PAGE?8
CANADIAN ROCK DUO JAPANDROIDS have earned a reputation as one of the hardest working bands around. Their tour in support of their debut album Post Nothing took in over 200 shows and lasted sixteen months, during which time they won widespread praise for their fast and furious live shows. They’ll be playing Yuyintang on 24th August in support of their latest record, titled Celebration Rock, and we caught up with them to chat about life on the road and the perils of recording that difficult second album. How has the Japandroids’ sound changed and developed since your 2007 EP, All Lies? I think when you listen to All Lies you hear a band that has absolutely no idea what they’re doing. We’re by no means all-star musicians, but we’ve certainly improved a lot since those days. Plus we’ve become a little more comfortable in the studio, and have a better idea of how to really get the sound we’re after. We just keep gradually evolving a little bit with every new song, every show and every recording we do. What’s the difference in writing an album before you’ve received mass acclaim and trying to write in its aftermath? There is an incredible amount of pressure trying to follow up on a critically acclaimed record. You have certain advantages, obviously – for one thing you have more time and money to spend making your record, and it’s also great to know that no matter what happens people will at least give your next record a listen and give it a chance. But that pressure to make something good, to prove to yourselves and to everyone else that the first record wasn’t some fluke, is very distracting. ? It was a very stressful experience making Celebration Rock. There were many moments where our confidence was really shattered and it just didn’t seem like we were going to create an album we were happy with. When we were making Post Nothing and had nothing to lose, there was way less pressure and less stress involved in recording.
do tom dream of electric sheep? hughes
JApandroids
All Lies was self-released - how does releasing music on a small independent (Polyvinyl) differ from a major label? Well, when we were self-releasing it was really difficult to get our music to people. It was hard to get records in any stores or get any exposure outside of Vancouver. With Polyvinyl we have complete control over our band artistically, but they have an efficient, organized way of getting our records out to people. I think we have a lot more control with Polyvinyl than we could ever expect from a major label. Also, major labels encourage you to spend a lot of money unnecessarily just so they can hang that debt over you to control you. Plus Polyvinyl are just really sweet, honest people who we trust and who believe in us and our music. How does the reaction of the crowd during your live shows differ from place to place? Where do you particularly look forward to returning to and what’s your experience of playing in Asia been like? Our crowds are pretty similar for the most part. We’re lucky because we get a really en ??????????????????????????????????%???????????????e?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????e????????????????????????????????????????
????????????????????e???????????????????????????$?????????e??????????????????????L???????????????????????????????????????????????????????%?e?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????(+??()M!9 !$???9P((???Q%
-QL?
8((