Red Sun Rising at The Grog Shop

Cleveland, Ohio
January 30, 2016

Red Sun Rising rocked a packed Grog Shop in Cleveland. Check out the interview with Lead Singer Mike Protich below.

Left: Mike Protich of Red Sun Rising  ●  Right: Mike and Nici in the green room of the Grog Shop in Cleveland, Ohio — Photo by Gretchen

Cool Bartender at the Grog Shop in Cleveland

The Venue

The Grog Shop is an ultra-cool concert spot located in Coventry Village, an artistic, hipster section of Cleveland. This badass location is small enough for the feeling of an intimate show, yet large enough to pack an audience. The Grog Shop is complete with wicked cool bartenders and a green room adorned with graffiti and stickers, the traces of bands who have rocked the venue in the past.

Adventures in Akron

Red Sun Rising hails from Akron, Ohio, home of multiple, unique venues, and a plethora of talented musicians, including bigger names like the Black Keys, The Arcs, Chrissie Hynde, and Devo. (Join me in future adventures in this fun and underrated city.)

The Concert
Currently comprised of Lead Vocalist Mike Protich, Guitarist Ryan Williams, Bassist Ricky Miller, Guitarist Dave McGarry, and Drummer Pat Gerasia, Red Sun Rising played an amazingly impressive performance to a fully engaged audience. Playing in a town nearby the band’s hometown helps to increase audience participation, with friends and family in the mix, but based on the band’s energetic show, and a setlist of powerfully moving tunes and vocals, undoubtedly audiences are equally engaged in towns far away.

Each song was incredible, triggering the fans’ anticipation of the next tune. One significant feature of the show included Protich’s mastering the art of performing a hauntingly magnificent version of Alanis Morissette’s “Uninvited.” The performance might give you the goose bumps, in a very good way, hearing an unmistakably male voice eerily emulating Morissette. Simply put, it’s freakin’ good. I’m excited to see what he does next.

Left: Ryan Williams ● Right: Mike Protich and Ricky Miller of Red Sun Rising — Photo by Gretchen

If you haven’t seen Red Sun Rising, place the band on your must-see list as they will be touring the rest of the year, and playing in almost fifteen rock festivals.

Also noteworthy, Akron bands, Devilstrip and Jeff Klemm & The Letters, set the perfect stage for Red Sun Rising, as both bands offered passionate and exceptional, rockin’ tunes.

Grog Shop Shenanigans by Nici and Gretchen

Probable Setlist (Download the tunes or Red Sun Rising’s latest CD!)
1. Push

2. My Muse

3. Awake

4. The Otherside

5. Amnesia

6. Blister

7. Uninvited (Alanis Morissette cover) [link to original version]
8. Imitation

9. Bliss

10. Emotionless

The Chat
Prior to the show, I was fortunate to catch up with Mike Protich, Red Sun Rising’s lead singer, in The Grog Shop’s funky-cool green room. Mike shared his inspirational song-writing process, as well as reminded me of the power of brainstorming and the fact that our moms will always be our biggest fans.

Mike Protich in the Grog Shop green room

Starting with Akron….
You guys are from the Akron area, and so am I. Where exactly did you grow up?
I went to Tallmadge High School. Ricky went to “St. V” [St. Vincent-St. Mary] Ryan went to Tallmadge, and the other two guys are not from Akron: Bradford, PA and Albany, NY

What led to Red Sun Rising’s formation in 2007?
Ryan and I had some mutual friends that were in bands. I was jamming with a kid named Jerome, and his older brother was in a band with Ryan. We saw their band a couple of times, but they broke up, and Jerome said that I should try out. I wasn’t really into the music – it was Southern Rock – but, I needed something to do. I was going to Kent State at the time and I was really concentrating more on school. I wasn’t even thinking about music, but I tried out. Ryan and I then decided that we wanted to start our own thing. We broke away, started writing music, and started Red Sun Rising.

What does Red Sun Rising mean?
When we first started the band we were pretty “angsty” politically. We wanted to be the next Rage Against the Machine or something. We were researching and noted that “red sun rising” came up in a lot of literary works, like “red sun rising, sailors take warning.” It’s also the first line in the first album of Black Sabbath.

How did you get started as a singer and musician?
I got my first guitar when I was 11 and I had a band all through high school. We did pretty well; we won some Battle of the Bands. But, then I went to school and kind of forgot about music a little bit, even though I still played guitar. Singing-wise, I only sang in my high school band because I could sing the best out of the four of us, but I didn’t consider myself a singer. I used to just sing in my car, driving around to Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and trying to hit those notes. Eventually I could do it and people would say I had a great voice. So, I thought I should try working on it. I starting actually trying to become a singer with Red Sun Rising, and here I am.

On Facebook, some of your inspirations are Stone Temple Pilots, Tool, Deftones, The Beatles, etc. but what would be some of your influences outside of that list?
Imogen Heap… Alanis Morissette… If you went on my iPod or my phone right now, the last songs I listened to were female vocalists. I almost never listen to rock anymore. I’m surrounded by rock all the time, I’m at festivals playing with rock bands, I play in a rock band…

You’re inundated with rock!
Yeah! Exactly.

Looks like you guys have been pretty solidly on tour since May. For those of us not in a band, a tour around the country for 6-8 months sounds like a dream-come-true adventure. How do you feel?
It is, but it has its ups and downs. You have to adjust your life with friends, family, and loved ones. The coolest thing, though, is not only seeing all the different places, but when you grow up, a lot of your friends go to different colleges, and then get jobs in different areas. A lot of people lose touch with friends that they had in their past. But, because we get to travel, we get to go to those different places where our friends moved. So, it comes full circle. I can see my friends that I lost touch with, as I’m traveling. A lot of people don’t have that opportunity.

What do you tour in?
A little bit of everything. This tour, we’re in a van. The last tour, we were in a bus. A couple of tours before that, we were in an RV. It really depends on how long the tour is, what the budget is, what the markets are. Probably in the fall, we’ll be in a bus full-time since we’ll be touring so much.

Mike Protich and Nici — Pic by Gretchen

Tell me a little bit more about tour life. Is there any way to develop a pattern? Is there any way to stay on an eating program or workout program, or is it total chaos?
We try to eat as healthy as possible. When we have the RV or the bus, we have a fridge, and we can cook food. We try to snack on dried foods, like nuts and fruit, so we don’t succumb to eating fast food all the time. And, we do Planet Fitness a lot because they’re everywhere, and you can shower and work out.

Wilson said the same thing! [Check out the Wilson post here.]
We did that a couple of times with Wilson. We’re good friends.

It looks like there is a little break in the tour coming up in February / March. What will you plan to do?
Lay low and relax, and prepare for festival season. There will be some radio shows that we will do here and there. And, Ryan and I will take that opportunity to write, so we’ll utilize the time.

Who does most of the writing?
Up until now, it’s been Ryan and I. But, with this current band member line-up – who I think we’ll have for a long time – we would love to incorporate them more on the next record.

What are your song writing inspirations? How do you get inspired to write and create the songs?
Feelings, I guess, as cliché as that might sound. When Ryan and I sit down for a lyric session, we’ll think of a topic that we’re both passionate about or something that is going on in one of our lives, and we’ll just talk about it. We’ll write down, not even lyrics, just write down sentences about it. Almost like a brainstorm. Then we take that brainstorm and create the lyrics.

So you guys go from playing the local scene, singing at Akron’s Annabelle’s and Musica to now being able to hear yourselves on SiriusXM. How does that feel?
It’s pretty surreal. My mom likes to tell me every time she hears us. I know every time we play! [Laughing.] It’s really cool. The best part is seeing how excited the people are that watched us grow up, and know how much hard work went into this. But, on our end, it’s more motivating. OK, we’re here, but now what? We need to keep pushing forward, and to sustain ourselves and to move further. This could be all over tomorrow, so it’s more of a motivating thing for us than celebratory.

To what do you attribute that turning point, from being local to suddenly being recognized nationally?
I would have to say that it was signing to a label. They have given us opportunities. We’ve gained access to gatekeepers, if you will. Razor & Tie has been a phenomenal label. They’ve allowed us to be artists, which is great; and, they don’t interfere, which is what we were afraid of before signing with a label. It’s like a family. It’s a small group of people, they’re all involved, and they all know your name. I know all of their names, so it’s really cool.

Are there any bands in particular that you would love to tour with someday?
Obviously my idols that are still playing. Some of them may make sense, some of them not, but I would love to share the stage with Paul McCartney, or Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and all of those bands that inspired me… Tool. But, the cool thing about right now is that there are a lot of bands that are up and coming. Like Wilson. We had a blast with those guys. There are just so many bands that we meet on the road that are hardworking, as well, and it’s good to see that. It’s good to see that there’s a healthy growth with the rock community.

I heard you play an Alanis Morrisette cover one time and I really liked it. Do you have a cover coming up tonight?
Yes, we will be playing that song [Uninvited] tonight because it’s been getting so much attention. I like doing covers that are outside of what people would expect. And, I like to mess with my voice to make it androgynous at times, so it’s not just testosterone-driven rock all the time. Something different.

What can we expect from Red Sun Rising in the next year or the next couple of years?
We are always writing, so at the end of this year or early 2017, we’ll be back in the studio. We’ve written a ton of songs just since this record release. We’re going to keep touring, keep growing, and hopefully keep connecting to people.

What do you do for adventure or fun outside of music?
Skydiving.

Are you serious? Wow. Do you do that a lot?
Yes. When I get a chance and have some downtime. I have a bunch of friends that skydive, and I love it. It’s pretty incredible. Plus, we work out a lot, and we play sports. I was raised playing sports, so I like to pick up games of basketball when I can.

Do you ever attend concerts? Or, who is on your list?
The cool thing is that I get to see a lot of bands that I always wanted to see because of these festivals. We not only get to see them, we get to meet them and see them side stage. I live in Chicago now, and my fiancé and I go to concerts constantly. That’s one thing that we just love to do. Sometimes we look up a band at a local club and just go.

And, now back to Akron…
I liked the shout-out to the city on your Facebook page: “A lot of people don’t realize that Akron’s a really cool, artsy community. There’s great food, local beers, and culture.” How often do you get back to Akron?
My mom and my grandparents still live here. All of my aunts and uncles. And, the band is still based out of Akron. Our equipment stays here, and we rehearse here, so before each tour, I’m back.

Is there anything else that you want to let everyone know?
Check out our new single Emotionless and keep an eye out for us on the road. We’re going to be touring this whole year, so try to get out and see us!

Left: Nici and Mike ● Right: Nici and Gretchen