Mike Protich Talks Transition from Red Sun Rising to the Violent

Earlier this year, an anonymous new trio, the Violent, released a song called "Fly on the Wall." The members were eventually revealed to be Mike Protich, Dave McGarry and Pat Gerasia — formerly of Red Sun Rising. Protich recently caught up with Loudwire Nights to explain the transition from one band to the next.

Red Sun Rising announced that they were going on an indefinite hiatus in February of this year, just a few months prior to the debut of the Violent. Protich acknowledged the significance of the work his previous band did together and is very proud of it, but is now looking forward to what the future has in store for this new project.

Without getting into too much specific detail, the vocalist compared the decision for Red Sun Rising to go on hiatus to a divorce. "That happens in real relationships, and a band is no different," he said. "Especially when you get a lot of creative minds together, those creative minds start to wander and explore other things. And when they want those other things and the other person doesn't, then you have to be like, 'Well we're kind of at a standstill here.'"

The Violent chose to debut their first song anonymously because they didn't want people to compare it to anything Red Sun Rising had done before. "We just wanted people to like it for what it is and see what kind of people naturally got aboard because they just liked what they heard," Protich explained.

The singer doesn't completely rule out the idea of Red Sun Rising ever working together again, because you "never know," but he doesn't see it happening anytime in the foreseeable future. For now, fans both old and new can look forward to hearing some other sounds and influences that hadn't been explored by Red Sun Rising in the Violent's music.

For more details surrounding the Violent's upcoming plans, listen to the full interview above.

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