing something of high quality even if it is the first release.
Questions by The Unblessed
Answered by Colin Foster
Replied on May 17, 2023, 6:37 AM
Hail! Please give a little introduction about PROTRUSION - brief history, band members, etc.
Colin: I played drums in a lot of death metal bands up until around 2019 but was never entirely satisfied with my experiences. Something was always missing that I craved. I wanted something simply heavy and dark but also raw and honest in its composition. I decided I wanted something new and playing guitar in a real band was something I hadn’t done before. Sometime in 2021 was when I first sought out Kevin Baum to play drums and we started writing. Shortly after that, John Elston (Bass) and Kyle Christman (guitar) were brought into the mix, and since then we’ve all been working hard at making Protrusion the best it can be.
The “Protrusion” Demo sounds killer, ultimately! Have these experiences been a big part of the strength in this band?
Colin: Between the four of us, we each have a lot of experience from playing in other bands including some that were much more intense and demanding. The difference musically is that Protrusion gives us more time to breath and focus on expressing the atmosphere of death metal at its roots. Our strength comes in our primitive and crude simplicity.
On the other hand, what exactly inspired you all during the making of the 3-track demo - in terms of songwriting, music arrangements, recordings & the sound preference?
Colin: We were inspired by the morbid and dark sounds of 90s death metal. Our goal was to make music that could have existed at that time including the riffing and production styles found in that period of time. We recorded and produced everything on our own. Of course the recording equipment from the 90s is hard to come by so we had to adapt modern recording equipment to replicate those 90s analog sounds.
Tell us some information about the production and distribution of the demo - the self-released tapes, the CD version on Sevared Records. How was the response look like? Also reported that the EU editions available through Unholy Domain Records, please tell us more details?
Colin: When we finished recording the demo we didn’t really have a set plan on how to release it. At first we shared it digitally through YouTube, and started getting tapes prepared to distribute ourselves. We made our own j-cards and dubbed the demo to as many tapes as we had. We put the first 30 tapes on Bandcamp for sale. The response was overwhelmingly positive. We started receiving all kinds of requests from labels to produce their own versions of the tape. Unholy Domain Records was among the first labels we made arrangements with. We were also getting a lot of requests for a CD version so we partnered with Sevared Records to get that done. There are a handful of other tapes coming out around the globe but those haven’t been officially announced yet.
Old-school Death Metal is always the best and has become a cult. Are you against the presence of modern death metal? What is Death Metal according to your perspective?
Colin: I personally lost interest in “modern” metal long ago. To me death metal should be authentic regardless of style. These days most people believe that bands need to have “top-notch” production quality. The concensus is you have to buy lots of fancy equipment or digital tools so your band sounds unreal. To me that attitude is very disappointing and has become harmful to the very qualities that death metal originated with. Raw, aggressive, unhindered death… that is what is important.
Tell us some gigs and tours that has been done by Protrusion? What have you learned from each shows?
Colin: So far we have only played two shows. The first one was actually a benefit show after the passing of a friend of the band, Ryan King. The proceeds from the show went to his family and it ended up being an awesome event. Our very first hometown show is this Friday so we are looking forward to playing for all our close friends. We have a few more scheduled later this year that we will announce when the time comes.
A few hints about your next recordings/releases and some last words from Protrusion? Thanks!
Colin: We are wrapping up the writing portion of our full length album and we plan to focus on that for the second portion of this year. I’d like to thank everyone that has shown us their support this year by picking up a tape, a shirt, or a CD. That is very meaningful to us. Cheers.