As promised, here are BOTH albums by San Francisco-based grunge-punk group Protein. (I know I said in the last post that they were from Texas...they actually relocated to Texas and former lead man Josh Zee's new band is based there.) I would post the Wikipedia article here in link-form, but it's all of three sentences, so basically all we know about these guys is that they were all kicked out of the same high school at the same time and decided to start a band with their downtime. That's a pretty fitting beginning for dudes who've got lines like 'I walk by your house extra slow under my hood, it seems like it would be interesting to sneak in kill you, but I never would' and 'you can pray all the way to satan everyday, but I'll say I don't worship anything but me.'As I said before, if people weren't such fucking idiots, these guys would have been the next Nirvana. You can argue that lead man Josh Zee isn't nearly the songwriter that Kurt Cobain was, but then listen to "Passing By" from the 2nd album, or "Duct Tape On My Hat" from the 1st. This guy isn't just a flashy guitarist with a bad attitude. It's really disappointing that, when their major label deal fell through, these guys disbanded, but Zee is in a not-half-bad country band (I hate country, but I can at least stand this stuff) called the Mother Truckers.
Obviously, I can't conclude this brief little review without mentioning that guitar. That fucking guitar. How many times did Josh Zee sit in his room playing along with his Van Halen records until he had the solos perfect? The world may never know, but this is a guy who loves his guitar. Imagine the mind-fuckingly original capabilities of Buckethead, but without the shitty music (Deli Creeps aside). It's like 'here's some great songs, and oh, by the way CRAAAAZY SOLO RIGHT IN YOUR FUCKING FACE.' I guarantee you'll never hear another band quite like this, and it's a shame that they've been relegated to cutout bin status (both of these albums are, as far as I can tell, out of print). The 2nd album has a little bit more country-twang and less blazing solos than the first, but it also has better production and (arguably) more mature songwriting.
Protein - 'Ever Since I Was a Kid'
Tracklist:
1. My Blood
2. Obligations
3. Over My Head
4. Refrigerator
5. Maybe I Will
6. Slightly Bitch Philosopher Dream Chick Meets the Insecure Martian Prophet
7. What is #4?
8. Duct Tape on My Hat
9. In Half
10. I Own You
11. Roadrash
12. If I Were You
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Protein - 'Songs About Cowgirls'
Tracklist:
1. From Mercury to Texas
2. Lemonade
3. Over My Dead Body
4. Passing By
5. Sleeping on the Roof of a Mexican Restaurant
6. 40 Days and Nights
7. Intermission
8. I Waited in Glue
9. Drinking Song
10. Going to L.A.
11. Everything Good
12. Maybe the World Isn't Round
13. Transition
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...oh, and...
other Kutout Bin Klassics:
Vol. 1
Vol. 2
Vol. 3
Vol. 4
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