You Oughta Know: Japandroids

Posted on Jul 28th 2009 11:00AM by Chandler Levack
Comments

Japandroids might be new to rock 'n' roll, but they are no strangers to rock 'n' roll injury.

As the Vancouver duo's drummer, David Prowse, starts his Toronto soundcheck by battering away with a bandaged arm -- he banged his wrist during a typically exuberant set in Montreal, spurting blood all across the stage -- guitarist Brian King reveals his recent life-threatening perforated ulcer.

"I woke up one morning after playing a show in Calgary and I was in excruciating pain -- more pain than I have ever felt in my entire life," King tells Spinner. "I wasn't sure what was wrong, so I hobbled to the emergency room. Next thing I knew, I was going into emergency surgery. My stomach had essentially blown up inside my body, and if I didn't have surgery to fix it I would die."

Once stitched up, Japandroids returned to the road to perform their Internet-adored debut album, 'Post Nothing,' everywhere from huge festival stages to dingy dive bars, a "no pain, no gain" journey lasting until at least October's end.

King's gale force guitars and Prowse's clanging drums -- combined with their twinned vocals singing of death, relationships and cheap wine -- recall Thin Lizzy's cocksureness and the lo-fi fuzz of Sebadoh. Their signature single, 'Young Hearts Spark Fire,' is a dark-horse contender for song of the summer, laying heart-on-sleeve lyrics and radio-friendly hooks over supersonic noise jams.

Download: 'Young Hearts Spark Fire' (MP3)

"As long as we don't overthink the things we write and just try to be as raw and open and earnest as we can, we're gonna connect and mean something to people," says King. "I never really saw reason to bulls--- people when we were playing songs or writing lyrics. There's a sense of earnestness in the record that comes from the fact that we were making it for us, not for a huge amount of people."

After a year of songwriting and obscure gigging, 'Post Nothing' has been released in the United States by indie Polyvinyl, pushing the East Van rockers into the next phase of their career.

Hyped through every media outlet except their own hometown publications -- "When the Georgia Straight finally wrote us up, the first thing they asked was about us being on Pitchfork," laments Prowse -- they don't think their success is any kind of fluke, chalking it up to unflappable determination.

"We'll keep playing until our bodies or our instruments break," says Prowse. "And both have already happened. A couple times."