Weekly > Interviews
A Place To Bury Strangers
Last year A Place To Bury Strangers crept up on a lot of people (including me) when they released one of the albums of the year with their self titled debut effort. It was so good it made our run down of the top fifty albums of 2008, crashing in at a spectacular 9th place and beating some impressive albums into the bargain.
The band are over touring in the UK at the moment (see seperate live review) and I took the opportunity to catch up with lead singer Oliver Ackerman to find out how things were going and to take some advice on the best place to dispose of a body…read on!
Firstly, how did the group come about in the first place?
Well it really just was formed when I moved to NY in 2003. On a fluke I started playing drums with some kids that I had met a couple of months after I had moved there and then it turned into me playing guitar and writing songs and member shifts and all that boring stuff. It was really just all a continuation of the ideas I had been working on years before.
You released your self titled album last year, it seemed really well received right across the board, did you know how good it was while you were recording it?
Of course. But that doesn’t mean that I figured other people would like it.
Has the reaction to the album given you more confidence as a group for your future releases or does it add an extra level of pressure?
I think those things have balanced out to be neither of the two. I am trying not to think about any of that at all and just work on making a proper album as to what I would want.
It’s clear from listening to the album that you have a host of influences in your music, a lot of the reference points i’d use would be British though; Jesus And Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Joy Division, is that a fair comment and how did you get into those sorts of bands?
I got into those sort of bands while in High School and it really was hard to explain even how that happened. There weren’t any people listening to that sort of thing at the time from where I was from and so it was just me and one other friend that used to get psyched and search out albums. I think it was a natural progression from me really loving Punk, if that makes sense. My brother would always crank up the radio at full blast with bands like Dead Kennedys and the Ramones and I loved it all.
Weblinks
- A Place To Bury Strangers Official Site
- A Place To Bury Strangers MySpace Site
- A Place To Bury Strangers Twitter Stream
The album has a real density to it when you listen to the tracks, how easy is that to recreate live for you and is that something you had to be aware of when you were recording?
I think live it is something completely different. And it is easier to create that density live. You have a lot more control over the environment so you can really do a lot more with space and sound. I was definitely aware of that while recording and thought that was appropriate for the songs.
You are currently in the middle of a very extensive tour taking in various countries, how is it going so far?
It has been a blast. I really love to get out of town and travel.
I’m coming to see you in Leeds, what can I and the rest of the crowd expect from you as a live band?
It will be loud and fucked up.
Do you ever get to a point on tour where you are sick of the tour bus, hotels, each other, the songs?
No. I am doing this for the music so all of those things you listed doesn’t really come into play. It also helps that the rest of the guys are fucking cool as shit.
What are the plans for the rest of the year and in particular the festival season?
I am not exactly sure, I know we are playing Coachella in the states and I think we are playing a couple of festivals over here as well but I have really just been so focused on recording an album that I haven’t really been paying attention.
Final question (a daft one obviously to finish with), where would you advise people to bury a body if they ever had the need (not that we encourage body burying of any kind outside of funerals)?
In your front yard.
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