Letting go. It’s one of the hardest things human beings have to do in this life. And—oftentimes—we can’t. After all, it’s one of the reasons why we invented photography, the ability to capture single moments forever. There’s an entire television show dedicated to hoarding.
Then there’s the oldest and most obvious form of not being able to let go: cemeteries. Our entire species, for thousands of years, has created burial places for our dead because the living can’t—and don’t want to—fully let go.
So it’s only appropriate that San Jose post-punk trio Provoker—who play The Ritz on Saturday, headlining a bill with Choir Boy, Touching Ice and DJ Basura—came up with this title for their latest album about letting go: Mausoleum.
“I was living in an attic in Echo Park in the house Jon [band founder Jonathan Lopez] lives in now,” singer and lyricist Christian Petty explains. “I was really isolating myself and writing a lot of songs from a ghost’s perspective.”
Like the track “Germaphobe,” with its lyrics from the perspective of a literal germaphobe who won’t leave the house (and ironically—in the video—lives in squalor).
Petty says that while their 2021 full-length Body Jumper is a collection of sci-fi songs about avoiding feelings, 2023’s album, Demon Compass, is about finally confronting those difficult emotions. So it was only natural for a next album about letting go and finding closure.
“Maybe the albums are all connected but unintentionally,” guitar player Jonathan Lopez says. “The first one is about escapism, followed by confrontation, followed by letting go. In that way they’re connected, but that’s it.”
Which makes sense for a band that writes albums as their own movies. Each one with a common concept or theme strung throughout each song to build a bigger picture.
“All of our albums are anthology-ish,” Petty says. “They’re a bunch of different stories that don’t seem connected but are.”
When we last caught up with Provoker, they were following the path of their Demon Compass release. They had a bicoastal tour with multiple sold-out dates and had booked an album release show in their new chosen home of Los Angeles. However, at the time this prolific band already had most of Mausoleum done.
“We just had to work with [producer Kenny Beats] on the last 10 percent,” Lopez explains. “We had to record the vocals and work on the production, but the bones were there.”
And the production is definitely on point.
Mausoleum stands as the band’s most clearly produced album with samples and melodies in the foreground, highlighting their dark, gothic sound. Their videos also received the production treatment. Since Provoker started as a band to score the fake horror and sci-fi movies Lopez dreamed up in college, the band has always had a very visceral, visual aspect. Past videos like “Rose in a Glass” or “It’s in My Head” are great examples.
However, for Mausoleum the band had a bigger budget, which meant a larger production team. Videos like “Another Boy,” with the band as mannequins that come to life, or “Tears in the Club,” with its retro videogame graphics, are evidence of the band’s evolution and growing popularity.
Then there’s the video for the title track: a dark, Victorian-esque piece depicting Petty as a ghoul resurrected from his grave. Throughout it he follows his lost, living ex-love, who is now with someone else.
“I was super happy about that one,” Petty says. “We steered it more into a paranormal direction instead of just a dead guy or zombie.”
Keen-eyed viewers might also notice a blue, stuffed teddy bear popping up throughout the videos as a callback to the album’s artwork: an ’80s-style videogame graphic crane machine.
“My brother suggested we make the album cover a claw machine,” Petty says. “It was so random to me at the time but he sent me a reference photo. I kept thinking about it and it seemed like a good idea. It’s one of those things where if you see it, I feel like you want to pick it up and learn more about it.”
A bigger album means a busier year and this past calendar year has been one of the greatest for the band to date. In July 2024 they played Sound & Fury Fest—the music festival for hardcore and hardcore-adjacent music based in Los Angeles.
Earlier this year they played another major Southern California festival, Cruel World, the 1980s-themed fest whose lineup consisted of bands like Devo, the Go-Go’s, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and New Order. Provoker also recently just got back from their European and United Kingdom tour, playing to new audiences in Dublin and Paris—the latter of which also featured a stop at another major festival, Rock en Seine.
But the year isn’t over yet and the band says they have at least one more major Bay Area show planned, so fans should keep their eyes and ears open.
“I feel like we still play a lot of shows in the Bay,” Lopez says. “We’re really lucky we can go back easily to visit family.”
Provoker’s show begins 8pm on Sept 13 at The Ritz, 400 S First St, San Jose. Ages 16+. Tickets: $20/$25. theritzsanjose.com
