On the back of their new album Near to the Wild Heart of Life released back in January, gee-they-sound-huge-for-a-two-piece Canadian outfit Japandroids will be tearing up the Rosemount Hotel in North Perth on July 19.
Japandroids are one guitar, one set of drums, and two vocalisers; a two-piece band sounding like a five-piece band. The outcome is an exhilerating live show, as we’ve seen firsthand on their previous visits, including an unforgetable set at Laneway Festival.
Japandroids are a two-piece band from Vancouver, BC, which began in 2006 and consists of Brian King and David Prowse. With the release of their second album Celebration Rock in 2012, the band embarked on what seemed like an endless world tour – they performed over 200 shows in over 40 countries, and played their final show in support of that record in Buenos Aires, Argentina in November 2013.
They would not perform live again for three years. Their third album, Near To The Wild Heart Of Life, was written clandestinely throughout 2014 and 2015 in Vancouver, Toronto, New Orleans, and Mexico City. The title comes from a passage in the novel A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man by James Joyce: “He was alone. He was unheeded, happy, and near to the wild heart of life.”
Like their prior albums Post-Nothing and Celebration Rock, the album is 8 songs, because the band figures it was enough for the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, Led Zeppelin and Metallica. If Celebration Rock was the culmination of something, then Near To The Wild Heart Of Life can be considered the beginning of something new.
Japandroids play the Rosemount Hotel in North Perth on July 19. Tickets on sale April 21 from handsometours.com.
