That’s right, we’re heading out on a co-headlining tour in July with TWRP (they’re the fancy space fellas that we did “Phantom Racer” with last year, remember?). It’s gonna be a short run across the Great Lakes (that’s right, we’re gonna swim) and up the east coast. And don’t worry, both bands are playing full-length sets, no matter who is playing last on any particular night. This is gonna be one incredibly fancy tour, so you shouldn’t not try not to not go. Tickets are live now, so grab them quick, because they’ll probably go seriously fast.

JULY 
12th – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall • All Ages – SOLD OUT
13th – Pontiac, MI – Crofoot Ballroom • All Ages
14th – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom • All Ages
16th – Toronto, ON – Opera House • All Ages
17th – Buffalo, NY – Rec Room • +16
19th – Kingston, NY – BSP (Back Room Theater) • All Ages
20th – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club • All Ages
22nd – Brooklyn, NY – Elsewhere • +16
23rd – Philadelphia, PA – World Café Live  • All Ages
24th – Baltimore, MD – Soundstage • All Ages
25th – Richmond, VA – The Broadberry • All Ages
26th – Atlanta, GA – Terminal West • All Ages
27th – Nashville, TN – Basement East • +18

MEET AND GREETERY
There’s also some super duper limited Meet and Greet and Early Entry tickets for most of the shows, so just a heads up, if you’re into that sort of thing. Here’s what they’re about:

TWRP & Protomen – Meet & Greet Package
– One general admission ticket 
– VIP early entry into the venue 
– Exclusive pre-show meet & greet with TWRP & Protomen 
– Group photo with TWRP & Protomen (no individual photos) 
– Autograph session with TWRP & Protomen 
– Limited edition tour poster 
– Exclusive TWRP merchandise item 
– Exclusive Protomen merchandise item 
– Official VIP meet & greet laminate 
– Very limited availability 

TWRP & Protomen – Early Entry Package
– One general admission ticket 
– VIP early entry into the venue 
– Limited edition tour poster 
– Official VIP early entry laminate 
– Limited availability

That’s all for now, but there’s some other super fun stuff coming down the pipeline pretty soon. 

And yes, Act III. Working on it super hard, and it’s sounding pretty most rad. 

Be well,

-Commander

p.s. Hey Europe, do people like The Protomen over there?

Tags: Protomen News | 8 Comments

20% off on everything in our Merch Store until until Monday night 11:59pm CST!!! Just use the following code at checkout: TWENTY2018

That includes a couple new items below!!!

We’ve got a brand new super warm City Made Us sherpa hoodie just in time for the cold-ass winter. Give the gift of warmth and style…

We made 500 of these Conquest Of The West 2018 posters for the tour and the leftovers are now in the store ready to go.  Even better, some of them are signed by all 3 bands (Protomen, Makeup And Vanity Set, and Bit Brigade)!

••
Act II Silver Record Repress (In-Store Exclusive)

In-store exclusive Metallic Silver pressing of Act II record (it sparkles a bit.. sort of like a bass boat!).  There are only 350 of these in the wild, so get to the closest record store listed below and grab one before they’re gone. Forever.

<<UNITED STATES>>

••ALASKA

-ANCHORAGE
Obsession Records

••COLORADO

-ARVADA
Love Vinyl Records

••GEORGIA

-ATLANTA
Fantasyland Records

••ILLINOIS

-ST. CHARLES
Cheap Kiss Records

••KENTUCKY

-FLORENCE
Morrow Audio

••MASSACHUSETTS

-SHEFFIELD
The Wave

••MICHIGAN

-SHELBY TOWNSHIP
Hot Tracks

-KALAMAZOO
Revival Retro & Records

••NEW JERSEY

-EGG HARBOR TWP
Inner Groove Records

••TENNESSEE

-NASHVILLE
Grimey’s Records
Monster Music
The Great Escape
Vinyl Tap 
The Groove

-MURFREESBORO
Media Rerun

••VIRGINIA

-ARLINGTON
Blue Groove Soundz

••WEST VIRGINIA

-CHARLES TOWN
Fuzzy Dog Vintage

<<AUSTRALIA>>

-VIC

E. CAMBERWELL
Discrepancy Records AU

<<GERMANY>>

-BERLIN
HHV HANDELS GMBH

-MORSCHBACH
Vinyl Digital GMBH

<<ENGLAND>>

-LONDON
Juno Media LTD

If you don’t see your favorite local record store listed above, ask them to order it from URP Distro.

And if, for some reason, you don’t care about silver records, you can sill grab the regular black from our online store. They also make really great stocking stuffers… as long as the stocking is about 14 inches inches wide. Ok, so you’ll probably also have to buy a gigantic stocking for the person you’re giving it to, but totally worth it, right?

And for those left wondering about the Making Vinyl Awards results, we did NOT win anything… THANKS A LOOOT, WEIRD AL!  But we DID get runner up in one of the categories, so here’s to second place?!

That’s all for now.

-Commander

Tags: Protomen News | 3 Comments

We’re on the road again for the first time in over a year, and it’s been amazing so far. That was the biggest touring break we’ve had since 2006, but it seems like we still know how to play music! Chicago was sold out and incredible. Kansas City wasn’t sold out, but still incredible. Tonight in Seattle is sold out, and I assume it’ll be incredible (or else..). And past that, the rest of the shows are running low on tickets, so… you know what to do… Oh, you don’t? I meant you should go ahead and buy tickets down below before they’re gone.

On top of that, we just added a super awesome Nashville Halloween show on Oct 27th at Marathon Music Works (no MAVS and Bit Brigade on this one). This one’s gonna be reeaaal good. We were asked by Marathon and Lightning 100 (a great Nashville radio station) to play their annual Paranormal Rocktivity event. It’s gonna be the most exciting thing to ever happen four days before Halloween! We’ll be joined by Devo615 Allstars (a Devo cover supergroup, featuring members of The Shins, The Long Winters, Superdrag, The Raconteurs, Earl Burrows, Montessori Dads, The Pink Spiders) and ELEL. Get tickets below.

SEPTEMBER
30th – Chicago, IL – Reggies +17 ***SOLD OUT***

OCTOBER
01st – Kansas City, MO – Riot Room +21
04th – Seattle, WA – Chop Suey •All Ages• ***SOLD OUT***
05th – Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theater +19
07th – Portland, OR – Hawthorn Theater •All Ages•
08th – San Jose, CA – The Ritz +21
09th – Los Angeles – Echoplex •All Ages•
13th – Dallas, TX – Gas Monkey Bar N’ Grill +16
14th – Memphis, TN – Hi Tone Cafe +18
27th – Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works (Paranormal Rocktivity) •All Ages•

*some of these age restrictions can be circumvented by having a parent with you. However, YOU SHOULD CHECK WITH THE VENUE FIRST.

And as of writing this, the 525 SEA tape has yet to be found. So, you better tell your grandpa he should think about getting out of bed and warming up those legs, because I’m saying there’s still a chance! But seriously, why were all 4 grandparents bedridden? Especially because there was clearly nothing wrong with the grandpa, aside from a possible intense fear of pins and needles? Either way, grab a tape and roll the dice. Maybe you’ll never have to pay for another one of our shows ever again… forever. And you’ll help your grandpa realize he can still walk just fine!

See you out there,

-Commander

Tags: Protomen News | 5 Comments

MAKEUP AND VANITY SET PRESENTS… THE PROTOMEN… CASSETTE!
Available Now!!!
For the uninitiated, this album is an 8bit remake of our first album (Act I). MAVS made this record while we were all still living at our Thundercon compound in Nashville around 2007. If you’ve somehow never heard it, you can check it out on our Bandcamp page.

But seriously now, it’s about time we released this album on tape. If you don’t know the Tastyvein backstory, I’d love to tell you here, but it would just take too long and you’d still be confused at the end. However, I will tell you that there was an infamous red tape involved. And that red tape is something I want to talk to you about right now…

SWEEPSTAKES COMPETITION EXCITATHON TIME!!!! 
We’ve randomly inserted a single somewhat-carefully recreated replica of that red tape (I somewhat carefully recreated it myself with the factory test tape!) into the 1,000 tapes we had made for this run. 

What, might you say, goes to the lucky person who finds this elusive tape? They’ll receive a lifetime supply of chocolate! Wait… chocolate is expensive. Nevermind, they’ll just get a fancy hand-crafted Cold Steel Ticket (more like a cold steel ID card, but “ticket” sounds better) that gets them into all Protomen shows for free… forever… (excluding Festivals, Private Events, or any other situations where we have no control over entry)!!!!!!  See? That’s way better than chocolate. Ok, probably not better than chocolate. 

On top of all that, we’ve brought back the Grid Shirt to go along with this release. We have 3 types, regular Men’s/Unisex, Women’s, and Unisex Sleeveless. They’re all pretty cool. You should probably buy one of each and wear them all at the same time. 

We also have Combo packs with shirts and tapes, if you’re into buying things together and saving a little money.

OCTOBER TOUR
And don’t forget we’ll be getting on the road at the very end of September heading out west for some serious music banding. We’ll be joined by our dearest of dear friends, Makeup And Vanity Set (whom some of you may remember from the start of this mailer), and Bit Brigade. Tours like this don’t come along very often, especially while we’re working on the single greatest album of recorded time, so do your best to make it to a show. And don’t wait too long to grab tickets, because they’re running low all over the place. 

SEPTEMBER
30th – Chicago, IL – Reggies +17 ***SOLD OUT***

OCTOBER
01st – Kansas City, MO – Riot Room +21
04th – Seattle, WA – Chop Suey •All Ages• ***SOLD OUT***
05th – Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theater +19
07th – Portland, OR – Hawthorn Theater •All Ages•
08th – San Jose, CA – The Ritz +21
09th – Los Angeles – Echoplex •All Ages•
13th – Dallas, TX – Gas Monkey Bar N’ Grill +16
14th – Memphis, TN – Hi Tone Cafe +18
27th – Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works (Paranormal Rocktivity) •All Ages•

*some of these age restrictions can be circumvented by having a parent with you. However, YOU SHOULD CHECK WITH THE VENUE FIRST.

And if you happen to be around Nashville on Monday, you should come out to Exit/In for the TWRP show. We might be helping them out on a jam…

That’s all for now. We’ll see some of you soon!

-Commander

p.s. Does it bother anyone else that the Borg can’t decide on a pronunciation of “futile?”

Tags: Protomen News | 5 Comments

We’re heading out for a short tour in October to get back in shape and to keep our brains from frying from all the Act III studioing. We’ll have our dearest friends, Makeup And Vanity Set and Bit Brigade, with us on the whole trip, so don’t do something silly like skip out on the greatest shows of all recorded time. Also, we think MAVS is gonna defect when he gets to the West coast (you see… I’m saying he’s Sean Connery in this very flimsy Hunt For Red October analogy. Ooooh! And the reason our first show is on Sept 30th is because we wanted to get a head start, since it takes a while to drive a submarine from Nashville to Chicago! Nah, still flimsy. Don’t worry. We’ll figure out the analogy before the tour or we’ll call the whole thing off and try for the “Sweet November” tour… where we just drive the bus to wherever Keanu Reeves is to tell him what a shit movie that was, and that Bill and Ted 3 better come out before Act III, or else).

Also, if you can get to Portland, we’re doing a special VIP Ticket Meet & Greet situation before the show. It’ll be fun, if you’re into that sort of thing.

SEPTEMBER
30th – Chicago, IL – Reggies +17

OCTOBER
01st – Kansas City, MO – Riot Room +21
04th – Seattle, WA – Chop Suey •All Ages•
05th – Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theatre +19
07th – Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theatre •All Ages• *Special VIP Meet&Greet Tickets Available*
08th – San Jose, CA – The Ritz +21
09th – Los Angeles – Echoplex •All Ages•
13th – Dallas, TX – Gas Monkey Bar N’ Grill +16
14th – Memphis, TN – Hi Tone Cafe +18

*some of these age restrictions can be circumvented by having a parent with you. However, YOU SHOULD CHECK WITH THE VENUE FIRST.

Speaking of MAVS, he’s released a whole lot of new stuff recently, so you should go to his site or bandcamp to check it out (and don’t forget we have a bandcamp now, toooooo!).

More good stuff soon,

-Commander

Tags: Protomen News | 5 Comments

PHANTOM RACER
In case any of you missed the recent news, we teamed up with TWRP (Tupper Ware Remix Party) on their fancy new album, Together Through Time, to make a little ditty called “Phantom Racer” (apple music, spotify, and bandcamp). It’s a nice fist-pumper-of-a-jam about a murder car on the loose. It also features Game Grumps‘ own Arin Hanson as The Announcer. The rest of the album is pretty rad, too, so you should totally check it out… if you think you can handle it.

Annddd… they’re on tour right now, so be sure to check them out if they come to your town. Remember, they’re Canadian, so they only get let out of their cages every so often, so you better make it count!

PROTO-BANDCAMP
In other news, we finally have most of our stuff available for purchase on Bandcamp (more to come soon – follow us on there for updates). So spread the word, if you’re into that sort of thing. Or don’t, whichever’s funnier.

GAMBLER’S HEART BENEFIT SHOW (not a benefit for Gambler’s heart)
The Gambler has taken it upon herself to do a full show of Heart jams in August to benefit YEAH (Southern Girls Rock Camp and Tennessee Teens Rock Camp). This is her flying solo, but she’ll have a band backing her up to the extreme. So if you like Heart (and who doesn’t?!) and you like Gambler (and who doesn’t?!) and you like supporting kids learning how to make rock and roll (and who doesn’t?!), you should totally make it out to the show and support the cause!  And if Heart and The Gambler aren’t enough for you, there’s gonna be two other bands there playing all ABBA and Talking Heads, too!!!! It doesn’t look like they’re doing advance tickets, so just show up and get in. Info below:

August 24th • The East Room • Nashville (+18 – 8pm – $10)

That’s all for now,

-Commander

p.s. And yes, we’re still working on Act III, and we’re deeeeep.

Tags: Protomen News | 2 Comments

They’re finally here!!!!!! The Act II Vinyl/Popup Book and Light Up The Night Blu-Ray are currently shipping across the universe. We’re extremely sorry it’s taken so long to get these two out the door. We’ve never done a pop-up book or a Blu-ray before, so the learning curve/s and hangups were intense. Either way, they’re finally ready to go and we hope you’ll think they were worth the wait. We think they’re both pretty rad!

And if you haven’t grabbed them yet, don’t sit on it too long. We didn’t make a huge surplus, so they’ll probably be gone before you know it (and we’ve still got the suuuuper exciting combo packs on the Soundmachine Store).

As for other news? We’re just doing a whole lot of studioing. You know… making the goods (i.e. biscuits, donuts, bread, Act III, etc).

Don’t expect any shows this year because we’ve got a record to finish, but you should probably keep your eyes and ears peeled, just in case. As usual, watch your inboxes for these mailers and then all the things like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and the News page for any and all updates of any and all kinds.

That being said, we just got word from the boys and girls on the board that we’ve gotta up our Instagram numbers or we’re out on the street. So, get to following us and we swear we’ll try to post more interesting things on there to make you and our overly needy board-members happy.

I don’t really have a good salutation to go here, so…. Happy Tuesday?

-Commander

Tags: Protomen News | 17 Comments

This is just a quick update about the Black Friday-Cyborg Monday sales action we’re unleashing on the Sound Machine Store (just a heads up, there’s a second page of products in the store) this weekend. Everything is 20% off when you use this code at checkout*:  TWENTY2017

*Friday-Monday night – offer only valid in the Sound Machine Store.

We’ve reprinted a small number of the six Light Up The Night screen-print tour posters that we had on our last tour in support of the video/short film (NYC, Nashville, Orlando, Austin, Los Angeles, and Denver). They sold out pretty quick on the tour, so here’s your chance to catch them all, just like the Pokermen. Not only that, but we’re also offering a signed option, just in case you want us to ruin the beautiful DeLucca art with our signatures. And if you’re feeling extra froggy, you can buy the whole set in a combo where you essentially get one for free (and then you get the 20% off with the code, as well!exclamation point!exclamation point!exclamation point!!!).

Also, the Clear and Split Clear/Black A Night Of Queen records are running really low, so if you want one of those, you’d better act now. There’re only about 200 left.

Also also, we’ve ported mostly all of the In-Stock items over from the Light Up The Night store, so you can access the discount for those items, if you’re into that sort of thing.

That’s all for now,

-Commander

Tags: Protomen News | 5 Comments

Sorry for the big break between mailers. We’ve been super busy busting some serious ass in the studio since we got back from that last run of shows in support of the Light Up video. Speaking of which, I’d like to thank everybody that made it out and participated in the Q&As, those were ridiculously fun, awkward, and amazing. Thanks again.

After the extremely long wait, the A Night Of Queen records are here (currently shipping), and they’re ferociously rad. The embossed cover is suuuuuuper classy, and the three different record color styles look beautiful (black, clear, and black/clear split).

Watch the fancy promo video above to see what it’s all about.

And if you’re swayed by the immensely effervescent promotional artistry at work in the video (ok, I know it wasn’t really effervescent, but that’s the adjective that popped in my mind while I was typing this, and I do what I want.), go to the store and pick something up.

LIGHT UP THE NIGHT
If you’ve ordered Light Up The Night stuff, you should have gotten an update email somewhat recently, but if you can’t find your copy, know that major progress has been made on the superrad vinyl. It ran into multiple production delays due to its awesomeness, but it’s firmly on track now and coming along quickly.

Not only that, but all of the special features are finally done for the Light Up The Night bluray, so those are hitting production very soon, as well. We’re hideously sorry for all of the delays, and we can’t wait to get those to you as soon as possible. If it’s any consolation, the behind the scenes video is even longer than the video itself!

That’s the end of the updates for now, but we’ve got lots more coming, so stay tuned to whatever you like to tune the most.

This has to be the first time I’ve ever ended a mailer without listing at least one show, right? Super weird.

-Commander

p.s… Can’t break the streak! I guess it’s a streak? Maybe it isn’t… I didn’t really check.  Either way, I’m gonna go ahead and list a few tours you should go check out:

• Dennis DeYoung has a show in Manitowoc, WI tonight, and then a bevy of shows the rest of the year, so you should go on out and support the mess out of him and his crew.
• Our new French friend, Pertubator, is on tour right now in the US, and you should go check him out if he comes near you. He played Nashville with Makeup And Vanity Set (who has some new albums, by the way) on Tuesday and it was a great night filled with joy, fun, happiness, and synth jam pentagrams. It did, however, lack Daft Punk.
• Phil Collins has some shows in the UK in November and December, so you should probably go check that out if you live over there.
• Local friends, Birdcloud and Thelma And The Sleaze, are both on tour right now (separately), so we implore you to go check them out (beware Birdcloud’s website if you’re terrified of butts).

Tags: Protomen News | 6 Comments

As most of you know, we’re getting ready for tour next week, so I’m gonna keep this brief.

Tickets are running low for pretty much all the shows, so if you’re trying to make it to one, go ahead and grab tickets below. We won’t be on the road again like this for a while, because we’re deep up in the studio right now working on… something suuuper secret (ok, it’s not really a secret… Act III), so be sure to come on out, because we want to see your smiling faces one last time before we go into our Dennehy protected cocoon.

And don’t forget that Orlando and Austin Proto rock shows/meet and greets are at different venues than the Film Screenings/Q&A action. Info and combo tickets are in the links below.

MAY
18th – Nashville, TN – The Belcourt Theater *ALL AGES* ∆
20th – Orlando, FL – Enzian Theater *ALL AGES* †
20th – Orlando, FL – The Abbey *18+* •
25th – New Orleans, LA – Southport Music Hall *18+* •
26th – Austin, TX – Come and Take It Live *ALL AGES* •
27th – Austin, TX – Alamo Drafthouse (South Lamar) *ALL AGES* †
30th – Los Angeles, CA – Echoplex *16+* ∆

JUNE
2nd – Las Vegas, NV – Vinyl at Hard Rock *6+… ? Seiriously, 6 years old and up* •
4th – Denver, CO – The Oriental Theater *18+* ∆
5th – Kansas City, KS – Riot Room *21+* •

† Light Up Film Screening + Q&A + Meet & Greet
• regular-ass rock show
∆ all in one fury

And here are all of the new super rad and extremely limited edition screen printed show/screening posters, based off John Delucca’s artwork from the video, together. Catch them all.

See you soon,

-Commander

Tags: Protomen News | 9 Comments