#184 (of 365) "The Chuckler" Protomartyr

A few summers ago, maybe 2022? there was a Merge Records-centric festival down in Atlantic City that Superchunk played at, along with Yo La Tango and Titus Andronicus, in a parking lot behind the Irish Pub, the one near Bally's Wild West. I think Car Seat Headrest were headlining, maybe, but I'm not certain. It must not have been successful because they haven't put it on since but for me it was a confluence of some of my favorite bands ever, playing outside on a beautiful day in a city I frequent to gamble all the tie, but I had to travel the next day, pretty far if I recall, so I left early, before Car Seat Headrest, because there was like a 4 hour gap between the last band I liked and the headliner and you couldn't leave and come back (which is pretty lame) and I wasn't going to sit around for 4 more hours when I had to travel the next day and it really sucks to have to travel so often for work, especially when you have a child (or dog) that depends on you and gets super upset when you leave her, but at least I work from home, which means I'm home with her most days, and that's why she's so attached to me probably. But I digress.

Anyway, after the Superchunk show and Titus I think, the next band on the main stage to play that I wanted to check out was Protomartyr, who I didn't really know very well but had one of my favorite songs of 2017 and a couple other songs I liked. I did not, in fact, like them live. They didn't play "The Chuckler" and I don't think they played anything else I knew and I'd been on my feet for hours by then, in a parking lot in the late summer sun and now I think I know why they never did this show again. After Protomartyr finished, I went through the gates over to the Irish Pub for some grub and a drink and then I walked the boardwalk a bit, to super up a bit (and maybe I gambled a bit) and then I drove home. So, no I don't really like this band. But I do love this song.

"The Chuckler" - Protomartyr // Relatives in Descent (2017)