Joe Casey (singer)

According to an interview conducted in 2020, Casey still lives in his family house on 6 Mile. He originally lived there with his mother, until he & his brothers decided to relocate her to the suburbs due to her worsening Alzheimer's disease in 2014. Her affliction was the inspiration behind the lyrics to the song "Why Does It Shake?". She died in 2021. Casey got engaged the following year.

According to Ben Ratliff - who considers The Agent Intellect to contain "[s]ome of the strongest lyrics of 2015" - Casey's lyrics often render "Detroit as a pile of symbols and emotions". "Casey writes lyrics about the lives of the working class and dystopian visions from the heartland", writes Lauretta Charlton for The New Yorker, noting - as have other sources, including Casey himself - the influence Detroit has had on his lyrics. His lyrics on Relatives in Descent have been labeled by many as political, despite Casey refusing to label it an "anti-Trump" album, finding it no less political than the band's previous releases up until that point. Ana da Silva of The Raincoats compares his apocalyptic lyricism on Ultimate Success Today - with its "theme of things ending, above all human existence" - to Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Alexis Petridis finds Casey's "pre-cognitive powers" in his lyricism on the album to be similar to those of Mark E. Smith, one of many critics/sources to find similarities between the two as well.

Aside from their 2012 debut No Passion All Technique - which was later reissued in 2019 to positive reviews - all of Protomartyr's albums, including 2018's Consolation EP, have received widespread critical acclaim. On review aggregator website Metacritic, the band's discography (excluding their debut and including the Consolation EP) has an average score of 83/100, indicating "[u]niversal [a]cclaim". The Agent Intellect and Relatives in Descent even managed to break the top 5 of Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart, and songs from these two albums have been featured in TV shows such as 13 Reasons Why, The Rain and The OA. They have extensively toured around the world and have performed at multiple noteworthy festivals such as SXSW, CMJ Music Marathon, and the Pitchfork Music Festival.

Casey has also performed as a guest on numerous other records. He provides backing vocals on Tyvek's 2012 album On Triple Beams (alongside Greg Ahee). He sings lead vocals on the tracks "Rope" and "Slang Words" by The Gotobeds off of their 2016 & 2019 albums Blood Sugar Secs Traffic and Debt Begins At 30 respectively. He is also credited as the composer of the track "Why'd You?" off of the former album.

Since 2010 and up until today, Protomartyr have released more than 5 studio albums and 3 EPs worth of material, and all of their songs have featured Joe Casey on vocals. He is also solely responsible for the band's lyricism across the entirety of their studio output - the only exception being a cover of Preoccupations' "Forbidden" (released on a split single, with Preoccupations' cover of the track "Pontiac 87" as the B-side).

In March of 2008, while on a trip to Texas with Tyvek, his 72-year old father died from an unexpected heart-attack during a routine hernia surgery. His death acted as a "wake-up call" to Casey, and would subsequently have a huge impact on his lyricism. He and Butt Babies started to jam together in 2010, soon adopting the name "Protomartyr" - referencing Saint Stephen. Kevin Boyer of Tyvek briefly played bass and later second guitar for the band during their early days, before having to leave due to a heavy work schedule. With the brief exception of Kelley Deal joining the band as a touring member in 2020, the band have primarily remained a quartet ever since.

Joe K. B. Casey (born January 31, 1977) is an American musician based out of Detroit, best known as the lead vocalist & lyricist of post-punk band Protomartyr. He is known for his distinctive vocal style, "anti-charisma[tic]" stage presence, and sardonic, literary lyrics which often incorporate philosophical themes. He is also responsible for creating the band's visual aesthetic.