Canadian power duo Japandroids make their way back to Australia for a national tour this week in support of their latest album, 'Near To The Wild Heart Of Life'.
Japandroids were most recently in the country for a limited run of festival shows last year. Drummer/ vocalist David Prowse says he and bandmate Brian King are looking forward to playing the new songs live for the first time here. “We're stoked to go to Australia, I love it down there,” David says.
“We got to play those [festival] shows and that was a great time but it's always a weird thing to play a bunch of new material before you've given people a chance to actually hear that material and familiarise themselves with it.
“I'm looking forward to going back to Australia and getting to play for people now that they've had a chance to hear these new jams. Australia's a big country and we only played a small portion of it, so it's nice to come back and feel like we're doing it right a bit more in terms of touring.”
'Near To The Wild Heart Of Life' is the third studio album for Japandroids, following 2012's 'Celebration Rock'. The album title and that of its titular first single is a reference to a passage from the James Joyce novel, 'A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man'. “It's just a nice sentiment there that we can relate to,” David says.
“I'll confess right now, I haven't read that book but Brian told me the idea for the song and the title and even without having read that book there's something about that phrase that spoke to me. It's such a great line and I think it sums up the sentiment of the band. I like how it's 'near' to the wild heart of life, not within [it].
“I think it's a very evocative phrase that gets to the central theme of our band. It's a great way of summing up the feeling of our music; it's that idea of searching for something and living your life… committing yourself to getting the most out of life and searching for whatever it is you're looking for with the utmost intent.”
With a career spanning ten-plus years and now three albums to their name, David says Japandroids have recently reached the point where building a set-list for shows means culling some of the classic songs. “We're obviously leaning heavily on the new record because that's the one we're most excited about,” he says.
“The thing I'm finding is there's definitely a bunch of people who are really into the old stuff and aren't as familiar with the new jams; there's a tonne of people who don't seem to know our back catalogue but really love the new album; and then there's the sort of crossover group where they seem to know everything and are into everything we're playing.”
Japandroids Australia Tour
Tue 11 Jul - Corner Hotel (Melbourne)Wed 12 Jul - The Barwon Club (Geelong)
Fri 14 Jul - The Factory Theatre (Sydney)
Sat 15 Jul - The Small Ballroom (Newcastle)
Sun 16 Jul - The Brightside (Brisbane)
Tue 18 Jul - Fat Controller (Adelaide)
Wed 19 Jul - Rosemount Hotel (Perth)
