Steadily shreddier

Protest the Hero are kings
of the Warped fortress

A BREED APART: Protest the Hero

By ERIK LEIJON

When a young band promotes their sophomore record, there tends to be a lot of industry-standard spiel about personal growth and how much more serious and dedicated the band has become. Whitby, Ontario progressive metal quintet Protest the Hero are different not just as the singular source of metal on this year’s Warped Tour—the 22-year-olds are proud to be embracing their inner Iron Maiden on 2008’s Fortress, quickening the pace of their songs and maximizing the guitar-tapping riffs to near comical levels. The result is an album both satisfying from a technical standpoint and downright fun as a campy metal experience. Bassist and principal songwriter Arif Mirabdolbaghi shared his thoughts on all things Warped with the Mirror.

Mirror: What are your thoughts on the Warped experience thus far?

Arif Mirabdolbaghi: Personally or professionally?

M: Is there a difference?

AM: Absolutely. Personally, I would rather be doing something else. With the exception of meeting some really cool bands and getting to talk to kids after the shows, I don’t think it’s a really good time—it’s a bit of a travelling bazaar. I feel like a Gypsy playing music and hustling fabric to people in this weird, open-market environment. Professionally, I see a benefit in every tour you do, but if someone is going to spend $40, I’d rather have them come to a venue and hear us with really good sound and a proper set.

M: Are you surprised with the positive reactions Fortress has been getting from mainstream media?

AM: We keep in mind a pop sensibility when we write the songs, so I think there are enough vocal lines and melodies that it can at least operate in that market as well. To be honest with you, I’m most surprised when people consider it a strictly metal album. I guess it’s a testament to how diverse metal can be. There are as many genres of metal as there are breeds of dogs, and sometimes you don’t know how one connects to another, but somehow they fall under the same banner anyway.

M: The arrangements on Fortress seem to be a lot more complex than on 2005’s Kezia.

AM: Actually the structures of the songs on Fortress are less complicated, but the riffs are, quote-unquote, shreddier. They’re not necessarily more difficult to play because we’ve become better players, but I think the songs on Kezia were too hard at times because they were all over the place and they didn’t flow well. Ultimately, I think our albums will be a journey into professionalism. The goal is to create a live atmosphere that only an experienced band can. You go and see one of those dinosaur rock bands, they bring a presence to a room that is completely unparalleled with the bands you see today, and chalk that up to experience.

M: So you’re shredding a lot more on Fortress. Is that an instance where the group is embracing some of the campier elements of metal?

AM: You’ve absolutely nailed it. Something that’s campy, kitschy and teeming with novelty—we love that. There are people doing similar things in all kinds of media and doing it well. Someone like Quentin Tarantino takes novelty value and manages to make really cool films. I would never put myself in the same breath as that, but we definitely take influences like those into consideration.

With Against Me!, Bouncing Souls, Katy Perry,
the Horrorpops, Everytime I Die and many more
at the Vans Warped Tour at Parc Jean-Drapeau
on Sunday, July 20, 11 a.m., $40.25, all
ages, rain or shine