Interview: A Place to Bury Strangers

ARTICLE AND PHOTOS BY MYCHELLE PETERSON

Who knew a band with such muffled and often unintelligible lyrics would be so chatty—even after playing a blistering set to a pumped-up and sold-out crowd on a cold Chicago Sunday night. After reporting on A Place To Bury Strangers’ show at the Silverlake Lounge in December, The Scenestar knew we needed to talk to these guys to find out how they make such intense and electrifying music. The Scenestar sat down with singer/guitarist Oliver Ackermann and bassist Jono MOFO to chat about a million and one subjects. Here are some highlights.

SS: So this is your first night on tour with Holy Fuck, is that right?
Jono MOFO: Yeah, it is. And it feels really weird though because we met them a while ago, and we’ve actually worked with them in the studio, and it just feels like we’ve played with them before, doesn’t it?
Oliver Ackermann: Yeah, and we’ve seen ’em a bunch of times too, so... I mean, I am so psyched. It’s awesome.

SS: Well, they seemed psyched about the combo too! They were pretty much bouncing off the walls...
JM: Yeah, totally. They played an amazing show. I want their sound to be our sound dude!

SS: It’s an interesting combination of the two bands because you don’t sound anything alike.
OA: Completely! It’s crazy!

SS: And yet there is something about each band that could appeal to the other band’s fans.
OA: Sure, and it’s so fun to go to a show that’s really eclectic.
JM: Yeah, it’s like, people mention to us bands that we should tour with, and I was just talking to [tour manager] Steve earlier. I wouldn’t want to go out on tour with some band who sounds the same, or some old band that I’m a fan of, or anything like that… These guys are awesome guys. You know, they’re really lovely dudes, and I love their music, too. So you know, it’s great! It’s…
SS: It’s a win-win.
JM: That’s exactly what it is. A win-win.

SS: Speaking of tour mates, how was the tour with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club? That’s where I saw you guys first. I saw you in Indianapolis….
JM: At the Vogue Theatre, right?
SS: Yeah! In that teeny place. And I’d never heard of you before, I admit it. And you blew me away. I do have to go on record and say Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is my all-time favorite, so you can’t say anything bad about them…
OA: Oh man, no! We couldn’t say anything bad.
JM: No. Those guys… They’re a wicked band obviously, and of course we’re fans, but they’re total sweethearts. They really are.

SS: Yes, they are.
JM: Peter [Hayes] and Robert [Levon Been] were just so nice to us, and I can’t remember… I think it was the last show, Peter ran our light board for us.
OA: Yeah, it was great!

SS: Yeah, you don’t have to convince me. They’re pretty special guys.
JM: They are truly awesome.
OA: And their set is incredible.
JM: And Nick [Jago] is great too, but honestly, we didn’t see him. Like seriously, I did not see Nick once. Except on stage, behind the drums with a hoodie on.
[Everyone laughs]

SS: Ha! So you had a good time out on the road with them?
JM: We had an amazing time with them, and we would have played more shows with them, but we couldn’t afford it. They invited us to go to Europe with them, and we couldn’t afford to go.

SS: Sure. It’s really tough, and I know they’ve had their own touring constraints too. So I’m sure they knew exactly the spot you were in. Your show kind of reminds me a little bit of theirs in the sense that it’s pretty stripped down. I mean, I know you’ve got the projection going on in the background, but depending on the venue and where you’re standing, it’s tough to see. In a venue like Schubas, it’s totally lost on someone standing up front. But there are no overblown theatrics … Well, except for you [points to Oliver] … just a little bit. Is that intentional? Are you of the mind that the music just needs to speak for itself? You’re not about talking to the crowd, or are you shy? Are you not comfortable with that?
OA: It’s a combination, I guess. Well, I don’t know.
JM: I don’t really think about it. I mean, sometimes I feel like I’m just standing there. I never really feel awkward but I never feel tempted to like bust a move or something.
[Everyone laughs]
OA: You’re not groovy enough.
JM: Or something!

SS: Well, you know, you guys don’t come bouncing on the stage with “HELLO CLEVELAND!” So in some ways it’s not engaging the audience. But it has always been my opinion that people who rely on that are kind of hiding behind it. And a lot of bands I’ve seen recently—The Warlocks and Black Angels come to mind right away—they don’t have to say anything. It doesn’t matter because the music does.
JM: Yeah, we’re good friends with The Warlocks, and Bobby is super shy. Oh, I remember we did play one show at a university. [Looks at Oliver] Remember that?
OA: And what happened?
JM: And you were like “HELLOOOOOOOO.”
[All laugh]
JM: And there were like 25 people there. Where was that?
The band’s super manager Steve interjects that it was at Colgate University.
JM: Oh! Colgate. Yeah!
OA: And we were in like the cafeteria or something.
JM: Everything was like white formica. The room was huge, and we were just standing in the corner going, “Hello Colgate!”

SS: And it was Colgate of all schools, kind of an uppity crowd!
JM: Yeah, but it’s in the middle of nowhere. It was really hard to find! I mean, you think you could get anywhere in the U.S. within an hour of a major road. But seriously, Colgate… We were driving on country lanes for hours. It was nuts! We stayed at Herkimer, remember? [Looks at Oliver]
OA: Yeah, the Herkimer Suites.

SS: It’s a great name if nothing else.
JM: Hey, the Herkimer Suites.
OA: I’d recommend it to anyone.
[Everyone laughs]
JM: No it was nice! Five room, three bedroom suite for $99. I recommend it, y’all!
SS: That is quite a deal. You should get a product endorsement deal for that plug.
[Continued laughter from Jono and Oliver; they’re pretty much cracking up]

SS: Moving onto the subject of products, I have to ask whose brilliant idea was it to sell these? [Takes out a pair of earplugs in a keychain case with APTBS’ logo on it] This is the BEST $2 I’ve ever spent.
JM: [points at self] That was me!

SS: Good job! These totally rock, OK?!
JM: You know that’s like a collector’s item. We don’t have any more. I didn’t think there were any of those left.

SS: Well, I bought it in Indianapolis. They are a permanent fixture in my bag. I take them everywhere, and people always ask where they can get some.
JM: I put that sticker on myself, I put the earplugs in the case, AND I threaded the little keychain.

SS: Aww! Well, it’s gone to very good use. People have asked me many times where they can get one, so you might want to put them back into production. Get to work! So since you were selling the earplugs, is it something you worry about? Do you guys worry about hearing loss playing every night as loud as you do? Did I see one of you tonight with earplugs in?
JM: I never play with them in, no.

SS: I think somebody did… Oh! It was one of the guys from [opening band] Ariel.
JM: Yeah, those guys… [Laughs]. No, I’m kidding! We’re friends with those guys.

SS: I mean, you’ve got that “loudest band ever” tag following you around, so do you ever think about it?
JM: Well, you know what? That is not… We often get saddled with that “self-proclaimed loudest band in America.” And that’s not true.

SS: Someone else called you that, didn’t they? Not you.
OA: Exactly. Someone else did.
JM: A bunch of blogs said it, and people latched onto it. And then the guy who released our record, John Whitney, he just put it on a sticker on the front of the record and…
SS: And it will haunt you forever!
JM: Exactly. And it’s not like, I mean, it’s just kind of childish.

SS: Well, you ARE loud!
JM: Was it loud?

SS: Oh yeah, it’s loud. I mean, when I saw you in Indianapolis, my entire body was vibrating. It was a lot louder than tonight.
JM: Yeah, I mean we want it to be loud, but we don’t want it to be “we’re the loudest band,” and that’s what we’re known for.

SS: Right, definitely. But do you worry about your own hearing loss or no?
OA: I read somewhere you can hear really loud sounds for like 30 minutes a day and not damage your ears. So we try to keep our sets close to 30 minutes [Laughs].

SS: You guys sound really different live than you do on record, and I don’t know if that’s intentional or if some of those sounds just can’t be recreated live… But sometimes it sounds like you’re just venturing off into an improvisational thing.
OA: Definitely.

SS: It sounds like it, but I’ve always wondered how bands do that. Do you trust each other so much that somebody kind of leads it off and the rest follow?
OA: Yeah, we have some songs that aren’t even written, you know. It’s kind of just this song where I make up lyrical parts, and it changes every time.
JM: Sometimes we’ll go back to record songs, and Ollie’s like, “Yeah, I need to write lyrics.” And I’m like, “What are you talking about? We’ve been playing this song for a year.” But he’s just kind of making them up.

SS: You just mumble something…
OA: Yeah.
JM: So he’ll be like, “Does this sound good?”

SS: It’s one thing for you to do when you’re rehearsing, but quite another to do it live with an audience.
OA: Well, it definitely keeps things really exciting for us, you know? We’re in that moment, and you don’t know what’s going to happen. When you’re playing live, it’s so different from rehearsals, you kind of lose track of what’s even going on in the room, you can’t really see, you don’t know where you are… It’s just for that moment you’re really only engaged with the music. You’ve got the amps going, and you can feel it in your whole body. And you just kind of work with that. It’s that which can even keep a song exciting.
JM: Especially, yeah, with like “Ocean.” You never really know when the song ends. And when it does end…

SS: So who decides when it ends then?
JM: No one! It’s just a natural thing. We’re just playing and playing and playing, and then all of a sudden it’s like, “This is it. This is the end.” And it just ends.

SS: But I didn’t notice you guys looking at each other for clues. I mean, Peter and Robert [from BRMC] are a good example of keeping really close eye contact for cues. Your songs just end, like they were scheduled to end!
JM: Also, there will be times... I mean there are times when it doesn’t happen so gracefully, I’m sure. Usually it goes to a point where Ollie has no strings left on his guitar, and usually he can still kind of make some kind of noise. But then sometimes he just can’t make any noise, so Jay and I will try to bow out gracefully. But it doesn’t happen very often.

SS: I’m sure it comes from being really comfortable with each other and having played together for a while too.
OA: Also, again, with the lights and visuals, keeping everything really dark and even not speaking in between songs, it kind of keeps you focused in on the music the whole time. It’s like at that time, I’m just kind of trying to get completely lost in what’s going on to where I can let go. So it just kind of evolves. That’s what I think we’re trying to do, even with the audience. We’re trying to do the same thing to them that we’re doing to ourselves.
JM: There are definitely times when we’re playing “Ocean,” and the strobe lights are going a little slower than in the last song, and it keeps going on and on and on. And I almost try to convince myself that I’m on drugs. I’ll keep my eyes open as long as I can… until I’m blinded. [Long silence, everyone looks at Jono] I don’t even know why I said that. But I mean, it’s true. I don’t know what my point is. [All laugh]

SS: It’s like you almost have that fourth wall up, from a theatrical perspective, because you really aren’t engaging the crowd with anything other than hearing the music. Is there something you want the audience to come away with? A certain feeling you want people to walk out with?
OA: You know, I think there’s lots of passion going into what we’re doing, but I don’t know exactly what feeling you would take away. I just hope… I always sort of thought the stuff would … make … people …feel … awkward, [laughs] and uh, sort of, feel kind of distant. You know, like they can’t talk to their friends, and where they kind of feel sick maybe.
[All laugh hysterically]
OA: You know, just any of the feelings I would want to feel at a good concert. Just seeing bands in the past like Dinosaur Jr. or Jesus and Mary Chain or Sonic Youth, when they played, it was loud with a fucked up sound. It just kind of takes over, especially when you’re in one of those small clubs, and you’re up front and things are going nuts.
JM: It’s where you can’t escape the moment. You have to just embrace it. You can’t discuss it with your friends as it’s going along. You just have to be into it.

SS: That’s perfect! And true. I don’t see a lot of conversation going on in the audience during your shows, which is more than I can say for a lot of other bands.
JM: OH COLD!

SS: No, no. I’m not pointing any fingers. Nobody on this bill tonight.
JM: Ha! I’m just teasing.

SS: Well, but you know, any time a band plays a quieter song, it’s like an open invitation for some guy to start talking about how drunk he is or tell his friend about the hot chick in the corner. Who decided that’s OK? We pay to see you, not to hear the drunk guy.
OA: No, and it’s not even just that. Lots of people aren’t even into bands, they just go out to hang out and drink.

SS: And those people should go to a bar!
JM: But if you’re in a show, and you’re kind of a little bit bored, it’s not your fault…

SS: Oh, I hate that! It’s rude.
JM: But they still paid.

SS: But it’s a lack of respect for the artist and the rest of the audience who isn’t bored. [Oliver shakes his head in agreement]
JM: If it’s like a quiet singer-songwriter, then yeah, OK. But if it’s a rock band, and they’re not holding you in the moment, then feel free to talk to your friends.

SS: Oh, I’m so mad at you for encouraging it! I’m striking this from the interview! [All laugh] OK, well, onto something else. I read you guys recorded a live album at your studio with plans to release it on vinyl only.
OA: Yep.

SS: So when’s it coming out, and why vinyl only?
OA: We don’t have a release date.
JM: Only vinyl because it’s our… we have a vinyl label and a CD label. And the vinyl label wants to do it. And we love vinyl.

Super Manager Steve pipes in once more, apologizing for making his presence known, but also acknowledging that the reason for the unknown release date is the band’s constant touring. With the album not mixed yet, they haven’t had time to get it done.

SS: With you guys being on tour all the time, do you write on the road? Are you thinking about the next album? Or do you need a break first?
JM: We’re actually recording it.
OA: [Laughs] We are recording the second album on the road magically. You know, playing guitar in a bumpy car … you know we just strum along.
JM: No, seriously. We had this thing where [assumes serious voice], “Oh yeah, we’re going to do our second record in the studio, and it’s gonna be this, that and the other.” And then it just evolved into, well, we’re just gonna do it.
OA: And it also evolved with the response from the first record. We didn’t know what to expect. We didn’t know if people would like the sound of us recording ourselves. I always personally like that kind of sound. You know, you get to a point where you don’t know what people will like. I’ve been playing this kind of music since like 1995, and playing shows for years and years and years. And you have bad experiences at bars where people pull the plug…

SS: And people are TALKING during your set [points at Jono].
[Everyone laughs]
OA: Or people throw bottles at you or something. So yeah, it’s just amazing that people want to hear this kind of music again.

SS: So you want to get something out and keep the momentum going?
OA: And yeah, we’re totally excited to get to record ourselves. That’s so interesting.
JM: It’s just the way to go for us. I can’t see any other way of doing it. The first record just happened the way it did—and it almost didn’t even happen—and then when it did, it was like, well, we started to embrace it. And then it’s like, “Well, let’s just do it again!” But not in a complacent kind of way.
OA: Also, we didn’t put songs on that album for a reason. We wanted to save them for this album; we were holding onto them. I think this album, I think we’re going to finally record it exactly the way we want to. The first album, those songs were almost demos. I mean it’s still the same aesthetic. Even when you record a demo you want it to sound as good as it possibly can at that time, but it wasn’t intended at all to be the album. It was a collection of demo tracks, you know? I think this one is going to be more what we were striving for.
JM: It’s gonna be more organic.

SS: It’s gonna be good! That’s what it’s gonna be! OK, last question. You guys are headed back to L.A. with Holy Fuck in a few weeks. What are your impressions of L.A.? Do you have a good time playing there? It’s OK. You can tell the truth.
JM: No, it’s been a blast. But the only thing I would say that is weird is that people from Silverlake won’t go to West Hollywood. It’s like seven miles! That was kinda weird. We had a show at the Viper Room, with an unlimited guest list. And no one would come from Silverlake. And then, the next night at the Silverlake Lounge, it was sold out. And I mean, everyone in L.A. is broke too. So I was just amazed that no one would come out for a free show.
OA: It’s kind of like Manhattan and Brooklyn.

SS: I was just going to say the same thing. Well, I know you’ve got a lot of people all over L.A. looking forward to seeing you guys again, so hopefully they’ll make it out this time.
OA: Awesome!

The conversation could have gone on all night with these guys. They were effusive, charming, and I genuinely got the sense that they enjoyed talking about music. So many bands go through the motions and provide rote responses to whatever questions are asked, but Oliver and Jono really were engaged in the process and talked a lot more than I expected. It was a pleasant surprise.

The band stops by Spaceland with tour mates Holy Fuck on March 1. So no matter where you are in L.A., it’s absolutely worth the drive.

Holy Fuck w/A Place to Bury Strangers @ Spaceland, March 1

Comments

[paulag]

motherfuckers, i know parking is a bitch at the viper room!!! but come on!!!!!
lucky fuckers, unlimited guest list..!!!

anyhow.. mychelle you rock.
a place to bury strangers, you rock too.

[paulag]

i just cant wait too see you again...........

[Liane]

Nice interview, makes me more excited about the show this Saturday!

[cheryl]

great job mychelle!!! glee!

[dwight]

Another fabulous interview by Mychelle!

[chuckles]

shame they couldn't take their awesome visuals guy on the road with them..