Japandroids: The perfect summer band?

So, many of us CityBeaters will be celebrating the new Bars & Clubs issue at Soda Bar tomorrow night for Canadian noise-rockers Japandroids. One of our interns, Sammi Skolmoski (some of you might know her from the 91X morning show with Mat Diablo), liked the band so much that she wrote a little article about the guys that’s pretty damn awesome. Enjoy.  —S.

Take all the memories of your mischievous youth.

Take all the water bottles you poured your parents’ vodka into, all the mystery liquor you assumed went best with red Gatorade, the fake IDs, the summer loves, the pot your brother sold you, the can you smoked it out of, the jean cut-offs, and your dad’s 1986 Oldsmobile and put them all on a film reel.

Play Japanroids. Play the montage.

The Vancouver-based duo’s first full-length album Post-Nothing is an echo of that one epic summer that you and your best friend will never forget.

Drummer David Prowse and guitarist Brian King met at the University of Victoria where they decided they needed an outlet for their 20-something boy angst.

“The album is the product of the time in our lives, mid-20s, when you’re battling between growing up and being ‘young,’ i.e. not giving a fuck,” Prowse says.

In fact, the music could very well be the soundtrack to that day you left your hometown for the first time and watched it become a blip of light in your rearview mirror. Like a “Detroit Rock City” for Canadians. Every song on Post-Nothing is sung with the excitement and valor of a teenage boy who finally got the balls to slide his hand up his crush’s shirt and let it rest proudly upon her bra. Most of this excitement comes from the sheer loudness these two boys are able to generate. King has worked for a long time on creating as large a sound for his guitar as possible.

“I like how big the guitar sound is because it gives the drums lots of room to be loud and chaotic,” Prowse says. “So we’re both trying to be as big as we can, rather than having any kind of restraint.”

But what Post-Nothing lacks in restraint it makes up for in sincerity, especially in the vocals. King and Prowse originally intended to play in a trio, but forwent the process and instead share singing responsibilities. Any pent up anxiety is recycled as the guys’ secret weapon.  It’s how they manage to sound like a band of five people, and add substance to the noise.

“About 99 percent of lead singers are jerks,” Prowse explains. “So we thought about it, tried it out a little bit, but couldn’t find anyone we wanted to deal with on a regular basis and decided to just go ahead and do it ourselves.”

The result is an exasperated, dual yell that rivals the carefree energy of Los Campesinos!, but sounds more like a deeper Death From Above. The name Japandroids was a compromise combining Prowse’s suggestion, “Japanese Scream,” and King’s idea, “Pleasure Droids.” Combining the leftover words into “pleasure scream” actually describes the uninhibited way they sing fairly accurately.

“Neither of us are trained, ‘good’ singers,” Prowse says. “We just try to belt it out as best as we can.”

So their story raises an age-old question: Which came first? The angst or the music? King and Prowse quickly learned that the “creative outlet for their post-teenage angst” would prove much more stressful than therapeutic if they ever wanted to get out of Vancouver. Calgary seemed to be a hot-bed of setbacks for the duo. King had his guitar stolen after a show there, and, upon their return a year later, he developed an ulcer that forced the cancellation of their first major tour.

“We started our most recent tour in Calgary again much to our dismay, but it actually turned out really well,” Prowse says. “We got to play two awesome shows at the Sled Island Festival with some great bands and had a really good time out there. Perhaps the curse is broken.”

This brand of optimism has proven very successful for Japandroids as they now refuse to take themselves too seriously. Some mishaps are even turning out for the best. They had to postpone their self-release of Post-Nothing multiple times because money was, as King wrote in their blog, “tighter than your sister.” But before they could scrounge up enough cashola, Unfamiliar Records in Canada signed on to release the LP for them, and Polyvinyl Records signed on for an American release soon after.

As much as Post-Nothing is a balls-out party record, there is an air of sadness throughout. Sure, it could merely be the Misery Tax our minds charge us for generating nostalgia and thinking those were the days, but it’s heavier than that. It sounds like their “post-teenage angst” and inherent troublemaking stem from dealing with the newfound (read: overwhelming) freedoms of being a “post-teen.”

“It’s much easier for us to get our hands on alcohol and fireworks,” Prowse says explaining some of the benefits of getting older. “Vancouver is probably the most beautiful city in North America, but it can feel pretty small and isolated sometimes, and the people there frustrate me from time to time. Then again, some of the most wonderful people I have ever met live there, so…”

Maybe it comes from seeing how small their hometown really is after finally getting out. They won’t get in trouble for driving away and not telling anyone where they are going anymore. They can drink and fuck and be merry, and it isn’t wrong anymore. After all, how much fun is causing trouble when no one’s paying attention? It’s this polarity—of wanting so badly to get out and then not knowing what to do when granted that freedom—that gives the album substance. The music isn’t going to blow any minds. The singing isn’t dead on. But it’s genuine, honest and will fill your ears with all the crickets and crushed beer cans of countless summer nights while silently contemplating, “What now?”

Japandroids answer that question with an aural smirk that simply says they’re going to jam. Loudly.

–Sammi Skolmoski

Japandroids play with Happy Hollows and Roxy Jones at the Soda Bar on Thursday, July 30.