After all the starts and stops, it’s finally in our hands and ready to ship!!! Space-age-laser-technology could be at your fingertips. All you have to do is act now. And while you’re at it, why don’t you grab one of those really awesome giant Cover Up movie posters to go along with it? There’s even a combo pack that makes it even cheaper!
TERMINATOR THE SECOND – THE MERCH Remember that time we did the score for, and acted in, the world’s greatest Shakespearian play of Terminator 2? Well… we sure do. And we recently found some of that old merch in the vaults. It’s available now on the Sound Machine Merch Store. There’s really not much left, so get it before it’s gone for all eternities (at least until I decide that I need another one of those rad shirts and demand that they reprint some, because that’s the only shirt I ever wear… well, that and three ELO shirts).
**the soundtrack is also now available on all your favorite streamers, so get to streaming.
SPEAKING OF STREAMING… I posted this on the social medias a while back (facebook, Instagram, Twitter), but I figured you fancy mailing listers/proto-news-page readers should have a fair crack at it, too. It’s the Spotify Playlist that we play as house music before shows. Since we’re not out there playing for a while, might as well give a taste of what it’s like waiting for us to go on…
That’s all for now, but expect another mailer in a couple weeks with even more fun stuff.
NASHVILLE TORNADO RELIEF It’s a rare time (hopefully) when you have to decide between to two major crises to focus on, but here we are. While we were on this last tour with TWRP, the COVID-19 pandemic was starting up in the US and chasing us across the south. And then midway through the tour we got word that our hometown, Nashville, had been hit by a massive tornado. It was quite a blow to be so far from home and unable to help with the initial cleanup effort.
While there’s not much we can do to help in the COVID fight (aside from following the guidelines of the health officials), we figured we could at least lend a hand with the Nashville tornado issue.
We started to toss around ideas and, obviously, the first thing we thought to do was a benefit show as soon as we got home from tour. But then the (much needed) lockdown started to happen, making shows impossible. So we turned to the idea of making a limited edition “THIS CITY NEEDS YOU NOW” shirt to sell with all the proceeds going to Hands On Nashville. We’ve come up with this design that we hope you’ll grab and sport around your living room for all your pets to see. Wear it in your video meetings and twitch streams. Wear it to bed. Wear it in the shower, because maybe you’re a nevernude (no judging). Wear it wherever you want! Just grab one and help us support Nashville through the painful tornado cleanup/rebuild.
HOWWWWEEEEVVER, we know times are really really tough right now with the larger pandemic issues, so DON’T spend money on this if money is scarce. Nashville is strong and we’ll still be standing when all this is over. What we’re saying is, don’t buy Protomen Merch over buying, say, flaming hot cheetos or paying your rent. We need you to stay fed, housed, and safe… and non-corona’d.
EUROPEAN EASTER SALE Right on the heels of that spiel about not spending money when you don’t have to…
That’s right, WE’RE HAVING A EUROPEAN EASTER SALE!!! 20% off of everything in the Kings Road store. Friday – Thursday (April 10th-16th) … *EDIT* sale was originally Friday – Monday, but there were technical difficulties, so we extended to Thursday.
Enter this code at checkout: EASTERMEN2020
But seriously, if money is tight, please don’t buy our stuff. Save your money for the essentials, like food and toilet paper. But mostly toilet paper.
That being said, you can probably use most of our merch as toilet paper*. Sooooo maybe buy a bunch of our merch, just in case?
*most merch is non-flush
COVER UP ON CD For those wondering about the Cover Up CDs that I mentioned in the last mailer, they ran into production issues and have, unfortunately, been delayed. They’re still coming, but we don’t know exactly when. Keep an eye on our socials (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) for more info on that between mailers. We’ll probably post a picture when they finally get here.
PROTO/TWRP SOUTHERN TOUR Southern tour with TWRP starts in under TWO WEEEEEEKS (I could have said it starts next Thursday, but I really just wanted another reason to link to the Two Weeks lady… there, I did it again!!)!!!
We’re hitting parts of Texas, Louisiana, and Florida, so if you live around there, you better grab tickets soon, because tickets are running low for most of them (except for SOME cities… we’re not pointing any fingers, but you need to pick up the pace, New Orleans!).
FEBRUARY 27th – San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger 28th – Austin, TX – Mohawk
VIP/Meet And Greet ticket Holders will get a pretty rad Sticker Sheet of band members, Limited Poster, tour themed Phone Popper THing, Tour Laminate, and fancy Drawstring Tour Bag. I really didn’t know what I should be capitalizing in that last sentence, so I decided to wing it. Either way, here’s some mockups of some of the stuff:
Sticker Sheet
***The VIP packages are running low in some places, so don’t snooze on it.
IN OTHER NEWS We’re finally pressing The Cover Up to that new technology everybody’s been talking about, Compact Disc (or C.D. for short), so keep an eye out for that in the very near future (we’ll hopefully have some of them in time for the tour).
We’ve got two color variants of a new shirt style (well… it’s new for us) we’re testing out for this run, so let us know if you’re into it and we may make more.
And all you European people, don’t forget that we’ve got a new merch store over there. Buy all that stuff (and spread the word) so we can send them new things!
That’s all for now, but more fun stuff coming soon,
First off… Heads up, we’re playing MAGFest 2020 in under 3 weeks! It’s gonna be rad, so if you’re around the DC area at the first of January, you should stop on by for a spell. We’re playing on Saturday night, but we’ll be there starting Thursday, so come see us at the merch table (or at the Tron machine).
JANUARY 02nd – National Harbor, MD – MAGFest (hang out day) 03rd – National Harbor, MD – MAGFest (hang out day) 04th – National Harbor, MD – MAGFest (show day)
Second off…
We’re going back out with TWRP for a short run in late February – early March for a Super South run!!!! Texas over to Florida!!! It’s gonna be some extreme fun!! Tickets on sale NOW! Exclamation Points!!!
FEBRUARY 27th – San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger 28th – Austin, TX – Mohawk
And sorta connected to the Second off. The signed and unsigned versions of the big fancy screen printed posters from our previous tour with TWRP are now available in the Sound Machine Store, so grab some before they’re gone for all of eternity. Annnnnnd, for the rest of December, you can get free shipping on orders over $50 when you use this code at checkout: FREESHIP
Fourth off…
We’ve switched some things around and now all our European merch will be handled by Kings Road Merch (they’re the ones who printed our super fancy Euro Tour Shirts). And with that, all of the leftover merch from the Euro Tour is finally available for online purchase! There’s not a lot of it left, so grab it while you can. Seriously the best shirts we’ve ever done. Big thanks John DeLucca (for the art), Caspar Newbolt (for the design), and Kings Road (for doing a hell of a job printing it).
***Also, you can get signed and unsigned versions of the super rad poster, too.
Our annual holiday sales action starts tonight at midnight (Friday 12:00am CST) and runs through Monday night (11:59pm CST) on the Sound Machine Store, so grab what you need while there’s stuff to grab!
For 20% off your order, just enter this code at checkout: TWENTY2019
On top of that, the remaining super rad TWRP & Protomen Together At Last screen printed tour poster will finally be making an appearance (signed and unsigned versions available). Sorry for the delay on that, it takes a lot of effort to get a bunch of posters signed by all of us (both bands).
Don’t take that mention of Bandsintown to mean we have shows coming up. We don’t… or do we?
And yeah, yeah, Act III when? We’re working on it. It’s getting fierce. It’s looking like we won’t beat the next Half-Life to market, but I’ve got money that we still beat Avatar 2.
POSTER AND SHIRT In just over a week we’ll be in Ireland getting ready for our show on the 03rd, so we wanted to go ahead and show you this toootaally original poster and shirt that we’ve been working on for a while. It’s pretty derned fancy, if you ask me. And even if you don’t ask me, I’ll still tell you it’s pretty derned fancy. Illustration and design by the ever-wonderful John DeLucca and Caspar Newbolt (respectively)……. and Boris…
These are Euro show exclusive, so get to a show (or get a friend to a show) to grab one! If any of them survive the tour, we’ll put them up in our European Store.
Just a general warning about tickets, they’re running reeeaal low for several shows. So don’t go around waiting till the last minute, because they could sell out, and then you’ll be sitting on the curb crying your metric tears and we won’t be able to help you, because we don’t understand the metric system. We hate seeing tears (metric, imperial, standard, or whatever… they’re all tears to us). Please don’t put us in that position. We want you to be happy. Grab tickets soon. And bring some people that have never heard us before, because we love looking out in the crowd and seeing that confused look on new people’s faces.
p.s. Anyone who brings Panther a steel string acoustic guitar (with a pickup) and lets him borrow it for the entire Euro tour… and comes to pick it up in Amsterdam (otherwise he just leaves it on the street somewhere)… gets in free for the entire tour. First guitar wins!
So our tour with TWRP was a terribly incredible time. Things may have started off rocky 5, but they quickly turned into Rocky 1-4 and then 6, and then Creed 1, (I still haven’t seen Creed 2 yet, but I’ll rectify that soon) once we got past all of our bus and trailer issues, about 4 days in. I’d dare say it was one of the very best tours we’ve ever toured, and we already miss the poop out of being on the road with those dudes. We WILL do it again someday.
But enough of this gooey shhhow of emotion, let’s get on with the stuff…
Will Of One – Live In Nashville In honor of the recent Act I vinyl repress, and in honor of us finally going to Europe, we figured it was time to pull the wraps off of this thing we’ve been working on for a while.
This is a clip from the night we first released the Act I vinyl. We were hoping to have it done for the repress release, but we just didn’t make it in time (Act III recording took priority!). So yeah, this is just a teaser for the entire show video AND live album that’s on the way. It’ll include all of Act I and most of Act II, soooo better late than never?
We’re pretty proud of where it landed. We’ve wanted to do a live video/album for a long time and this show turned out to be the right fit. Buuut… as with most live recordings, this one came with some gremlins that had to be dealt with, so it’s taken some time. There were things we had to fix because of bad cables/mics… and there were things we had to fix because of Freddie Wong stepping on Ringo’s cable RIGHT at the start of one of his solos (we forgive you, Freddie…). There were just all kinds of lovely little nuggets of, “how the shit did that happen?!” that we had to fix. So what I’m saying is… because we wanted this to be a great listening and viewing experience for everybody, there were things we had to fix before we could let this see the light of day. But there were plenty of other turdy things we could have fixed but didn’t, since this is a live record/video and all live albums/videos are mildly turdy (I think it may be a law), unless you’re watching a Europe live show from ’86 or ’87. Seriously, everything that comes out of Joey Tempest’s mouth at those shows could be an album take.
Everyone who was part of our documentary Kickstarter will get the full show video for free… HOWEVER… those wonderful kickstarterers will also get a free copy of whatever the documentary is that we release in the future, because we said you’d get a for-real documentary, and by damns, we’ll get you a for-real documentary….. eventually…
LIVE IN EUROPE Speaking of live shows and documentaries… we’re headed to Europe in just over TWO WEEEEKSSSS!!!!!!
Tickets are running super low for several of the shows (especially Ireland, London, and Amsterdam), so jump on them quick. Who knows when/if we’ll get back over there. Grab some tickets below and tell all your friends about tickets, because I’ve heard that friends LOVE tickets.
We’ve got a ferocious new poster and t-shirt to show you soon. Expect another mailer next week! Seriously, maybe the best shirt and poster we’ve ever had.
JULY TOUR WITH TWRP (LOW TICKET WARNING!!!) We’re heading out with TWRP in exactly TWWOO WEEEEEKS for our co-headlining tour, and tickets are nearly gone for most shows. If you haven’t gotten tickets yet, you’d better grab them super immediately.
JULY 12th – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall • All Ages – SOLD OUT 13th – Pontiac, MI – Crofoot Ballroom • All Ages 14th – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom • All Ages – SOLD OUT 16th – Toronto, ON – Opera House • All Ages – SOLD OUT 17th – Buffalo, NY – Rec Room • +16 19th – Kingston, NY – BSP (Back Room Theater) • All Ages 20th – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club • All Ages – SOLD OUT 22nd – Brooklyn, NY – Elsewhere • +16 – SOLD OUT 23rd – Philadelphia, PA – World Cafe Live • All Ages – SOLD OUT 24th – Baltimore, MD – Soundstage • All Ages – SOLD OUT 25th – Richmond, VA – The Broadberry • All Ages – SOLD OUT 26th – Atlanta, GA – Terminal West • All Ages – SOLD OUT 27th – Nashville, TN – Basement East • +18 – SOLD OUT
And here’s the extremely limited edition VIP EXCLUSIVE poster that goes to everyone that buys (or bought..) VIP tickets for this PROTO-TWRP tour. There’s still a few VIPs left, so grab them while you can. We are some serious Beef Supremes in this thing!
poster by Lazerhorse
EURO TOUR And tickets are also going really fast for London, Dublin, and Amsterdam. There aren’t many spots left, so grab them before they’re gone for all of eternity!
EUROPEAN STORE This store is getting off its feet and we’ve figured out how to lower shipping costs a bit more. Go check it out! europroto.bigcartel.com
ACT I VINYL RETURNS!!! If you didn’t get your fill of Act I vinyl with the last few pressings, now’s your chance to live your dreams! These usually go pretty quick, so get them while they’re around. Plus, we have some rad new color variants for you to gander (Blue smoke and Red smoke!)! Plus Plus, we’ve brought back the original Proto logo shirt and Elec Man shirt (from our first animated Hope Rides Alone website video), for a limited time (Wil Wheaton approved)! And these are all ready to ship.
WE HAVE A EUROPEAN MERCH STORE NOW!!! Our friends at Eat Music are helping us get a store going over there, so no more having to pay nearly twice the price for shipping from the US! It’s pretty slim right now, but we hope to build it up over time. Try it out – europroto.bigcartel.com
EURO TOUR Heads up! We just added a super awesome Ireland show to the start of the tour, so spread the word around. Tickets are available now, but they may not last long. London sold out in a day, so they moved us up to the big room and now it’s well over half-sold, so grab these euro tickets asap if you like music stuff. And while you’re at it, bring everyone you’ve ever known to a show (or to all of them…).
PROTOMEN + TWRP TOUR And we couldn’t be more excited for our tour coming up with TWRP. It’ll be here in less than a month, and tickets are running out fast, so get to gettin’ if you haven’t gotten!
It’s happening. We’re finally heading your way this September, so tell your friends, and tell your parents… and tell your friends’ parents.. and their parents’ parents (parents love us), because we’re gonna need all the help we can get. I’m gonna admit, we’re kinda nervous. We hear you guys don’t even have hot chicken over there. I did eat at a place in Nashville the other day that essentially had hot chicken schnitzel (it was super good), so we know it’s possible. Get on it, Germany.
And we’ve also got some good news coming soon about a European Store so y’all don’t have keep paying such terrible shipping costs. Hopefully that’ll be heading your way in a few weeks, so stay tuned.
And a big thanks to Eat Music for helping us make it happen!
PROTOMEN + TWRP JULY TOUR And you east coast US/Canada people better not forget about our tour with TWRP in July. It’s gonna be the most crazy. Grab tickets as soon as possible, because they’re going fast. Chicago is already sold out and a few others are getting close. Paragraph
And for all you people who can’t make it to the July and Sept shows, we’ve got some live show video action coming your way, so you don’t feel left out. Watch the video at the top for a taste of that. We’re gonna post the full “Will Of One” video sometime next month, along with more info on the whole project.
That’s all for now, but keep your eye on the pies. That is a saying, right? If not, it is now. Somebody go put that on that on a wikipedia.
