Japandroids
Hometown: Vancouver, BC
Japandroids is a two piece band from Vancouver, BC. This ‘band’ started in 2006 and consists of Brian King and David Prowse. Originally intending to be a trio, the boys decided to forego the logistical nightmare of having a ‘lead singer’ and do it themselves. As a consequence, Japandroids are one guitar, one set of drums, and two vocalizers. Japandroids are maximal – a two piece band trying to sound like it’s a five piece band. Their ‘songs’ run the gauntlet of rock & roll subgenres, with the boys ripping off too many different bands to sound like any other duo making music right now.
After self-releasing two EPs, 2007’s All Lies and 2008’s Lullaby Death Jams, Japandroids released their critically acclaimed debut album Post-Nothing via Polyvinyl in 2009. The boys toured extensively throughout 2009–2010, playing over 200 shows in more than 20 countries, and quickly gained notoriety for their extremely energetic live performances. Finding it difficult to write and record a second album in the midst of such a heavy touring schedule, Japandroids released a series of 7’’ singles throughout 2010, each one recorded during a brief interval between tours. The same year, Japandroids re-released their first two EPs as a compilation titled No Singles, which included a booklet detailing their
early history.
5 long years in 2 short paragraphs. Not bad.
Perhaps the most pertinent detail omitted from said paragraphs is the fact that at no point during this time did Brian and David even discuss the possibility of writing, let alone recording, a second Japandroids album. With the band having more or less imploded late in 2008 (after what was considered to be a valiant but ultimately fruitless effort), one single
regret still lingered, and despite their wounds and subsequent estrangement, continued effortlessly to slander them and their attempts to move on, like the subtle scent of skin on the sheets days after the desecration. Ipso facto, the sole motivation for revisiting the band many months later was simply to see if they could exploit their sudden newfound internet popularity and take Japandroids on the road. Due in part to the unexpected (and untimely) discovery of the band early in 2009 by certain online entities and their congregations, what previously seemed reserved for only the most
ardent hearts, presented itself to Japandroids like a deal from the devil himself. Cautiously seduced, Brian and David decided in favour of their romantic notions of the open road, and set upon a crusade to swindle the soul of a continent. Tour was the fire to which they fed themselves.
As days became weeks, so too did months become years. Finally, having exhausted themselves, as well as the immediate charm of Post-Nothing, and with only one final recording session looming on the horizon, the boys found themselves at a crossroads. Would they abandon their days on the wind and nights on the rocks in favour of the gentle lull of a geographic coma? No one knew; not even the boys themselves. That is, until one cool New York night, when under the spell of the city’s swill, they cast off the demons of doubt, having come in through the out door, back out through the window.
For months, they laboured. Through the endless rains and windless chills of a northwestern winter, Japandroids fought tirelessly against their own creative limitations, struggling to expand their sound beyond the simple sloganeering that dominated Post-Nothing. Stuck knee deep in the swamp of summer, time had chased them down, and caught them waiting patiently. Had it not been for the fever of fall, with the boys back on tour where they belong, all might have been lost. Run out of town, they vowed not to return in anything less than triumph. Settling under the sulfurous skies of the south, Japandroids continued to labour through the dying months of 2011, returning reluctantly with nothing short of an album.
As with countless previous recording sessions, the boys would bestow their faith solely upon Heaven’s native son, Jesse Gander. An inexhaustible rocket of patience and dedication, Gander’s unique ability to build cathedrals out of criminals was pushed to its absolute limit, as Brian and David demanded he coax only the purest nectar from their delinquent hearts. And so he did:
“Let’s make this one a little more cruising down the highway, and a little less doing crystal meth on New Year’s…”
“That take was the perfect mixture of pee and poo – it had the fluidity of pee, and the solidness of poo…”
And so on and so forth, until not even the deepest and darkest of nights could extinguish what can only be described as living fireworks. Celebration Rock – a title in and of itself so controversial that at first utterance, it was so feared and hated that Polyvinyl felt compelled to plead for an alternative. But the band would not yield. Hell was just going to have to come and get them.
So there you have it. 1 year, 8 songs, 35 mins. Not bad.
As for everything else, I’ve got no answers. Any questions?
Reference materials:
8 song albums – Raw Power by The Stooges, Born To Run by Bruce Springsteen, IV by Led Zeppelin
35 min albums – Let It Be by The Replacements, Revolver by The Beatles, Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys
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Pinpoint Best 2012 on Japandroids
about 18 hours ago#5 Yes I know Post-Nothing was Pinpoint’s 2009 album of the year but I don’t know what happened…I let Japandroids first record slip on by me when it was released...full article here
Pitchfork Best 2012 on Japandroids
7 days ago#11 Brian King can't sing "The House That Heaven Built". The melody to Japandroids' best song is just above the frontman's vocal range. On a very physical level, it should not work. "When I first heard it back in the studio, I thought, 'This is terrible! We can't use it!'," he told me earlier this year. But they did use it, and thank god for that...full article here
Pop Matters Best 2012 on Japandroids
7 days ago#2 Japandroids grow up on Celebration Rock. While they have haven’t tempered their rambunctious, hot-and-bothered sound too much—if at all—Japandroids’ point-of-view virtually matures over the course of its urgent sophomore effort...full article here
Pretty Much Amazing Best 2012 on Japandroids
15 days ago#5 With the sun setting behind the stage, the profiles Brian King and David Prowse glowed a celestial orange as they launched into “Fire’s Highway...full article here
Punk News Best 2012 on Japandroids
27 days ago#4 Pardon my language, but this album is fucking flawless. From start to finish, what you have here are eight perfect tracks...full article here
Buzz Bands LA on Japandroids
about 1 month agoWho: Japandroids in the Gobi Tent In 3 or Fewer Words: "Celebration Rock" rocks Memorable Because: Japandroids may have had the largest devoted following of pre-sunset bands on day one of the fest. One trick ponies they may be, but the hard-rocking punkish Canadian duo of Brian King and David Prowse seem to have tapped-into a generational angst of some kind; fans shouted along to "Younger Us" and "The House That Heaven Built" as though they've known those songs their whole lives. The shtick got redundant over the 40 minutes of more here
Rolling Stone on Japandroids
about 1 month ago#1 "We don't cry for those nights to arrive/We yell like hell to the heavens" is a fun thing to yell, the kind of line that reminds you why yelling is fun...full article here
Slant Best of 2013 on Japandroids
about 1 month ago#7 To dismiss Japandroids, as some critics have in this year's post-analysis, as milking middle-aged white-guy nostalgia is to miss entirely the broad populism that drives Celebration Rock...full article here
SPIN on Japandroids
about 1 month ago#3 There was a time when an indie-rock band couldn't write lyrics that inserted a knot in your throat without being "emo," couldn't craft choruses that lunged for the stratosphere without becoming "sell outs," and couldn't give an album a giddily triumphant title without being "ironic...full article here
Spinner Best of 2012 on Japandroids
3 months ago#3 It’s said that youth is wasted on the young. But that’s not entirely true...full article here
Sputnikmusic on Japandroids
3 months ago#20 True story: I saw Japandroids save a life. A buddy of mine had been in an extended funk and our relationship was suffering...full article here
Stereogum Best of 2012 on Japandroids
3 months ago#7 Celebration Rock (Polyvinyl)
Treble Best of 2012 on Japandroids
4 months ago#15 Japandroids’ Post-Nothing (# 14 on our 2009 list) introduced the world to the Vancouver duo’s winning combination of shoegaze aesthetics and angular, rock ‘n’ roll songwriting, which made quite a splash in the indie-rock realm...full article here
AP’s 10 Essential albums of 2012 on Japandroids
4 months ago#3 There are no outlandish costumes or avant-garde instrumentation on Celebration Rock—just 35 minutes of straight up rock ’n’ roll consisting of guitar, drums and plenty of sing-along choruses. The album goes from zero to 60 as soon as the distorted, reverbed guitar comes in on the opening track, and it doesn’t slow down until the closer...full article here
TheOwlMag on Japandroids
4 months agoJapandroids Celebration Rock [Polyvinyl Record Co.]
Keenan and Kel, the Bash Brothers via Mighty Ducks 2, and the Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn combo, are notorious for making a swirl of racket albeit being only two people. If you were to give a listen to Celebration Rock by Canadian garage rock ensemble Japandroids, you would quickly award them the cash and prizes for being the loudest duo of all time, surpassing all parties aforementioned.
Celebration Rock is the second full-length release by Brian King and David Prowse. Listening to this album has you guessing how they get away with such a powerful sound without a bass. The answer is pretty simple actually. Prowse has the leg strength of Los Angeles Clipper forward Blake Griffin. On “Fire’s Highway,” the bass drum drills and hammers as King strums the guitar like the royal monarch that his surname proclaims. Japandroids deliver what sounds like an ode to Iggy Pop’s Raw Power on “For the Love of Ivy.” A repetitive riff with the occasional pause that’s lifted up by a shouted couplet, for example: “My hard is broken and I’m going to hell!”
Lastly, a little disclaimer: listening to Celebration Rock may (will) make you joyfully angry and lead you to break things around your house.
more at theowlmag.comLos Angeles Times: Pop & Hiss on Japandroids
4 months ago#5 Japandroids - Celebration Rock Los Angeles Times - 2012 Albums Of The Year
SPIN Magazine's Best Albums Of 2012 on Japandroids
6 months ago#3 There was a time when an indie-rock band couldn't write lyrics that inserted a knot in your throat without being "emo," couldn't craft choruses that lunged for the stratosphere without becoming "sell outs," and couldn't give an album a giddily triumphant title without being "ironic." Thank God Japandroids are post-everything. Their second full-length is so unabashedly going for it, it opens and closes with literal fireworks. Its eight tracks masquerade as ... more here
Pitchfork Best New Tracks on Japandroids
6 months agoJapandroids: "Young Hearts Spark Fire"
Japandroids are two guys from Vancouver who make distortion-cranked garage-rock anthems about fleeting youth: the boys leaving town, drinking, hurting, French kissing some French girls, and then quitting girls altogether. Their debut album, Post-Nothing , was originally going to be self-released last fall, but now it's set to come out this spring, in Canada only, on Unfamiliar . "Young Hearts Spark Fire" is just one of the raggedly emotive standouts on the record, young hearts igniting the duo's stripped-down drums-and-guitar setup into an explosive thing, equal parts insolence and grandeur. "We used to dream/ Now we worry about dying," members Brian King and David Prowse cry out, in the kind of doomed-romantic instant quotable....more at pitchfork.com
Buzz Bands LA on Japandroids
7 months ago[Check out these new songs from three massive albums we anticipate this year...] Japandroids , "The House That Heaven Built" — When we last saw Japandroids play an FYF Fest set , they revealed a few new songs as they were busy recording their long-awaited follow-up their 2009 debut "Post-Nothing." We finally have a taste of the forthcoming record titled "Celebration Rock" (out June 5 via Polyvinyl), and "The House That Heaven Built" is another tasty slice of pop-punk featuring explosive guitar riffs more here
Buzz Bands LA on Japandroids
7 months agoSure enough, Japandroids' new album "Celebration Rock" is every bit as good those bazillion online reviews say it is. Best new music, best new variation of old music, best reason to break things — the latest blast from Canadian duo Brian King and David Prowse is 35 minutes of blood, sweat, cheers and "whoa-oh" choruses that sound authentic. I suppose it took me a minute to get to it because I feared I might pull a muscle, which could still happen, but "Celebration Rock" came out on Polyvinyl this week [ stream it here ], and you should more here
Buzz Bands LA on Japandroids
7 months agoWhen Vancouver’s Japandroids packed the house at the Echoplex on Friday night, it felt like a monumental moment. It was, in a couple of regards. Their new album “Celebration Rock” came out last week on Polyvinyl, and it was one of the duo’s first opportunities to play many of the new songs live. Plus, the well-oiled two-man machine doesn't seem to get to L.A. enough — their past two visits were supporting the Walkmen at the Fonda in 2010 and kicking up dust at FYF Fest in 2011. ||| Photos by more here
Quit Mumbling on Japandroids
7 months agoThere is something that catches fire with me when a band can really capture the energy, passion, angst, and bliss of being young. The Hold Steady do it, and my god do Japandroids do it with "The House The Heaven Built". Technicolored, fuzzed out guitars bring out the warmth of too much whiskey on a cold night, while empowering vocals shout on top of commanding drums. The melody is bittersweet, while communal chants keep you wanting to believe in whatever cause the duo is fighting for. The chorus brings the type of lines that you want to get tattooed on more here
Pitchfork Best Albums on Japandroids
9 months agoAlbum "Post-Nothing" scored 8.3
Due to their two-man setup and no-frills recording, Vancouver's Japandroids risk being lumped in with the no-fi/noise-pop scene (No Age, Wavves) that finds bands using distortion to tear through the f...
more at pitchfork.comPitchfork Best Albums on Japandroids
9 months agoAlbum "Celebration Rock" scored 8.8
The Vancouver's 2009 debut Post-Nothing was an emotional blast and also a sonic blur; the follow-up finds everything hitting louder and clearer than before, along with making a huge leap in songw...
more at pitchfork.comQuit Mumbling on Japandroids
9 months agoThere is something that catches fire with me when a band can really capture the energy, passion, angst, and bliss of being young. The Hold Steady do it, and my god do Japandroids do it with "The House The Heaven Built". Technicolored, fuzzed out guitars bring out the warmth of too much whiskey on a cold night, while empowering vocals shout on top of commanding drums. The melody is bittersweet, while communal chants keep you wanting to believe in whatever cause the duo is fighting for. The chorus brings the type of lines that you want to get tattooed on more at elbo.ws