Caught Live: A Place To Bury Strangers, Japandroids

Japandroids are very excited to be in Ireland. And so they should be: the Vancouver duo’s stock has been steadily on the rise since the release of début LP Post-Nothing, and tonight they find themselves in rain-soaked Dublin midway through their first European tour. With Dave Prowse’s drumkit set up so close to the front of the Whelans stage, it’s a wonder it doesn’t end up on the dancefloor as he and guitarist/fellow shouter Brian King rip through blistering numbers like ‘Heart Sweats’ and ‘The Boys Are Leaving Town’ like their lives depend on it. Even ‘Rockers East Vancouver’, arguably one of their more forgettable tunes on record, comes alive in a blaze of riffage tonight, while fist-in-the-air lyrics like “I don’t wanna worry about dyin’ / I just wanna worry about sunshine giiirrrrrls” lend ‘Young Hearts Spark Fire’ an instant live-anthem-in-waiting quality.

 

There’s no shortage of noise rock outfits getting blog buzz these days, but here Japandroids prove they have the talk to match the walk. Sure, No Age may rival them as a live two-piece, but Japandroids’ boozy-yet-heartfelt songs carry more of an immediate punch. At times during tonight’s 40-minute set their jagged punk energy has this old-timer thinking back to the glory days of At The Drive-In – words that aren’t used lightly I can assure you. Expect these Canucks to be packing out sweaty festival tents all next summer.

 

As for tonight’s headliners, well, it’s not like we haven’t been warned. By day, zombie-eyed frontman Oliver Ackermann runs an effects pedal company called Death By Audio. The band’s brand new second record is called Exploding Head. And, if that weren’t enough, Japandroids’ final act before leaving the stage is to (half-)joke that A Place To Bury Strangers are gonna “melt the face” of everyone in the front row. APTBS are not a folk group, basically. Like their obvious predecessors – The Jesus And Mary Chain, MBV, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – this is a band in love with the sound of noise, and that love produces moments of shimmering beauty tonight.

 

Firm favourites like ‘To Fix The Gash In Your Head’ and ‘Missing You’ sound bigger and better with age, and when the spectral guitar line drops a minute or so into ‘Ocean’ it’s clear these guys have the ability to more than transcend their influences. But it’s with ‘I Lived My Life to Stand in The Shadow of Your Heart’, the epic closing track on Exploding Head, that Ackermann and co. firmly nail their colours to the mast. Three minutes of sugar-rush pop hooks suddenly collapse into a deafening ocean of wig-out feedback, the band drenched in strobing for what must be ten minutes. It’s their psychedelic ‘You Made Me Realise’ moment, blurring the lines between pleasure and pain like only the best shoegaze can. Exploding head indeed. In a scene beset by at least as many bandwagon-hoppers as genuine trailblazers, APTBS certainly can’t be accused of lacking substance. Hopefully the ringing in our ears will stop before work in the morning.