domingo, 1 de agosto de 2010

Total Sonic Annihilation by A Place to Bury Strangers - An Interview


Sem muita bla bla bla, talvez a melhor banda da atualidade no que diz respeito a noise, shoegazer, indie alternative rock, post punk, ou o rotulo que for mais interessante para defini-los o fato é que o A Place to Bury Strangers vem destroçando tudo e todos por onde passam, as consequencias são, uma legião de adoradores e fanaticos, me incluo neste grupo, desde a estreia caotica com o homonimo ao segundo Exploding Head, Oliver Ackermann, guitarras e vocais, Dion Lunadon, baixo e J. Space bateria já deixaram explicito que são os descendentes diretos dos mestres VU, J&MC, MBV e outros que transcenderam os limites.


Aqui a primeira entrevista concedida por Oliver Ackermann ao Brasil, e notem bem, talvez o encontro com o APTBS esteja mais proximo do que possamos imaginar, leia atentamente e preferencialmente coloque algo deles para ouvir durante a leitura, certamente o conteudo e o resultado serão mais eficazes.

***** An Interview with A Place to Bury Strangers *****


Q: Let´s talk about the old years…what´s the best remembrance from Skywave years...
A. We all just got along really well and had a really good time doing what we were doing and weren't noticed for it at all. I think my favorite thing about those times were listening to the the songs that Paul and John would come up with, we were all writing songs individually and bringing them to the table so every new song was such a rush, perhaps of depression but really a glimpse of pure beauty.

Q: Tell us about the Skywave´s gigs...how was it
A. The gigs were chaotic and at strange places. It was hard being in that sort of band at the time, it was really unpopular and we would often have people try to cut us off and shut us down due to the racket we were making. It is funny but now we would probably be a lot more accepted than we were at the time, it was really tough, we would make lots of long drives in one car only to find out that sometimes the venues we booked didn't exist any more or would turn out to be a hotel bar or something and they definitely didn't like us when we started playing.

Q: In your opinion what´s the best Skywave´s ep, song, album....etc..
A. I think my favorite was recording our last record Synthstatic. It took about two years of solid recording and mixing and we were doing it from our studio we built in Fredericksburg Va. The rent was something like $400 a month for 5,000 square feet and we had other bands practice there so the rent went down to nothing a month. I lived there and would spend most late nights just mixing and recording all night long. I think we really got the sound that we were trying to get the whole time and we had so many songs that the album could really come together naturally.


Q: Too many people consider Skywave one of the best bands ever and the reason for the ressurection of shoegazer....what´s your opinion about it?
A. If that is what people think, it was never our intention at the time to do that. We were just making music that we wanted to hear ourselves and what reflected the things we were all going through during those times.

Q. Why Skywave ends?Do you still have contact to John and Paul?I interviewed them in a some time here´s the link (http://theblogthatcelebratesitself.blogspot.com/2010/03/got-that-feeling-with-ceremony.html)
A. I think Skywave ended when I moved to NY, it was really the three of us that made the band and I don't think that any of us could imagine doing it without the other two. It is a bummer that it ended because I think that we were such a good match for each other as songwriters but I had to move to NY.

Q. Tell us when APTBS starts....
A. A Place To Bury Strangers started when a couple of friends were looking for a drummer for a band they were starting and I offered to do it. After one practice I got kicked off and onto guitar and then sort of took it over from there. I had kind of given up on trying to be in a band and "make it" so we were just trying to make music that we all wanted to hear. We had been playing shows for a few years in the US and forgone a few lineup changes but didn't really take off as a band until our first record came out on Killer Pimp in 2007 to much acclaim. That pretty much started the whole whirlwind of shows and events which have lead us to this point where we are today.

Q: What´s the fundamental difference between Skywave and APTBS sounds?
A. I think the times have changed and the songwriters have changed and that has influenced the sound.


Q: Tell us about the process of recording the albums?What´s the difference to recording to Killer Pimp and Mute Records.
A. The first record wasn't even really supposed to be an album, it was a collection of songs that we had recorded mostly just to hear music ourselves and I always had figured that we would rerecord everything on that record. I even insisted that it be very limited in production so that it would sort of disappear and we would get the chance to do that. When we recorded the record for Mute we had a limited amount of time to do it but I really tried to focus on getting the sounds we wanted and creating forming the whole work as an actual record.

Q: About APTBS gigs, how do you feel playing live?Is it true that APTBS are the loudest band alive?I would love to hear your opinion about it...
A. I love to play live shows, it is something completely different that recording records and I think there is the opportunity to do a lot more live that you don't really have when recording a record. As for the loudest band alive I don't see how that could be possible, maybe wants to be the loudest band alive would be a better thing to say. I think the band is perceived to be really loud because of what we do with sound where we run amplifiers to the point of constant meltdown, and that sounds really loud. But we only have so much equipment and we can only bring our own equipment on US tours for the moment so we can only get so loud. Also I have heard bands that I feel like are louder than we are at huge festivals and such.

Q. About your recently gigs at Chile and Colombia....how was it?
A. We ended up only going to Colombia in the end and it was amazing. There was such a great energy from the people that it made us really get into the shows. Bogota is a really beautiful city as well and the people have good taste in music.


Q: Which new bands do you recommend?
A. Natural Child, Weekend, Grooms, Jeff The Brotherhood

Q: What´s the plans for future....new records, a tour, maybe play in Brazil....
A. We are just starting working on a new record right now and hopefully will finish it be early next year sometime. We have a few small tours lined up but are going to try to focus on recording as much as we can, hopefully one will be to Brazil as I hear it is one of the craziest places in the world and that sounds like fun to me! We’re looking at going to Brazil later this year.

Q: Any parting words?
A. Kids go to school, old folks, listen to the kids.
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Thanks Oliver....
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Renato

www.myspace.com/aplacetoburystrangers
APTBS - Daytrotter Sessions