“Those moments when you lose control and are barely hanging on is when your body reacts without thinking, those are always the best”
New York’s ‘loudest band’ A Place to Bury Strangers return to Hong Kong this month for a concert at MOM Livehouse on 16 December. More commonly known by their initials APTBS currently are Oliver Ackermann (guitar/vocals, bass), Dion Lunadon (bass guitar, guitar) and Lia Simone Braswell (drums). Their atmospheric wall of sound-influenced blend of psychedelic rock, shoegaze and rock sounds good on record, live APTBS they are quite unique. bc spoke to Ackermann ahead of the gig.
In today’s era of instant gratification how does it feel as a band to have been around for 15 years? What has kept you together?
I think I will always write music. It is one of the things I absolutely love to do. One thing we have focused on is not listening to other people and just create the music we would love to hear. I think this is true with anything that you do. If you are passionate about it, it becomes really easy to do and push yourself because there is a hunger driving you and you are happy and satisfied with what you do. We are just lucky that other people enjoy what we want to do. We aren’t going to stop doing what we want.
How do you think your music has changed over time? Has it been an evolving process or have you made deliberate choices in music style/ direction?
The music has definitely changed very much over time. It has been a natural progression but we are always working on doing something new and that we have never done before. It makes things very interesting. Recently we have been writing a lot of songs right on the spot at a show or during practice and it really sends you through time at a faster pace making the universe of perceivable music larger and larger. The only real deliberate choice we make for our music is to make it with real instruments and not computer based equipment. The band is voice, bass, drums and guitar.
Which bands/musicians have influenced and inspired you over the years and why?
Early punk music was a big influence on me. I remember my brother once drove me around when he got his license and put in a Dead Kennedys tape and cranked it all the way up. I had never heard anything like that before. The energy and excitement was so heavy to me and completely off the wall insane. There was also a depth to the music that brought it up to even a higher place for me.
There was a point. I really love something that is beautiful and cool sounding but if it has a point then that can really touch. Also a big turning point for me was going to Art School in Providence RI in the late 90s. There were all of these really incredible shows going on all the time. Lightning Bolt was a big one for me. They would start playing from the back of the room right when the band before them ended. It was so intense and unique! They were like fuck the format. This is what a show should be and I love that.
How does it feel to be a band that influences and inspires other musicians So many bands have inspired and influences me and so I push myself as far as I can to represent everything I have ever been impressed with and inspired by in every performance and record I make.
Looking back at your early releases, do you have the urge as some bands have done to re-record/re-interpret them and release them again – or do you just leave that for the live shows?
Nah, I don’t think that has really ever been good. Usually for song writing the best time you are going to play something is while you are writing it. You are connected to the exact pure feeling only at that time when you are in that moment.
That is part of the reason I like to record our own music. It is us who gets to use the sounds and elements of song craft to get our message across. We know it better than anyone else would and all of the elements are important to he homogeneous.
For the live shows we do get to reinterpret our past works but it starts to take on a whole different feeling and is directly responsive to what is going on in whichever venue we are at. The interaction with the crowd can change the narrative of a song and they get readapted in real time. That keeps it fresh and new and in the actual moment we are in at that time. It makes music better than anything you could ever plan. We are hanging on for dear life and the music is being played by some sort of pure raw energy.
You’ve only released four albums in fifteen years, is writing new songs an organic process with the music and lyrics coming together smoothly or do you find creating new songs hard?
We record so much music all the time but also do a lot of other things. There has to be inspiration for good songs to get written I think. But to write new songs all you have to do is actually just do it. If you are reading this write a song right when you are done.
You’re quoted as saying that your live shows are about emotion. After so many years and shows how do you keep that raw intensity and passion that make your gigs so intense and memorable?
I just personally try to push myself further than I have ever gone every single time I play. It can’t necessarily be measured like how high am I going to jump at a show but it involves being creative with what you hear and is around you and spotting an opportunity to do something different or potentially scary and just going for it.
Do you have a favourite song to play live, which is it and why?
You would have to ask me after we play them at a particular show. Usually something I am not expecting to be my favorite ends up being for the night. Also usually whichever songs get really messed up tend to be my favorite.
Those moments when you lose control and are barely hanging on is when your body reacts without thinking and those are always the best moments. I often try to destroy the situation we are in so that we have to build it back and reconstruct it as something. And at that moment, what comes is better.
Does it frustrate you at gigs seeing so many people watching you through their phone screens rather than enjoying the real event in front of their eyes?
I am not usually really paying attention with my eyes at shows so much so I can’t really tell. I am so focused on the sound and the visual aspect can shut down. I think it is really just their loss. Most shows are best experienced with the body rather than the cyborg flesh, at least for now.
With music having fully embraced digital distribution do you get the same sense of completion from releasing a digital only release, or is there a more satisfying feeling from having a physical release in your hand and seeing people buy a cd/cassette of your music? Or does the satisfaction and pleasure come solely from the live shows?
There are different kinds of satisfaction I get from all of those things. I think it is cool to have a record or a cassette because I grew up with them and they meant so much to e when I was younger.
Now it is a different age and I do listen to a ton of digital music. I like it and it is interesting but nothing is like going to a live show. Everyone must experience it over and over again. It has transformed my life and made me who I am today and I love life.
What’s next for A Place To Bury Strangers after this tour?
We have a record coming out on Dead Oceans next year and there will be many tours to come.
A Place to Bury Strangers
Support: So It Goes
Date: 8pm, 16 December, 2017
Venue: MOM Livehouse
Tickets: $350, $290 from Ticketflap
Photos: APTBS, Selt-Titled Mag