Japandroids released their highly anticipated sophmore album Celebration Rock on June 5 - which you can stream all week long on CBC Music.
Guitarist Brian King and drummer David Prowse wanted to be a trio but after struggling to find a lead singer, decided to just pull a White Stripes and be a duo. As David said in a recent interview on our Top 30 indie show, that decision came with its own challenges: "Maybe the most difficult thing is making enough noise so that people don't realize it's a two-piece band. But I feel like we've gotten pretty good at making a lot of noise." That 'noise' propelled them to success after their first album Post-Nothing.
CBC Music contacted Japandroids to find out how things have changed for them since that first album:
Q: What do you want people to know about your new album Celebration Rock?
A: After all the praise the first record got, it was a challenge to try and make something that we honestly thought was better than Post-Nothing. It was a very stressful year, and there were plenty of moments where it didn't seem like we would be able to pull it off. To me, there's no question that Celebration Rock is a stronger album. The songwriting, the playing, the singing, the recording - everything is an improvement over the last record. I'm very proud of us for sticking with it and seeing it through.
Q: You broke up in 2008 before your first album Post-Nothing was released and then got back together when it turned out to be a success with fans. How have your ideas about making music changed since then?
A: Well almost everything has changed for us since then. We went from being a local Vancouver band booking its own shows to a band that has no home and tours all over the world. With Post-Nothing, we had no idea anyone was really going to listen, so we didn't think as much about what we were doing. With Celebration Rock, we were much more aware of people's expectations, which made the whole recording process more stressful and definitely lead to a lot more reflection on the album and the songs. It was less fun to make this record, but it also lead to a much stronger album.
Q: You've said playing live reaffirms your love for music. Why?
A: It's an amazing thing to play in front of an audience and have them sing along with your songs and feel a real connection to a group of strangers through your music. Once you've been lucky enough to experience that, you become a bit greedy for it, as it's pretty much the best feeling in the world. I can't really explain it beyond that, but it's something very special, and I don't think very many bands are lucky enough to experience that feeling the way we do with our audiences.
Q: What are your thoughts on Canada’s rock scene right now?
A: I feel pretty out of touch with the Canadian rock scene, to be honest. In recent times I've found myself going deeper into the past for inspiration, rather than checking out stuff that's happening right now. That said, there are a ton of great local Vancouver acts who people need to hear - Apollo Ghosts, Jay Arner, Role Mach, Korean Gut, No Gold, Peace, Movieland and Hermetic, just to name a few. We're going to be home from tour for two days, conveniently during Music Waste, which is a great local music festival in Vancouver. So hopefully we'll get to go watch some of those bands while we're home.
Q: You guys are two members in a band with no particular front man, what do you think happened to the rock front man?
A: I think the rock 'n' roll front man is still alive and well. We just watched Refused play the other night, for example. It was awesome to see Dennis Lyxzén rock the stage in front of such an intense band of insanely talented musicians. We weren't trying to avoid having a front man in the beginning. We wanted a front man (or woman) so we could focus on playing our instruments. We just couldn't find one so we did it ourselves.
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