Japandroids has officially decided to end their activities after their next album “Fate & Alcohol”. To celebrate the Canadian duo, we look back at their magnum opus, 2012’s Celebration Rock.
The fact that Celebration Rock exists at all is something of a minor miracle. In the six years between guitarist Brian King and drummer David Prowse forming Japandroid and releasing a record, the duo could (and almost did) break up several times. Yet somehow they were able to put together a modern classic with nothing but spirit, a six-pack of cold drinks, and a high-five so powerful it sounded like fireworks.
Such tenacity (and fireworks) can be heard right off the bat in opener “A Night of Wine and Roses.” The song begins in the distance, then bursts into focus with a triumphant guitar line and King belting out his celebration rock mission statement. The lights have been on for a long time tonight and we’re still drinking / Don’t we have a purpose to live for? / Well, of course we do / But we’re drinking until it’s true / And we’re still smoking. ”
As an organization, Japan Droid found purpose in Celebration Rock, but it almost never came to fruition. By the time 2009’s exhilarating debut, Post-Nothing, finally thrust the band into the spotlight, they had already decided it was their last hurray.
“We worked hard on the band for years until something actually happened,” Prowse told Consequence. “Recording. Self-released EP. We set up all the shows ourselves. We rented out the hall. We made and printed our own posters, we made posters for every show we played. We set up tiny little tours. So I just go to Seattle and come back, go to Victoria and come back, go to Calgary and come back.”
“We had no idea that anyone would be interested in putting out our record. Not local, not a local label,” he continued. “The interest was zero.”
No matter how you look at it, Post-Nothing was set up to be pretty much the same. But just when it started to dawn on me that all this trouble for Japan Droids might have come full circle, the efforts finally paid off. Their passionate writing on music blogs took the band from the brink of collapse to booking gigs all over the world.
