A Place to Bury Strangers Never Leaves Its Noise to Chance
By Andrew Clayman
Published in Alarm Magazine, March 2010
Rock geneticists might call them a mix of Ministry and My Bloody Valentine, but on stage, A Place to Bury Strangers sound less like a streamlined hybrid and more like a violent interstate collision. The Brooklyn band’s unsettling but invigorating live sets have rapidly elevated them to the forefront of the new noise-rock movement, boldly planting their flag in the neutral zone that used to separate the droning haze of shoegaze from the thumping aggression of industrial. Along the way, APTBS has come to be known as the “loudest band in New York”—an amusing moniker that makes for a nice headline, but from the perspective of singer/guitarist Oliver Ackermann, hardly does his band justice.
“That happened even before the first record came out; the ‘loudest band’ thing,” Ackermann says. “But I don’t really consider it too much of an honor. When you think about it, it doesn’t really mean anything [laughs]. Being the loudest band isn’t that much of a compliment, you know? But it’s fine. If that gets people excited about the music, then that’s great. But for me personally, hearing that some band is ‘the loudest band’ wouldn’t necessarily intrigue me.”
As Ackermann implies, volume might get you noticed, but good songs get you remembered. And unlike some of their fellow distortion-heavy contemporaries, A Place to Bury Strangers are no strangers to hooks.
On the band’s recent sophomore LP Exploding Head, drummer Jay Space’s thundering toms and Jono Mofo’s burrowing bass lines never go so far as to eclipse whatever three-chord Duane Eddy riff Ackermann has cooked up for a melodic centerpiece. Like a good boxer, he can bob and weave as well as he can punch, and the music’s danceable threads don’t get lost beneath the march of effects pedals. The result is a set of songs that can entice and intimidate at the same time—just the sort of dynamic Ackermann is going for.
“I think a lot of songs, or at least the ones I hear on the radio, are written to just get stuck in your head and move you through the day,” he says. “But a song with that deeper level or duality to it can actually help you work through your emotions, or it can just fuck you up more—either way [laughs]. Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s what it does for me, anyway. That’s what I like about having that contrast.”
Of course, the novelty of using early ‘60s pop blueprints (be it surf guitar or the ever popular boom-chic-boom of Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound) and dousing them in heavy distortion hasn’t actually been novel since The Jesus & Mary Chain mastered the juxtaposition over 20 years ago. But there’s no denying that APTBS up the ante, maintaining that playful pop foundation while extending the JAMC formula into increasingly primal territory. It’s this distinction that’s helped the band find its niche, even during a time when the noise-rock bandwagon is reaching max capacity.
“Yeah, I’d say it’s more prominent lately,” Ackermann says, referring to the use of distortion in indie circles. “Especially with recent technology, it’s just made it a lot easier for people to experiment with sound in different ways— be it distortion or some other kinds of fucked up methods that they might not have had before. Also, since the whole sort of noise-rock movement or whatever you want to call it, there’s been a new threshold that’s been broken down over the years as far as what’s considered acceptable in music. It seems like that’s the way music always is. Whatever scared your grandparents was good for your parents; whatever scared your parents is good for you. So, I think music is definitely taking a turn for crazier and crazier stuff.”
As Ackermann sees it, though, the next wave of craziness is less about the heavy-handed visual antagonism of a Marilyn Manson, and more about the continued evolution of sound itself. This is where his geek side starts to peek through, because along with being the frontman for one of New York’s most intense rock bands, Ackermann, 32, is also the highly successful entrepreneur behind Death By Audio—an effects pedal company that caters to some of the biggest groups in the world, including Wilco, TV On the Radio, and U2.
Originally from Virginia (and formerly a bassist for Fredericksburg shoegazers Skywave), Ackermann taught himself how to dissect musical equipment almost as quickly as he learned to play it. By his early twenties, he’d already invented and patented a new type of guitar pedal that he dubbed “Total Sonic Annihilation,” and within a few years, some of the very bands he’d grown up admiring started singing the praises of his decibel-friendly contraptions. With the subsequent founding of Death By Audio, Ackermann had himself a growing business that would also conveniently serve his other passion—making his own music.
“I mean, they’re directly linked,” Ackermann says, referring to his geek side and rockstar side. “A lot of times, things I’m working on for our live show give me the reasons to develop new effects or change things with my recording equipment. I always approach projects by focusing on what I love to do, and that combines both of those things. You know, you’ll be creating something with a piece of equipment and it’ll spark an idea for a song. Or, you’ll have a song and you’ll really want to add an effect that creates a particular feel for that music. It’s a pretty cool dynamic.”
Since relocating Death By Audio to Brooklyn and starting A Place to Bury Strangers in 2005, Ackermann has taken on an almost guru-like aura amongst noise aficionados. Even Kevin Shields himself turned to DBA for assistance during the My Bloody Valentine reunion tour. For Ackermann, though, knowing the mathematics of every amplified swoosh and clang can have its downsides, too. “I mean, it’s exciting in a lot of ways,” he says, “but sometimes, learning about some of these technical aspects of the sound can actually ruin some of the mystery of listening to the music. I mean, even learning how to play guitar or the drums can take away some of those things that were exciting about music when you were more naïve. It’s a give and take, I guess.”
Meanwhile, for APTBS fans still lucky enough to listen to the band in a state of ignorant bliss, they are rarely disappointed. Exploding Head was a noble effort to capture the “loudest band in New York” on tape, but it’s still the live shows that define the group.
“We just want to give the audience a senses-altering experience,” Ackermann says. “That’s what the best shows usually were like for me-- just mind blowing, where you could basically lose your shit. So, we’re just trying to make the craziest show possible, with lights and sound and anything else to help sort of envelope the whole body and help you lose control a little bit. …There was a time, when I was younger, when people would go a lot crazier at shows. I don’t feel they do that as much these days. We’re trying to help.”
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