Post-punk stans thought they’d heard good news when Protomartyr and Preoccupations rocked a cruise ship together at last year’s “Boatomartyr” release show for Relatives In Descent. They lost it when the duo of gnarly, noisy four-pieces revealed their upcoming co-headlining tour, shedding tears at the thought of the eight punks hanging out together in green rooms, drinking IPAs and talking about their favorite Show Me The Body songs to scream in the shower. They may disassociate when they hear the duo’s latest collaboration.

The respective Detroit and Calgary legends have teamed up for a split 7″ called Telemetry At Howe Bridge, on which each band has chosen one of the other’s songs to cover. It’s the latest evidence of Protomartyr’s interest in collaborative projects following recent EPs crafted with Spray Paint and Kelley Deal. For this latest release, Preoccupations picked Protomartyr’s “Pontiac ’87,” while Protomartyr has taken on Preoccupations’ “Forbidden.” The latter is out today.

In its original form, “Forbidden” is a droning techno-dystopian battle march off of Preoccupations’ 2016 self-titled album that hints at an outro explosion but never fully erupts. Under Protomartyr’s care, it’s simultaneously stripped down and amped up. The noisy drone is replaced with simpler reverberating guitars, as Joe Casey announces its warnings (“You’ll be made irrelevant by a suicide machine/ Mechanically modified to muffle out the screams”) in his Nick Cave baritone like a nihilistic oracle. Meanwhile the almost-explosion is realized into a juicy, shredding two-minute burnout punctuated by inaudible expletives.

Casey had this to say:

There’s an old adage that goes something like, “if you’re going to cover a song by a beloved Canadian band, it’s best to pick the second shortest one.” So, “Forbidden” it is. We all really liked the outro part and had the brilliant idea to extend it. And that, my friends, is how you make musical history.

Listen below.

TOUR DATES:
10/26 Detroit, MI @ UFO Factory w/ Deadbeat Beat, Double Winter
11/23 Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace * ^
11/24 Ottawa, ON @ 27 Club * ^
11/26 Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall * ^
11/28 Brooklyn, NY @ Warsaw * ^
11/29 Washington, DC @ Union Stage * ^
11/30 Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry * ^
12/01 Columbus, OH @ The Basement * ^
12/03 Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk Place * ^
12/04 Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig * ^
12/06 Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall * ^
12/07 Omaha, NE @ Waiting Room * ^
12/08 Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar * ^
12/10 Denver, CO @ Bluebird *
12/12 Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall *&
12/13 Boise, ID @ Olympic *&
12/14 Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios *&
12/15 Vancouver, BC @ Venue *&
12/16 Seattle, WA @ Crocodile *&
12/18 San Francisco, CA @ Independent *&
12/19 Los Angeles, CA @ Regent *&

* = w/ Preoccupations
^ = w/ Rattle
& = w/ Hurry Up

Telemetry At Howe Bridge is out 11/16 on Domino. Pre-order it here.

CREDIT: Daniel Topete