An Interview with The Protest: On Musical Inspirations, New Music, and Tour Memories

Hailing from New Castle, Indiana, The Protest brings a fiery blend of old-school rock and intense energy. We’ve been long awaiting new music from the guys since their last EP Death Stare in 2021. Following the release of their single “Take It Back” last year, the band has been hinting at new music on their social media, creating a buzz among their followers.

If you’ve ever been to one of their shows, you know how hard they like to rock, sharing the stage with a variety of bands ranging from Christian rock staple, Disciple, to mainstream rock band From Ashes to New. They were one of the featured acts on the Friday night line up of the Rockstar Stage at Uprise Festival We had the opportunity to take a few minutes to sit down with the Midwest rockers to talk about their writing process, favorite memories and any potential new music.

The Protest is:

Josh Bramlett: Lead Vocals

Adam (Sarge) Sadler: Guitar

Jarob Bramlett: Drums

TJ Cowell: Guitar

(TJ was not present for the interview)

Solid Rock Unplugged: Thanks for taking time to sit down with us. Could you give me a history of the band? How did The Protest come about?

Josh: My brother and I, we started playing music together when we were in middle school. We grew up listening to classic rock. We just had a passion for rock. As we grew older, we met some friends who had that passion too. As we grew even older from there, we started finding the Lord and following Him and trying to become more Christ-like. That naturally turned into what we’re doing with music. 

So me and Jarob, brothers, we’ve been working together for a long time. Then TJ, our other guitar player has been in the band about the same amount of time. Then Adam, our lead guitar player, joined in 2009. It’s been the four of us since then!

Jarob: Technically me, Josh, and TJ’s first show was in ‘05.

Josh: And never really stopped!

Jarob: That’s 20 years ago!

Solid Rock Unplugged: So what you’re saying is there needs to be a 20th anniversary tour?

Josh: Well, most people wouldn’t even know we were around.

Jarob:  I was in middle school, so…

Josh: I’d say 2012 is when people really probably got us on their radar for the first time. But, we’re coming up on 15 soon!

Solid Rock Unplugged: You mentioned classic rock being a big inspiration. What are some other inspirations that drive you guys, both musically and lyrically?

Jarob: Josh is the main lyricist, so he can probably speak better on that. But as far as other inspirations besides classic rock, Disciple is one of the big bands, one of the first faith bands that we really got into. Skillet and other modern bands, like Avenged Sevenfold. Things like that. 

Josh: Lyrically, when we’re writing a record, we always want the Lord to speak, you know? We always pray for what He wants out of it. I think our band has something pretty special. I do a lot of the lyrics, but we all sit down and kind of put our stamp on the lyrics together. So almost every Protest song is from four different hearts that love Jesus and four different men that love each other. 

It’s a really special thing, something we’ve really tried to adopt in the last handful of years. We want our songs, yeah there is personal struggle and it’s important to share your struggle, but we also want our songs to uplift and encourage. Something we’ve really been focusing on the last couple of years is just writing songs that make people feel empowered through Christ. 

Solid Rock Unplugged: I was taking the time leading up to Uprise to listen to the song “Greater.” The lyrics paint this picture of taking myself out of the equation, because I’m doing this for something greater. I think that’s a great reminder to all of us, that what we’re doing is for a greater cause, no matter if we’re in just a regular 9-to-5 job or being in a band. What’s the story behind “Greater?”

Josh: Thank you man, that song is really special to us. So we actually wrote that with a band called Wage War. We wrote that with Cody from Wage War. The thought process behind that song, during COVID I had a different job because I was kind of in-between stuff anyways. We couldn’t tour, we couldn’t play shows. I got this different job. 

The owner of that business, one day it was raining, so we went inside. He was asking me about the band thing. He’s like, “Man, why do you do that? You don’t make any money. It’s got to be hard on your wife and your family. Why do you do that? It doesn’t make any sense to me.” I just had to explain to him that it’s not about that for us. It’s about sharing love in a world that desperately needs it and sharing Christ’s love, which is a special love. Agape love, which is unconditional and unique. Sharing that is everything. I think that’s kind of where we got that from. 

Solid Rock Unplugged: You guys do some shows with secular bands. What’s it like being a faith-driven band playing with secular bands? What’s the interaction backstage or interaction with fans?

Jarob: Man, honestly so far, everyone’s been really accepting and think it’s pretty cool that we stand for something. Fan-base wise, we have people come up to us after the shows and it’s just a different dynamic. We played this one bar in northern New York and this person had a pentagram tattoo. They said “I used to be Wiccan” or “I am Wiccan right now.” And I’m like, “Cool, what’s your story?” We don’t always get to meet people like that at a festival like this, which puts us in a cool opportunity for that truth to go even farther, deeper into people’s hearts.

Josh: We don’t really change what we do, though. From stage, we still talk about Jesus. That’s what we feel like we’re called to do. So we still talk about Jesus. Now, my approach may be a little bit different. For example, we’re opening for a band called Vended this coming week. They’re Corey Taylor’s son’s band. So that could be a really cool opportunity for us to reach some people that we normally wouldn’t get to and we’re really excited about that. 

Solid Rock Unplugged:  Yeah, I saw that was an upcoming show!

Josh: Yeah, I would imagine that it’s going to be a crazy show. It’s going to be wild and different types of people. Maybe it’s a chance for us to be a light, but still throw down. 

Jarob: We’ve only been booed and flipped off a couple of times!

Solid Rock Unplugged: Ok, dig deep for this one. What’s your favorite tour memory?

Josh: There’s a lot! Being with the guys, you’re not just out here working and trying to reach people. You’re also with your best friends, so everything’s special! To name a few, we were hunting for a treasure, the Forrest Fenn treasure, a few years ago. We had a couple of days off. Our bass player had a map and he had the poem memorized. He thought he knew kind of where it was supposed to be. 

Jarob: It’s a riddle online. If you look it up, it’s the Forrest Fenn treasure. 

Josh: Yeah, so we hiked off the trail at Yellowstone, way out of our element, didn’t really know where we were going or what we were doing. We built a lean-to out of trees, built a fire. We weren’t supposed to build a fire. We had $7 machetes we got at Walmart that barely worked. 

Jarob: We had two bottles of water and peanut butter sandwiches! Of all the thirsty items in the world! Even though it was August and so hot during the day, at night it was frigid. We were literally cuddling each other in this lean-to that we built out of fallen logs and stuff.

Josh: You and I slept back-to-back next to the fire. 

Jarob:  Yeah, then we ended up getting so cold we just slept next to the fire. We lost our minds temporarily.

Josh: Didn’t find the treasure!

Jarob: And didn’t find the treasure, but we found out years later we were very close. Which was crazy! So that’s one that comes to mind, but as far as tour memories, there’s so many. We’ve had so many just crazy, incredible, weird experiences. You have a favorite tour memory, Sarge?

Adam: There’s a lot, but I guess one that comes to mind is we played a show in Florida. We had an off day and we rented bicycles. On one of our phones, we were playing Beach Boys music and we just rode around town on bicycles. It was simple, but just pure fun. 

I guess we rode by a taco shop and they had a chalkboard that said “If your name is Adam today, you get a free taco.” My name is Adam, so I got a free taco! That was a good day! I have a picture of that somewhere. So that was a really good one, because obviously we’re a close band, but we’re also best friends together. So it was just us hanging out as friends in Florida on an off day and it was just fun times. 

Solid Rock Unplugged: Last year you guys released a new single “Take It Back,” and then this month you teased on social media about having new music. What’s been the overall response to the new single and when are we going to be hearing some new music?

Jarob: The response for “Take It Back” has been really good. It’s obviously a pretty heavy tune for us, but I think “Take It Back” is one of the most Protest songs we could possibly ever write. To me, it kind of encapsulates what we do well, you know, heavy but still really fun and energetic. I think the response was really good. 

As far as new music goes, don’t have exact dates but you can expect a new single, maybe this fall. Then some more after that and building towards a full record, which we’re really, really close to getting finished up. 

Solid Rock Unplugged: What do you want your fans to walk away with after seeing The Protest live?

Adam: We just want people to feel loved. Josh always says, “Please don’t leave this show feeling the same way you did.” So we want you to be filled with encouragement, conviction, hope. 

Jarob: My brother and I were talking the other day that we have a unique opportunity to see lots of different people and love on people. Right now that means more than ever. Sometimes this job can be very difficult and taxing, but that’s one thing that kind of keeps us revitalized and have that passion to do it. Because the world needs love. Even outside of our music, that’s what we can offer, you know what I mean? “The Lord is our refuge and our hope,” and if we can share that with others, then that’s it. 

Solid Rock Unplugged: Anything else you guys want to promote?

Adam: Just keep your eyes open for new music soon!

Take a moment to go follow The Protest on Facebook and Instagram. You can find their music on Spotify and everywhere else you can find music!