5 Q&A With Threat.Meet.Protocol
What was the initial spark or idea that led to the creation of 'Threat.Meet.Protocol?'
We are from a relatively small city in New Zealand called Tauranga. When we started in 2011 there wasn’t much in the way of a local music (let alone a punk) scene, so after becoming sick of our own tiresome complaints, we decided to do something about this perceived lack of culture. Unfortunately for ‘culture’ and the Tauranga music scene, “doing something” meant starting one of the worst punk bands ever as the earliest incarnation of Threat.Meet.Protocol. First formed as a bass and drums duo by myself and original drummer Stefan Braunias, this TMP had a strong emphasis on atonal abrasive noise assaults and on stage gimmickry. Whether it was a carefully orchestrated plan or not is to be debated, but this approach lead to us finding our ‘people’ in a town where we thought there were none and helped to build a scene of other nascent noise makers proudly calling ourselves ‘Tauranga Music Sux’ or TMS.
What impact do you hope this album will have on your audience?
If Foo Fighters aren’t opening for us on an international stadium tour then we have failed and dishonored our fans…. Well, we have come along way from our early days to something that is, despite my own personal bias, very unique and quite special. We play a style of punk music that isn’t comparable to many others in this genre and so we want to share this album with not only our existing fans but to help try and find new ones. We can honestly say that this is the best representation of our music and a culmination of 13 years of musical evolution to something I think we will all be eternally proud of. So hopefully people will hear our self-titled album ‘Threat.Meet.Protocol’ and not only like it, but tell their friends to listen and so on.
Can you talk about any standout tracks on the album and what makes them special to you?
I think we were most excited and pleased with the songs we jointly had lower expectations for. Our reputation is mostly as a live act centred around our performance of fast and heavy punk songs but we really tried to craft a more varied album this time around. So while a lot of the songs are classic fast paced punk numbers like “Class Wars,” “Funeral March” and “Fall of Humanity,” we incorporated a lot of weirder, slower paced songs like Time and 204. Both of which we couldn’t be more proud of as an evolution for the band. Musically, Luke on keys has never been more on point with his playing and melody and the direction Evan gives in his dual role as drummer and engineer/producer, really helps to craft something that individually none of us could do on our own. On a personal note, this album and these tracks in particular have been lyrically cathartic as they have focused on the loss of a loved one and the path one takes through grief.
Can you tell us more about you as a trio?
I count myself super lucky to be playing in Threat.Meet.Protocol with my BEST FRIENDS! We’ve all been in a number of bands but none of us have ever found it as easy as what we do with TMP. After our infamous early days as 2 piece, Luke Turner joined us on keyboards which added another dimension and layer to our sound with his “Danny Elfman on crack” idiosyncratic style of playing keyboards like an electric guitar/synth and theremin all rolled into one. It also took us from being a very generic, unskilled punk band into something much more rounded as Luke has a more raw musical talent than anyone I’ve ever met. Similarly, Evan Pope replaced our original drummer Stefan after we imploded on stage one night and we needed someone immediately to fill in for gigs. Luckily Evan, who was at that stage our long time engineer and producer, was able to step in immediately as his replacement having already known the songs. We are fortunate to have Evan, not just because of his skills as an engineer (and free recording space), but because we have his ear as a producer to help craft song structure and melody in a way many songwriters cannot. Which, while Luke may not need, I sorely do as these guys both carry my limited talent to something far greater than it should be.
What role do you feel emotions play in your music, and how do you channel them into your performances?
I think like all humans we are all vastly different and subject to very different emotions at completely different times. So, depending on who the song idea first stemmed from comes that emotion but then that emotion evolves as the others inject their personality and musical slant. Live, we are very chaotic and most of our performances are driven by pure adrenalin so dependent on our set list the mood will vary throughout. However, we are very much driven by our own manic energy so our live gigs usually degenerate into madness as we embrace the spontaneity of live performance and whatever may come from it. Even it includes getting suplexed through a table, jumping through Evans’ drum-set or bashing Luke with a chair.
