What are you looking forward to most in the last 6 months of 2015?

Definitely recording. It’s by far my favourite part of this life we have chosen. Despite being frustrating at times, it’s by far the most rewarding thing I do - watching something great come from literally nothing. Give me the willies just thinking about it. Feel pretty lucky we have made a career doing that.

Can you talk about your time in the studio, writing and your upcoming tour plans?

The only tour we have lined up at the moment is a short run to Europe in August. It will be a really exciting one though because in between two festivals in Sweden and England, we get to head back to Russia for a third time. I can’t explain how crazy and wonderful our shows have been there before. It’s a very appreciative atmosphere - and that is a two way street for sure.

What was it like transitioning from being on a larger independent label to doing stuff on your own?

All in all, it has been amazing. We are lucky to still work alongside labels though (in distro deals) so are able to bug them for their guidance from time to time. The ability to write and release music any way we want was something that was forbidden while involved with record deals. Gotta say that it feels pretty good to have that kind of freedom. Wouldn’t have been possible or felt that good without some great labels along the way though.

What are the band members’ favourite PROTEST THE HERO songs to play and why?

I most like the songs which I don’t have to think too much about playing - those ones that are on complete muscle memory. Then I can just sit back and enjoy rather than worry about what’s coming next. “Mist” is definitely one of those songs…

What do you feel like you have “given up” to play in PROTEST THE HERO, especially while touring?

I wouldn’t say I have given up friendships - but they suffered for sure. You watch your close friends get closer with each other as you drift further and further outside the circle. It’s a completely natural and expected process, but it still affects you. I imagine most home-bodied folk often tell themselves “I gotta hang out with so and so, so that we don’t drift apart”. That’s something you stop telling yourself while on tour because you can’t physically make good on it. I would never give up any of the people in my life - I am just lucky they are understanding and supportive.

I think I heard that you don’t like playing your old stuff. I get it, I think, but can you explain it so die-hard fans who want desperately to hear your old shit will be appeased?

I know what it’s like to want some of my faves to play the oldies, so I respect it when people ask for those tunes. As we get older, I think we are more likely to reach back in the years and play that stuff. When you are younger and trying to make a name for yourself, the old stuff only serves to embarrass you. You want people to want what you are doing now because that’s the stuff you are desperately passionate about.

Have you ever written guitar parts after already knowing the theme? Has Rody ever given you ideas to write around?

Yeah that’s something I personally have found works well. It works the other way too though. The main riffs in “Mist” had already been written. I remember Rody was out of ideas for lyrics and I told him this one song had a kind of celtic and upbeat feel to it. It reminded us both of one of our favourite places on earth. The rest kind of just fell into place.

What do you think of the new Refused song?

Hahah - this is a loaded question because I know how you feel about it already. I kind of like it - I mean, it could have been massively worse than it was. To me, it seemed like par for the course - but since their course took a giant break for 17 years, it’s a pretty promising first step in my opinion. Personally, when we release a song from an upcoming record in advance, it’s carefully determined by a couple things. 1 - it sure as shit isn’t even close to the best on the album 2 - it has all the qualities that are undeniably Protest The Hero though. I think Refused’s choice may have been similar. Let’s wet their appetite and blow them away when they hear the rest of this beast.

If you had to slap a genre label on PROTEST THE HERO - so potential new listeners could get a good idea of your sound without hearing you, what would you label yourselves as?

Nowadays, I wouldn’t slap anything on it. For the most part, I find labels only detract from listeners. “Eww, this is post-hardcore? I don’t know what that is but I don’t think I will dig it”. I know labels are pretty crucial to hinting at what you are all about but I would much rather someone put on our music and find out they hate it then to assume they won’t like it because of where it’s hidden in a record store.

Do you find it hard to balance objectivity with emotion when listening to/playing/talking about music?

Absolutely. I have become everything I ever hated. The almost 30 year old who thinks he has a more valuable opinion on music because he has been around the block. Keeping that in mind though, I find myself listening to more uncharted music now than ever because I want to counteract my jadedness. If that makes any sense at all!?