10/29/2007
Exclusive Interview with NYC's A Place To Bury Strangers
This past week I had heard that "The Loudest Band in New York," aka A Place to Bury Strangers', would be playing a show in West Philly. After reading all the hype and hearing about their epic performance at CMJ, I decided to head over to the DIY venue Pilam and check them out for myself.
I must say that PTBS did not disappoint. The packed house was rocked by a mind boggling, ear splitting set. Kids in crazy Halloween costumes danced, jumped, and thrashed in a sea of neon lights, shining down from seizure-inducing videos projected on the wall.
Afterwards, with my eardrums still pleasantly ringing, I managed to speak with front-man Oliver Ackermann and Spencer, the band's video artist...
Robin: So how do you feel about A Place to Bury Strangers being called "The Loudest Band in New York?"
Oliver Ackermann: It's no big deal. I guess it was in some blogs, something about "The Loudest in The World." Jono put it on the MySpace as more of a tongue-in-cheek thing.
We're just trying to target the right sounds. It's a technical accomplishment to create the sounds that capture the right feeling.
R: How was the atmosphere tonight?
O:The feel of this place was really great. Some of the smaller places are better because they help us find just the right sounds. Plus strobe lights always get people in a really good mood. But the funny thing is, we can never truly tell what we sound like, because we can't be the observer. Tonight seemed good to me, though.
R: If you weren't creating music with A Place To Bury Strangers what would you be doing instead?
O: I'd have to be making music somehow, or if not music, making artwork.
R: Did you go to school for art and/or music?
O: I went to The Rhode Island School of Design for Industrial Design, which is why I actually work for an electronics company right now.
R: (To Spencer, the band's video artist) Do you hope to draw a line between the visual art and musical components of your work?
Spencer: No, because one informs the other. The visuals and music go together. If my visuals weren't here, they'd be in a gallery. Once you put things like this into a gallery, you start asking, "Why should people watch? Why should people listen? Who is going to come and look at this?
O: It's really about the interplay.
R: Is this a recent project?
S: No, it's been going on for a long time, two and a half years. I love these guys, and I have turned down a lot of other higher paying jobs because I want to continue collaborating with them.
Blinding multi-colored strobe lights created this bizarre, yet cool effect.
R: Are you dressing up for halloween?
O:Not sure yet. I will probably make a costume in the next few days. It will be more witty than scary. Definitely witty. Something pretty silly, actually.
R: How do you like your eggs?
O: Over easy, no ketchup.
R: Any secret vices?
O: I like to bite my nails and crack my knuckles.
R: How many speakers have you broken on this tour?
O:Three speakers so far, and they were all ours. One of them I actually repaired with rubber cement, and the others I fixed with equipment from work.
R: Recommend something to me....anything!
O: Spend some time in the Midwest. The kids are awesome out there. They're different than kids on the East coast, always consistently really energetic.
R: What are your impressions of Philly?
O: I used to not care about places like Philly and D.C., I thought of them as "dead cities," but they're totally not. I think I was just going through the wrong channels and talking to the wrong people.
R: So does that mean that now, you're talking to the correct people and tapping the correct channels?
O: We're definitely on the right track.
Thanks to Oliver and Spencer for their time and their kick-ass performance.
A Place To Bury Strangers is headed back to their hometown for a few days before hitting the road again. Download an mp3 below and check out their MySpace Page for upcoming tour dates.
MP3
Download 'A Place To Bury Strangers - Never Going Down'2:56 | 5.30MB
Posted by Robin on 10/29/2007 3:53 PM in Experimental, Rock, Shoegaze, Neo-Psychedelic, Interview
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