King Tut's Wah Wah Hut , November 2006 
Glasgow, Scotland

Those of you Anglophiles who are in any way 'mad for it' have probably heard of King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut. Unassuming from the outside, tucked away on a otherwise business-free Glaswegian street, it is known for, among other moments of musical greatness, being the place where Alan McGee first spotted and signed Oasis. The thought of FINALLY (after nearly four years of uni) getting to see a gig in that most hallowed of venues had me, well, wicked psyched, yes, but I was far more excited about who I was seeing.

For it was there, hidden away in the manager’s office, that five Americans (and an English girl, to remind us of what empire we're in) got together to talk about music and complain about the Big Dig. It was one of those mind-blowing moments where you realise that the world isn't so big after all. And, more importantly, that some people have more commitment to their dreams than the Scottish Highlands have sheep; here was a Boston band very far from home wholly dedicated to not taking a second for granted. Also, did you know that Protokoll was recently a Spin "Band of the Day"? We can do one better, however, for here at Pilgrims they deserve "Band of the Month." Ooh.
If you aren't familiar with the band, we’ll start with the basics. Protokoll today is a four man show, yes, but it hasn't always been this way. In the beginning, it was Jose De Lara, Ben Greenspan, a laptop, some keyboards and guitars. A few weeks in, Danny O'Neill got involved after hearing early demos of ‘Early Divine’: ‘I was extremely jealous and bummed out that I wasn’t a part of it and was just like “Heeey dudes, you don’t have to let me in the project 100% but if you ever need any bass lines...”' After realising that Danny’s bass was a necessary component, they played more shows, relying on a drum machine for support (‘disastrous from day one’). Six months in and a drunken conversation later, enter Reid Calkin. When discussing them, the press likes buzz words such as Joy Division, post-punk, and 'moody.' How descriptive... Better to get it straight from the horse's mouth, no?

Jose: There was more of a dance/electrodisco, German-like industrial thing going on; like DAF, with some Kraftwerk in there, but it moved more to a more guitar based sound, though still having the element of synthesizers in the background. We weren't really good at doing it [the dance/electro sound] in the first place so we sort of moved naturally to a rock sound.
Danny: Reid coming in on the drums sort of naturally facilitated that as well.
Jose: Yeah he hits really hard and we had to start turning it up more and more, using more distortion and more effects to make this bigger more massive sort of wall of sound type of thing which is probably attributed to the fact that we listened to a lot of shoegazer bands, that's one main influence. We listen to like a lot of pyschedelic music from the 60s, a lot of pysch rock. But I think the backbone of everything is definitely rooted in punk rock, and that comes out in our live performance.

No kidding. I'd heard that their performance was lively, loud, and (for lack of another l-word) some sort of insane. I was not disappointed. Example: Jose, practically lying down, playing his guitar with his beer bottle, while the rest of the band went crazy around him. You need to see them live. The only songs I'd been able to hear beforehand was that which was on their website, but their live show has some aural treats that will get you yearning for a full-length realease.

All sounds pretty good, doesn't it? But WHAT are they doing over in dear ol' Blighty? Basically, risking it all. Jose, for instance, has sold all his expensive equipment, given up all housing leases in order to go on this European tour: 'This is my whole existence.' They aren't without a foundation in the UK, though; this is their second UK trip. A lot of their progress in the UK is due to a certain man named Steve Lamacq. A respected BBC dj, Lamacq got hold of the band’s self-released EP, started playing it on his Radio 1 show and has been championing the band ever since. And no one, it seems, was more suprised than the band themselves: ‘When we found that out it was sort of like “Oh my god, we’re being played on the radio in a country where we’ve never been.”’