Protest the Hero

The band began in Whitby, Ontario in 1999 under the name Happy Go Lucky, with a line-up that included singer Rody Walker, guitarists Luke Hoskin and Tim MacMillar, bassist Arif Mirabdolbaghi and drummer Moe Carlson. They changed their name to Protest the Hero in 2001, and their first studio album Kezia, a concept record, was released in 2005. Vagrant Records issued it in the United States the following year.

Fortress, released in January 2008, entered the Canadian album chart at number one and also reached the Billboard 200 in the United States. Scurrilous followed in 2011. For their next album the band turned to crowdfunding through Indiegogo, and the campaign raised far more than its target, paying for the whole recording.

Carlson left before the recording of Volition (2013), and Lamb of God’s Chris Adler played drums on the album. Mike Ieradi joined as the new drummer later in 2013 and became one of the main writers of the band’s next material, while Mirabdolbaghi left the band in 2014. Palimpsest appeared in June 2020, after delays caused by problems with Walker’s voice.

In 2021 Hoskin stopped touring but stayed in the band as a writer and recording member. Ieradi left in 2022 after almost a decade. The sixth studio album, Within, was released independently on 17 July 2026, the first record the band fully owns, with session players Nathan Bulla on drums and Cameron McLellan on bass.

Current line-up: Rody Walker (vocals), Luke Hoskin (guitar), Tim MacMillar (guitar)