{"id":146910,"date":"2020-03-10T07:44:09","date_gmt":"2020-03-09T23:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thehoneycombers.com\/hongkong\/?p=146910"},"modified":"2024-11-20T19:42:07","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T11:42:07","slug":"a-place-to-bury-strangers-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thehoneycombers.com\/hong-kong\/a-place-to-bury-strangers-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Get lost in frenzied ecstasy: A Place to Bury Strangers talk being the loudest band in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are plenty of alternative rock bands that we\u2019re big fans of, such as Wolf Alice<\/a>, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart<\/a> and Snail Mail<\/a>. But if you\u2019re seeking something a bit more extreme, challenging and satisfying: A Place to Bury Strangers. <\/p>\n

An interview with Oliver Ackermann from A Place to Bury Strangers<\/h3>\n

Heavily influenced by the holy trinity of 80s and 90s shoegaze and post-punk – The Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and Joy Division – American noise rock band A Place to Bury Strangers is known for their intense guitar riffs, incessant drumming, and most notably, the depths of despair that permeate through their albums. We chatted with Oliver Ackermann, the frontman of A Place to Bury Strangers, about his enthusiasm for distortion and how music helps draw focus on the injustices around us. <\/p>\n

Hi, Oliver. Thanks for making such good music! What made you discover your love for heavy distortion and all the wondrous shrieking?<\/h3>\n

I had an electric guitar when I first started learning and my brother had an amp. One day, when my parents left the house, I turned the amp up all the way. The super messed up sound and power had me hooked. It was like getting jump started by a car battery. <\/p>\n

I eventually got up to having this huge Ampeg SVT cabinet that I bought from a friend \u2013 in which I couldn’t even close the doors on the car to get home, somehow it was bigger than an 8×10! I used to plug that up to a Traynor super bass head and crank that up, it would shake the whole house. The sound of feedback that loud makes people either run in fear or fall in love.<\/p>\n

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A Place to Bury Strangers will also be touring in Japan, China, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta in December (Credit: A Place to Bury Strangers via Facebook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The overwhelming sound and effects are cathartic for me as a listener, like blood is running in high speed through my veins; as the performers, what do you guys feel when on stage?<\/h3>\n

That is the same feeling. I am always trying to push that feeling to see just how deep I can get. As you start to develop the skills to go deeper and deeper into the dream state, you get to points at which your whole night disappears. The world disappears and you are completely in touch with the moment that is going on. You aren’t playing any preconceived music choices but living with the room; the noise; the chaos; and a purity of music that can’t be played by humans, but the sound of the universe breathing.<\/p>\n

Can you tell me more about the rather old track Everything Always Goes Wrong? It\u2019s one of my favourites.<\/h3>\n

It is an old one which I really like. It was written even before that record was being written and recorded. There was definitely some influence from my warehouse mate Joe Kelly, who at the time always wrote really cool angular guitar parts. And as most songs I write, it is about heartbreak.<\/p>\n