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NOTICE
Q&A // DAVE PROWSE — DRUMMER, VOCALIST OF JAPANDROIDS
because we have questions, celebrities have answers. // ALEX GARRISON
Vancouver-reared indie two-piece Japandroids, made up of Dave Prowse and Brian King, received great critical acclaim for their 2009 debut. PostNothing. The band began in 2006 as an outlet for the pair's "post-teenage angst" following their college graduation, King says. In songs such as "Young Hearts Spark Fire" and "Wet Hair", Prowse and guitarist and vocalist King energetically lament the frustrations of youth. Prowse spoke with Jayplay about simplicity, angst and the weirdness of magazines before the band's Lawrence show last Tuesday.
Japandroids has a bit of a punk sensibility in its directness, but is also really catchy and smart. Where does your sound come from?
Post-everything Japandroids, made up of guitarist Brian King (light) and drummer/vocalist Dave Prawse, say they're not restricted by the **Contributed photo** fact there's just two of them — their sound is big and energetic.
DP Brian and I met in university and went to a lot of shows together and talked about certain bands, but for a long time, doing our own thing wasn't something we really got involved in. When we decided to go for it, we thought direct, simple music should be what we go for. It's definitely kind of punk-ish, but not punk at the same time. We like a lot of really aggressive music but there's still a lot of melody in ours.
When you're writing songs, are you able to produce that simplicity easily or do you have to go back and cut things out to make it more direct?
It's hard to say because it's not like there's a set formula for how we write every song. As time as has gone on, we've gotten better at making the music we want to write — something that's really heartfelt and has a lot of energy, something really direct. Sometimes, we'll have a really straight-forward song that'll just come together and that'll be great, but most of the time, it does require some editing, some work to trim the of some of the fat.
What's the most important goal you have for your music?
DP: One of the basic goals we had was to always play with a lot of energy. We love those bands who play really passionately and put on a good show and the kind of records where you can hear people are playing hard and putting everything into it. If we're not playing hard, we're not playing. It's just how we've always rolled.
Two-piece bands aren't unheard of, but are a bit rare. How do you think it changes how you do things,it being just the two of you?
DP. There's a lot of advantages to being in a two-piece, but one of the things that naturally happens when you're in a two-piece is that everyone wants to compare you with other two-piece bands, even if they have nothing to do with you. Everyone tries to compare us to bands like the White Stripes and No Age, but we're not at all similar to those bands. We both really enjoy this format, though, because it gives us the space to play our hearts out in a way you can't really do when you have more members and have to
balance different instruments. We can both go for broke, which is a fun way to play, especially when you're playing drums.
DP
Another word that gets thrown around about your style is "angst." Are you particularly angsty guys?
No, I don't think we're all that angsty. I think we're pretty all-around happy guys. It's so funny because Brian will write these "angsty" things on our MySpace half as a joke and you don't really realize how many people are going to see it and how they'll react to it.
How is the Canadian music scene different than the American music business?
DP. The Canadian music world is a strange kind
of thing. Vancouver is a really hard place to get known because the next big city is a five-hour plane ride away. There's just a huge distance and it's hard, as well, because it's really hard to get into the music scene in the States till you've already generated a lot of buzz. It's a weird place because American culture is so dominate and you're living just north of the biggest music market in the world by fan, but if you're unknown, you can't really get your music to those people. Now, we're touring a lot more in the states and selling more records in the states than in Canada.
Post Nothing was placed highly on a lot of best-of lists, including Pitchfork and Spin, and last year. How does that feel?
It's obviously very flattering to make it onto these lists with lost of other really great records. It's been a pretty strange year for us — really exciting and fun, but really absurd. It's hard to describe how weird it is to see yourself in a magazine. It's strange and wonderful.
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