Interview – The Protest – Guitarist Adam “Sarge” Sandler: Talks About Latest Empowering Track, “What Else You Got” And Filming For The Video
The Protest have really hit the ground running releasing, “What Else You Got”, the rip roaring anthem about not backing down in adversity. New Transcendence had a moment with the band’s guitarist Adam “Sarge” Sandler to talk about the new single and how the video shoot went down for the track.
Toney Emmons (New Transcendence):
When writing and developing your track, “What Else You Got” did you feel it would be empowering, and was that the idea of the song going into it?
Adam “Sarge” Sandler (The Protest):
Absolutely we felt that song was meant for empowering! Just try saying it to something going wrong in your life: You lost your job, you didn’t make the team, or your car broke down right at the wrong time, it goes on and on. Saying “You know what? I’m still here, I’m still breathing, what else you got???” You have to have faith and believe it’s going to get better, and it will. That’s was our attitude when went to record this. Josiah Prince and Jeremiah Jones really helped us out with the writing of the song, and we wanted to translate musically our “never say die” attitude.
Toney Emmons (New Transcendence):
How did all the guys of The Protest figure our your concept and delivery as a band?
Adam “Sarge” Sandler (The Protest):
Great question! Growing up all 4 of us were major rockers as kids. We all grew up listening to the greats in the genre. KISS, Def Leppard, AC/DC, and so on. So many great bands – I could keep going on that for days! But when we all came together as a band we were all on the same wave length of we wanted to create:high energy rock n’ roll. Music that makes you move, gets your heart pumping, makes you raise your fist in the air, even if you’re not exactly sure why. But we also had purpose behind our music, and that was to share ourpositive message through our music. That is so important to us. So when we come to the stage or off the stage, we are ambassadors of goodwill and putting forth a positive message. We try to give everything we have in our live shows because we know why we’re there, and our style of music is meant for someone that needs to hear it.
Toney Emmons (New Transcendence):
While filming the video for “What Else You Got” I’ve read that it was in the 20° degree range, how did that go!?!?
Official Video for, “What Else You Got”
Adam “Sarge” Sandler (The Protest):
That was one cold day I tell ya, LOL! Yes – we filmed the video over the course of 12 hours with our good friend and genius filmmaker Adam Shewmaker. That guy is a beast, he filmed most of it in a t-shirt and jeans! We were about ready to go on the City Rockfest Tour and we didn’t have a lot of time to spare and we needed to get it done, no time for re-shoots… A close friend of ours allowed us to shoot in this huge truck storage garage. When we were filming it, you don’t notice the cold because you’re performing the song and trying to look cool and sing the lyrics and play the notes all in time with the song. It was challenging, but we love the way it turned out!
Toney Emmons (New Transcendence):
I understand you are die-hard tour mongers, what would you say would be the best day kind of day when you are out on the road, touring?
Adam “Sarge” Sandler (The Protest):
The best kind of day, I think – is getting to a show and crushing it. People being moved by our music and leaving feeling better and more invigorated about life. And having great conversations and meeting new people at the show. Afterwards, hanging out with my bandmates talking about the show, cracking jokes and rolling to the next city. Bonus: After having that great night we have a day off where we try to find some sort of Chinese buffet to partake in (destroy it) and check out local antique stores or comic book stores.
Toney Emmons (New Transcendence):
What’s the story behind the name, “The Protest” – Was it random or was it something you just knew you were going to name the band?
Adam “Sarge” Sandler (The Protest):
It’s a pretty funny story. So the original name was Feedback. This was back when basically everyone was barely in high school. Turned out there were a lot of bands online with that name, so it had to go! At that time, the planet Pluto was being demoted from a planet to a star, and Josh and Jarob’s dad just threw out of nowhere “How about Protest for Pluto?” Protest for Pluto had a cool ring to it and wedecided that would be the name. It didn’t really have a meaning or anything, just sounded cool to us! When Sarge joined up we went down to record our first professional record with the great Travis Wyrick. He taught us so much and really put us through a band bootcamp. In recording Game Changer, we wanted to really take the band more seriously and go to another level. We wanted a bold name, but didn’t want to exactly lose all of Protest for Pluto fans. So we changed it to The Protest and we feel that was name that fit us best.
Toney Emmons (New Transcendence):
What were your bands and album/song releases were your biggest influences?
Adam “Sarge” Sandler (The Protest):
There are so many musical influences that this band has – we listen to everything! We all love Avenged Sevenfold, KISS, Beartooth, Sixx A.M.,Volbeat, Disciple, Wage War, too many to name. For creating music, we just love the bands that are straight-up rock driven, and we love huge sounding drums, thick riffs, guitar solos, grungey vocals – all of that comes together for us in our sound.
Toney Emmons (New Transcedence):
Your radio success thus far has included both the Billboard Christian Rock Chart, and the BDS Rock Indicator chart – which shows your mainstream status rising. Are you surprised by your success with this new single “What Else You Got”?
Adam “Sarge” Sandler (The Protest):
I would say that there’s always some surprise. When you release new music you have no idea how its going to be received! People seem to be digging this new song and we feel so blessed by it, and our management team and label Rockfest Records are working so hard for us, and we couldn’t be more blessed having those guys in our corner doing everything they do for us.
Toney Emmons (New Transcendence):
New Transcendence thanks you for your time, is there anything you’d like to leave everyone reading this – anything you haven’t mentioned in other interviews?
Adam “Sarge” Sandler (The Protest):
We love you guys! We absolutely love what we do, we are not just a band but are on a mission to spread some positivity and light in a world that can often be dark. For us, that is our music, it’s not for everyone and we are fine with that. We have met many people though the years that have been touched by what we do on a deeper level, and have had a profound change in their life from hearing one of our songs. Our new album “Legacy” is out now, it took over 2 years to complete start to finish and we are so stoked that its finally out! We cannot wait to get back out on the road and play these songs – come to one of our shows and say “HI”, we’d love to meet you!. Thank you so much for the opportunity – Take care and God Bless!
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