DAVE PROWSE of Japandroids: Most Definitely High-Energy Rock ‘n’ Roll
An interview by Lauren Sanderson.
After the release of their second album Celebration Rock, Canadian rock duo Japandroids successfully toured the globe performing two-hundred shows in over forty countries. After capturing New Zealand’s hearts in 2013, the punky duet make their long-awaited return to showcase their highly-anticipated third album Near to the Wild Heart of Life. I caught up with vocalist Dave Prowse to discuss the bands return, their inspirations and the story behind their unusual name.
So, you’re returning to New Zealand for your Near to the Wild Heart of Life tour in July, are you looking forward to it?
Yeah, very much so. It feels like it’s been a million years since we last played in New Zealand. New Zealand was one of the last shows we performed for our second album Celebration Rock tour in 2013. After touring Australia we stopped in Dunedin for a couple of days, but I was feeling very shit – was pretty much dead to the world. So, I didn’t get to see or do anything because I was trying to rest my voice. I’m really looking forward to seeing what New Zealand has to offer this time around.
Tell us about your third album, Near to the Wild Heart of Life, and the thought process behind it.
We toured ourselves into the ground for our second record Celebration Rock, we basically said yes to anybody that asked us to play somewhere. We toured for a year and a half straight, so we were both burnt out by the end of it. We decided to take quite a bit of time to work on our third record and during the writing and recording process Brian moved to a different city, so we spent some time in Toronto, New Orleans and Mexico. We disappeared from the world for about three years and slaved away on the new album in secret. Majority of 2014 was about regaining our sanity and physical health then in 2015 we began writing and recording the album.
How is the third album different from your other two?
I think this record is a natural progression as the band grows and develops. We are always trying to push ourselves to make a better record than the last one. I think with Near to the Wild Heart of Life we explored a wider range of sonic ideas. The first two records are both pretty fuzzy, loud and fast, whereas this record there is more layers and a lot more thought put into the arrangement. There is a lot more variety to this album, from keyboards, base and synths to acoustic guitar. We experimented with different sounds and effects compared to the past where we just cranked it up and let it rip. Hopefully this new album takes you on a magical sonic voyage.
Who are your musical inspirations?
When we first started out our initial inspiration was a Canadian band called The Constantine’s, who never really made it out of Canada, but they’re a huge inspiration to Brain and I. When I listen to our music they’re one of the most obvious influences. There’s other bands like The Replacements who have influenced us. For this new record I wouldn’t say there are specific influences that we were looking to sound like. I think what inspired us the most was looking back on what we’ve done before and trying to figure out a way of expanding and changing that. I guess we were trying to redefine what Japandroids are supposed to sound like.
On the topic of sound, how would you describe your music?
Loud and catchy and most definitely high-energy rock ‘n’ roll.
Japandroids is a pretty interesting name. Is there a particular story behind it?
It was the beginning of a long tradition of compromise between Brian and me. A millions years ago I wanted to call the band Japanese scream and Brian wanted to call it Pleasure Droids. We both thought each other’s ideas were pretty bad so we merged the two together. Looking back now, I am really glad that we are neither Pleasure Droids nor Japanese Scream.
If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?
That’s a tricky question. There are certain artists who I think are inspiring and seem to be at the top of their game or running the music world, for example everything Kendrick Lamar produces is pure gold. I think ten years from now people are going to realise what an incredible and important artist he is. It would be cool to collaborate with him but I can’t really picture it. We’re not really a collaborative band, in the studio it’s always been just Brian and I, so the idea of collaborating seems too weird to me, but I wouldn’t completely rule it out. There could be room for that in the future as the new album has opened a lot of doors for us. We did a tour of the US and Canada in February and we got to perform with one of our musical heroes, a guy called Craig Finn. He is the lead singer in a band called The Hold steady and we got him to come on stage every night and we would perform a cover together. That was a lot of fun, I can’t have imagined us doing that a few years back. Something like that would be pretty cool, where we get to back somebody up and they put their stamp on it vocally. Maybe we could do that with Kendrick, which would be a dream. Although it’s a dangerous thing to meet your heroes, we love Nick Cave, but I don’t know how collaborating with him would work. What if I call him up and ask if he wants to collaborate with us and he says no because he doesn’t like our music, it would just be soul crushing.
You obviously travel a lot when you tour, so where has been your most memorable Japandroids gig so far?
The vast majority of shows are special in their own way. We played in London at the Shepherds Bush Empire and although London isn’t the most exotic place we’ve been to, it was incredible getting to play a legendary venue like that. It was a huge moment for the band. One of the most interesting things about being in a band is when we get to play places that you never expect to play. We’ve played shows in Russia, Budapest and Bangkok, those places are pretty incredible because it’s not often you hear about bands like us going there. Whenever we have an opportunity like that we always jump at the chance. It is those adventures that are the wildest ones for sure.
Japandroids will be performing live at Auckland’s Kings Arms Tavern Friday, 21st July and Wellington’s San Fran Saturday, 22nd July. Tickets are still available from Just The Ticket (But get in quick as they are selling FAST)!
