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Almost a month passed since the release of PROTECTOR's 6th full-length album "Cursed and Coronated". I've asked vocalist Martin Missy about the past, the present and the future. Enjoy our conversation!
Hi Martin! First of all, let me congratulate you with the newest release of PROTECTOR. "Cursed and Coronated" is the second full-length album you've made in alliance with the Swedish guys we known before from the MARTIN MISSY AND THE PROTECTORS. In 2011 "The Return of Thrash and Madness" demo marked your return with them. Tell me more about the new start and also what the reactions towards your latest release are.
- Well, it all started in 2005, when I met a metalhead by the name of Jonas Svensson at a NIFELHEIM aftershow party. We talked for hours and in the end the idea of a PROTECTOR coverband came up. Jonas went back to his hometown Uddevalla and recruited Carl-Gustav Karlsson (drums), Mathias Johansson (bass) and Michael Carlsson (guitar) for the project. From 2006 we played a couple of gigs in Europe and in 2011 we decided that we would like to write new songs, and to release them under the name PROTECTOR. I talked to founding member Hansi Müller about it, and he liked the idea. We released a demo in 2011, our comeback LP "Reanimated Homunculus" in 2013 and PROTECTOR's 6th LP "Cursed and Coronated" in 2016.
The new album became as awesome as its predecessor and can't glorify enough how cool that you still following the good old Thrash Metal style of PROTECTOR. I suppose it was maximally conscious, right?
- Yes. When we decided to write new songs, we knew that we wanted to do it "the old-school PROTECTOR way", so we wrote all the songs in that direction.
Both of your recent albums were recorded at the famous Sunlight studio. How was it to work with Tomas Skogsberg? Interesting fact that you still sound very old-school, like on your very first records. Was it due to Tomas or exclusively to the new band members and you?
- That the riffs and the songs sound old-school is the result of the good work of my bandcolleagues. The overall sound of our last two recordings were in the hands of Tomas Skogsberg and Patrick W. Engel, who did the mastering. They all did a really great job!
Since 1995 you live in Sweden. Why you moved from Germany? Tell me a little bit about your recent activities: jobs, hobbies, interests, etc. Also please enlighten us the same factors about Michael Carlsson, Mathias Johansson and Carl-Gustav Karlsson. Do you hang along a lot besides the band duties, of course?
- I moved to my mother's homecountry Sweden, because I wanted to try something new. I went to school there for two years and then I started working for the German National Tourist Bureau in Stockholm. I worked there for 13 years before they kicked me out, because they had to save money. Since then I am unemployed and only have had a couple of occasional jobs. In 2008 I got married and in 2011 my two sons were born.
About my bandcolleagues: First of all, I have to say that they all are really great, funny and sympathetic guys. That's probably the main reason why we now have been playing together in the same line-up for 10 years. Carl-Gustav and Michael have been playing their instruments in various bands for quite a while (Michael is at the moment also playing in the Hard Rock'n'Roll band RAWHIDE). Mathias is actually a singer (in SUICIDAL WINDS and AXIS POWERS), but has also been playing guitar for some years, so taking over the bass was no problem for him. Unfortunately, we don't hang out that much, because they live in Uddevalla, which is 500 km from were I live (Stockholm). We meet 2-3 times a year for rehearsal, and when we play live.
How is your actual live set-list look like? Besides the very old songs and new ones are you performing some tracks off from the "Leviathan's Desire", "A Shedding of Skin", "The Heritage" and "Resurrected" records as well? How do you like those materials, by the way? Name us your favorite songs from them.
- This year we actually will be having songs from all PROTECTOR albums in the setlist (not the demo "Resurrected" though). Earlier on it was either from "Leviathan's Desire" or "The Heritage" we hadn't any songs in the setlist from. My favorite tracks from the records, on which I didn't sing, are the ones, that we also play live: "Mortal Passion", "A Shedding of Skin", "Retribution in Darkness" and "Mental Malaria".
"Cursed and Coronated" was released both on vinyl and CD formats. The latter one has even 3 more live tracks included as bonus there. Have to say High Roller Records did an excellent job so far. Tell me more about your ties with them. Whose idea was to re-release your back catalogue on CDs and vinyls?
- The guys from High Roller are really great to work with. They are totally into the whole stuff and if you have a question, you get answers right away. It was their idea to release the complete back-catalogue, and thanks to the collaboration of Oliver Wiebel and Matze Grün, that all actually did happen.
Really can't neglect the super awesome cover arts of Kristian Wåhlin done for "Reanimated Homunculus" and "Cursed and Coronated". Was those cover-ideas totally of his own or you had an exact vision how they should look like?
- My ideas were quite different from the final versions Kristian painted. But that's ok with me, because the result is great. He just asked for the name of the album and some background facts to it, and then he started painting.
There were different official and unofficial compilations released between 1995 and 2012, like "Lost in Eternity", "Echoes from the Past...", "Ominous Message of Brutality", "Welcome to Fire", "Kain and Abel" and "Wolfsburg Edition". Do you own these compilations? What's your opinion about them? Me personally, I really liked the versions of the Swedish I Hate Records.
- Yeah, I own all the compilations you named. I think they are all great in a special way. I also like the I Hate compilations a lot, because the sound is good and they have done a great work with the layout.
Do you keep in touch with past members of PROTECTOR? Have you any news about them, maybe you met some of them recently?
- In 2001 I did a tribute homepage about PROTECTOR, and at that time I contacted all the old members again (I also met them later when I visited Germany), to get information about the time when I wasn't a part of PROTECTOR anymore. We still have contact. Some of them come to our gigs when we play in Wolfsburg (as in last autumn). All former members also receive the newest album of the band, so they can see what we are creating in the name of PROTECTOR.
The lyrics on your latest records are pretty variegated theme-wise. Can you tell us more about them and what are the main inspirations and influences when it comes to write a new lyric for you?
- I get inspired by a lot of different themes when I write lyrics, just as I am interested in a lot of stuff in "real life". On "Cursed and Coronated" the lyrics of the songs are about Sci-Fi, fantasy, history, social topics, religion and Thrash Metal in general.
The underground scene changed quite a lot since the 80s. How do you see it nowadays? What bands are you listening to with pleasure and what records did you bought lately? Do you listen exclusively to old-school bands or there are new ones which made an impact on you too?
- I like the underground scene of today. It's cool to go to gigs and see all these young people with vests, bullet belts and old-school shirts.
I mainly listen to bands/recordings from the 80s (and 70s). Bands like AC/DC, MOTÖRHEAD, EXODUS, SCORPIONS, SODOM, BLACK SABBATH, ACCEPT, IRON MAIDEN and JUDAS PRIEST are big favorites. Some of the "newer" bands I listen to are HELLISH CROSSFIRE and DESASTER.
Do you plan an extensive worldwide tour in support of "Cursed and Coronated"? Tell us more about your tour & concert plans for the near future. Can we expect to see you playing live once upon a time in Ukraine too?
- Due to the fact that I have a family, and the others have jobs (and Michael also has another band), we don't do any tours. We focus on 5-7 single gigs each year. This year we've played two gigs in Sweden, and will play two in Germany and one in Holland. 2-3 more gigs are in the "planning-stage".
Unfortunately, we will probably never play in the Ukraine, because it's quite far away from Sweden and I don't fly (I have EXTREME claustrophobia).
Just noticed at the HRR vinyl info sheet that there should be a "Live 1989" LP to be released as well. Explain it please in details (where was that live show recorded, tracks and when it will be out).
- That is a project which has been going on for a while. It's a concert that was recorded in Düsseldorf back in 1989. It was my last show with "the old PROTECTOR", and the tracks were from our first three recordings. At the moment this project is on hold, because High Roller just has (re-)released seven albums of PROTECTOR, and didn't want to put another one out at the moment.
Please coronate the end of this interview with your wishes to all the Ukrainian PROTECTOR fans. Last words are yours.
- Thank you for doing this interview with me. To all our fans in the Ukraine: Stay Metal, and if you find the time, visit our facebook page: www.facebook.com/Protector.666not777. Rock on! | 
