Never underestimate the power that a drummer can bring to a band and its live show. Without Keith Moon, the Who went from the greatest live band in the world to shells of their former selves. When Mac McNeilly left the Jesus Lizard, shows went from transcendent to a hard rock/jazz cartoon. And though the Flaming Lips live experience has grown in production and popularity over the last decade, they have never been the same musical force since Steven Drozd moved from behind the kit to play guitar and keyboards at concerts. Wednesday night, Champaign has a chance to witness two prime examples of the difference that good drummers can make—David Prowse of Japandroids and Markus Görsch of Love is All. Though their styles and impact are very different, both bring a singular approach that should make for a thrilling evening of music.
Though fairly conventional in his technique, the big sound and high energy that Prowse brings to Japandroids have been a big factor in the duo’s fast rise. Sure they wouldn’t have made it without the impressive noise Brian King can wrangle out of his guitar and the band’s “let’s just rock” approach to songwriting, but it’s the drumming that makes this band stick. “I’ve got free license to play as loud as I want,” says Prowse. “We play such big expansive songs that I can do a lot of different things.”
The band is still touring in support of 2009’s much buzzed about Post-Nothing and, though they are not yet ready to hit the studio to record a follow up, they do have a lot of interesting releases coming up. Starting on April 17, they will be releasing a series of five 7″ singles, with the first one available early at Wednesday’s show. The A-side of each single will be songs that were written around the same time as Post-Nothing, but have evolved over the two years since they were originally written. The B-sides will be covers, with the first being Big Black’s “Racer-X”. When prodded, Prowse remained mum on future covers. In addition, Polyvinyl is re-releasing the band’s first two EPs an an album called No Singles, set to drop on May 11.
Though Post-Nothing earned the band rave reviews, their reputation is built on their energetic live act. Well over a year into supporting the album, you might think King and Prowse would be getting sick of playing some of those songs night after night. “We’ve been a band for a long time, and we’ve been waiting for this tour for a long time,” explains Prowse. “Even before this, we played in lots of different bands and have been watching other bands play. We’ve been dreaming of the day it could be us. It’s just too exciting for us to lose interest.”
Prowse is also quick to credit their audience with pushing them out of any possible touring ruts. “Most nights we get as much as we give. When we’re tired, and we’ve been on the road for a long time, we might get sick of having a soundcheck every day. But we don’t get sick of playing shows to these great crowds. It’s too much fun.”
The other band on the bill Wednesday has a drummer taking a more unconventional approach. The term spastic drumming is overused and often with a negative connotation, but there is no better way to (positively) describe what Görsch brings to Love is All. On the band’s new album, Two Thousand and Ten Injuries, the drums often feel like the lead instrument. For example, “The Birds Were Singing with All Their Might” is reminiscent of the Who’s “Happy Jack” not so much in style, but more in the ferocity and in the way the drumming actually dominates the song’s melody. This is no accident according to Görsch, who played guitar in previous bands. “For this band, rhythm is important to drive the music forward. We put it up with melody as equally important when we write songs.”
Like Japandroids, Love is All is much more than an interesting drummer. Vocalist/keyboardist Josephine Olausson has an endearing Cyndi Lauper-meets-Bjork delivery and a charisma that lights up a room. The band fuses sixties pop/psychedelia, eighties post punk and throws in some saxophone for good measure. The songs are often charmingly straightforward, while also teetering on the edge of collapse. “Kungen” is a burst of Specterian pop that even includes backing “bah, bah, bahs.” But two-thirds of the way through, the song seems intent on destroying itself, before righting things just in time for a few more “bah bah bahs.”
Two Thousand and Ten Injuries is an album that almost didn’t happen. After they finished touring for their second album, A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night, they went home to Sweden without a record deal and without a plan. Then a couple of the members starting playing around and throwing parts together in their home studio. Eventually everyone was coming and going adding their parts and contributing to songs. After a couple of months, they had a finished product. Without a label, they shopped it around and were very happy to find a home on Polyvinyl records.
When asked about Love is All’s live show, Görsch sounds just like Prowse from Japandroids, explaining that the band feeds off the crowd’s energy. “Our band has to make the first effort to impress the crowd in the first couple of minutes. We try to break the down the barriers by acting like idiots, channeling some positive and ridiculous energy. Then the audience will start giving it back and start smiling. It gives us feedback on them and is a self-generating loop of positive energy.”
And don’t go to a Love is All show expecting a lot of downtempo songs to use for restroom breaks. “Josephine and I used to be music writers. When we went to shows, we would wonder ‘why is it that only the last five minutes are overwhelmingly powerful. Why can’t bands sustain that through the whole show?’ So that has been our dogma for our live shows from the beginning. We choose the most happening songs to try and build our live set from there.”
With two bands trying their hardest to blow your mind and get you moving, you should probably get lots of sleep tonight. And you might want to skip your trip to the gym tomorrow as well. As Love is All’s Görsch puts it, “our shows are good exercise and afterward we’re extremely exhausted. We know it was a good show when the audience feels the same way.”
Japandroids and Love is All play the Highdive tomorrow night, April 7, at 8 p.m. ($12)