Showdate: Setpember 11, 2010
Musicfest Northwest. Night 4.
My status: sleep deprived and potentially hallucinating.
The Japandroids are a two piece band from Beautiful British Columbia. To give you a point of reference, I am going with GARAGE as the best descriptor for their music. If you disagree, cool. A friend with a good ear turned me onto this band. Stoked that I get to see them.
If you are going to a Japandroids show, go to your right (I assume they will play everywhere like they did in Portland). That is where David Prowse (drums, vocal) hangs. Brian King (guitar/vocal) spends alot of time on and round David’s drum kit, so might as well see the show from where the action is.
This is the last show of SATURDAY NIGHT! The venue is probably close to capacity. It is 12:15 a.m. and after the sauna that doubled as The Smashing Pumpkins show, I am destroyed. Alot of people in the audience look. Well, let’s be blunt. Fucked up.
I’ve lost my ear plugs. I’m old and facing greater realities, okay? While Japandroids does a quick sound check, I wonder if this may possibly be the last show I ever hear. Checkety-check-check. “Yeah, let’s go with that.” Whimper.
After thanking the crowd for seeing their show when there is alot of good acts to see, and promising to rock it the fuck out, the JPNDRDS fire it up. Holy balls, they aren’t kidding. Rocking it the fuck out is probably underselling it. I always like people who deliver more than they promise.
Let’s talk chemical fueled mayhem. During the first song, a women is removed for literally throwing beer on people and trying to start physical altercations. A pit forms during the show that is insanity. And the Japandroids share that earlier in the evening they were kicked out of Dante’s before The Gories played. Why? They were hotboxing inside the venue. You can only go so far, I guess.
Okay. Let’s get outta here. I’m ready to have fun and don’t want to write down a setlist. That is for sure. The sound is crazy loud and distorting. Adding a layer of distortion to the guitar distortion. My favorite Japandroids song is “Art Czars”. Here’s your money back, here’s your punk rock back. Brian King sings lead for the song. Screaming into the mic, swinging his head around with hair whipping, climbing on the drum kit, and the crowd is going fucking insane. It is all energy, all loud, all crazy, EXACTLY what a show should be. At least to me.
If you’ve stumbled on this review, you’re probably already a fan. If you’re on the fence about seeing JPNDRDS live? Don’t be. Easy call. Here’s your punk rock back, alright. After seeing The Pack A.D. rock the living hell out of The Doug Fir at MFNW 2009, and now the Japandroids? I think I may just need to take a trip to BC. Something HAS to be going on up there. Well, besides liberal bathroom marijuana smoking tolerance.
