by Joseph Mastel
Who is the loudest and most intense live band in the world? Depending on who you ask, that title belongs to A Place To Bury Strangers. Go to one of their shows or watch one on YouTube, and you’ll see and hear for yourself just how intense they are live. They also have a ton of thrillingly heavy and chaotic records to back this claim, like their self-titled debut and Worship. Synthesizer, their latest album and seventh overall, will only heighten their status as one of the loudest bands currently working today. Hearing any of the songs live will be an exhilarating and wild time, bound to raise the roof at any venue. What's even more incredible about Synthesizer is that despite being extremely aggressive, frantic, and harsh, it also manages to be stunningly beautiful, super catchy, and a very human record.
I recently caught up with A Place To Bury Strangers’ Oliver Ackermann through Zoom to chat about Synthesizer, playing loud and intense live shows, and his company Death By Audio.
photo credit: Ebru Yildiz
Joseph Mastel: I really liked the new record. It was actually the first A Place To Bury Strangers I’ve heard, and I really liked it. I’m looking forward to diving deeper into your albums.
Oliver Ackermann: Awesome. Thank you so much. That’s so nice.
JM: What led you to name your new album Synthesizer?
OA: It’s kind of just meant so many different things with this record. So, kind of like, it just seems like the glared obvious choice of what this was. It’s like we are people synthesizing these sounds, making these things. The album cover could be turned into a synthesizer. It’s sort of the state of the world and where we are where everything is just being synthesized and kind of created, and this sort of just reflected on all of that.
JM: Is there a common or underlying theme that connects the songs?
OA: Not necessarily. You know, it's like a lot of these things are their own different dives into different kinds of worlds and stuff. But I guess that, by nature, there are a lot of things that are common with this record. All being recorded in similar places. All songs that I wrote or had a very strong part in come from people who are living in New York. We played a lot of the same instruments on all the songs. We used that actual synthesizer that you can build as the cover on every song on the record. So there’s a lot of like different things weaving in between this but, you know, the themes relate to the lives that we lived. Being true to yourself and what you’re doing is going to be a common link that happens with any artist too, especially those who are creating almost everything all on their own.
JM: Do you have a routine that you get into for the creative process, or how exactly do you go about writing or producing a song?
OA: I feel like there’s only so many moments that you kind of get to sort of work on things. There’s a lot of fun things to do. So, I don’t ever like to shut the door on any opportunities. So if there’s like a chance to be writing some stuff, whether it be poetry on the train, or something that kind of inspires you, then connect that in some sort of way and you can use that or form that into something. I have ways that I can record at my house. I have places that I record at, our studio. I bring stuff that I can record with when we’re traveling. So you kind of find whatever moments you can and do it. But there’s no routine because if there was some particular setup that had to be done, then I just wouldn’t have enough time.
JM: The song “Fear of Transformation” talks about a constant fear of something, and I was wondering what led you to write that song. Is it fear in general, or is there a certain thing that the song is talking about?
OA: I think its just one of those common threads that you feel some sort of moments of in so many points of your life and I think that’s like even some sort of barrier. It’s one of those things that’s constantly being struggled with, whether it be fear of confrontation, fear of what is going to potentially happen, fear of what people are going to think of you, or fear of all sorts of kinds of things. That’s one way to look at it. You can focus on the fear; you can focus on the joy, the excitement, you can focus on all sorts of things. But it is one of those walls that shifts and twists your life around into different directions. So I just dove in and explored those kinds of things, personally within myself. Sometimes, I think that it’s cathartic to sort of work through those things and acknowledge those things.
JM: One of my favourite songs from the record is “Bad Idea.” I really like how loud, intense, and messy it is. I think it can be described as an ‘assault on the senses’ in a good way. Would you be able to share the process behind recording the instrumentation for that track?
OA: John [Fedowitz] had this idea for a drum track that would be the basis for the song and so we went into the studio, he and I, and figured out a way that the drums sounded bombastic. We both, I think, played the drums the whole way through the song. So it's like both of us drumming on the record. Then that vibe and feeling when you’re there with your friend to ‘beat those things’ kind of created this feeling, this pulse and rhythm. Then we started stacking things on top of it. We’re recording the sound of throwing around a guitar in the practice space. Just excited, talking turns, doing different things. At the same time, we both manipulated the controls of what the other person was recording. With that interplay of two people, it's this kind of awesome seesaw of things bouncing back and forth. I think that’s one of the most fun things to do; to be there with a friend pushing each other further into the depths of some crazy sounds, and you get a lot of wild sounds in that and then cut out all the stuff that doesn’t sound crazy and cool.
JM: Do you think that’s one of your loudest and more chaotic songs that you’ve recorded or is your older stuff quite a bit crazier and louder?
OA: I think it’s just on par with any of that stuff that we’ve done. There’s always sort of that goal, at least on a record, like at some moment you want it to be so extreme and so intense [laughs] and that sets the sort of range of the record. We’ve done this sort of promise as a band to always stay intense. Not strip it back on any of these records too much. There’s moments where it flows in different ways. It’s just sort of a promise because I was always disappointed by those bands that were like really hard and heavy and crazy and then softened up and turned into like some pretty pop music [laughs]. For this band, we’re never gonna do that.
JM: “Plastic Future” is quite a different vibe from the rest of the album. I feel that with the instrumentation it's not so ‘in your face’ and feels like a dance or club song. What was the inspiration behind the instrumentation and production of that song?
OA: I’m just a fan of so much music from all over the place, so it's just those sounds always inspire or direct the song into what it's going to be. You can push and craft things in different directions, but there’s a point at which the sounds in the song just seem really right, at least to me. So that was the place of what that song kind of needed. We'll try lots of different things. There’s probably a version of “Plastic Future,” which was the sound of us banging some pans on a table or something, and it was kind of insane [laughs]. But it just didn’t quite sound right. So that just seemed like the right thing. Since we’re recording, mixing, mastering, and doing all this stuff, I do all that myself; it’s like, as I’m putting together this album, you can slightly even change the mixes of these songs to kind of fit in to what is the vibe that you’re feeling at that time.
JM: In October and November, A Place To Bury Strangers is going on tour across North America to promote the new album. Is there a specific song or two on the album that you’re really looking forward to be playing live and share with the audience?
OA: We’ve been playing “Fear of Transformation” recently and that’s really incredible. I always love playing “Have You Ever Been in Love”. I always love playing “Disgust”. I’m really excited to play some of the songs that we haven’t really played yet from the record, like “Comfort Never Comes” and “Don’t Be Sorry”. I think it will be cool to play some of those songs live.
JM: I was reading up and I saw that in your formative years, you were very well known for your incredibly loud and chaotic live shows. Are your live shows still the same, or do you think you’ve calmed down a bit since you first started?
OA: They’re just as crazy, if not crazier. I always have this thing where I am like, ‘Let's take this to the next level,’ and so we figure out some other stupid, crazy ideas to do that stuff [laughs]. The band has changed and shifted in different ways, but the goal is to make the show crazier and more wild than its ever been.
JM: What’s the loudest or craziest band you’ve performed alongside or that you’ve listened to live that is in a similar vein to what A Place To Bury Stranger does?
OA: My Bloody Valentine was a really loud show and really crazy with energy. Lightning Bolt are really wild. Monotonix was a really crazy, wild, live band which would get in the crowd and do crazy things. There’s a ton of different sorts of bands that are crazy, loud, and wild. Sometimes that’s good, and sometimes that’s bad [laughs]. It kind of depends if you’re in the mood.
JM: In addition to APTBS, you're also the founder of Death By Audio, in which you design and manufacture hand-wired guitar-effect pedals. What made you want to pursue that, and do you have a favourite effect that you’ve designed throughout the years?
OA: I just wanted to create instruments that weren’t available anywhere else, so it’s kind of like a constant search—the same sort of thing like trying for sounds and stuff. Being a musician and being interested in these things, there comes to a point at which the tools that you have, you at least dream that they could be better or more exciting or do more things. That’s always sort of the goal as to ‘what are the limits of experimentation and how can you take these things further?’ So I was just curious, and that opened up lots of things and started building lots of stuff, and I started working with other people. It just blew up into this thing where we were creating these tools that were to be used for making this wild music to push things further. We always create things that are not available anywhere else. That’s kind of the point. If you can get it from somewhere else you may as well get that. I’ll be the first to suggest anything else that I’ve used for somebody else.
The greatest thing we’ve made; I mean, I use a lot of those pedals. Now I’m just excited about what stuff we’re going to be making in the future. Some of the most recent pedals, the DISTURBANCE and the ROOMS, those are incredible. The SPACE BENDER I use that a lot on this EP that we’ve recorded. A lot of times, we find this crazy, wild effect, and then we fall in love with it and use it to write a lot of music. That’s kind of the excitement of all that stuff [smiles]. I would say what’s cool about Death By Audio is we're not afraid to make something that’s sort of so messed up and kind of dangerous which kind of helps push music further. If you don’t own any Death By Audio pedals, it’s a good thing for a range of contrast to the rest of your effects because all of our stuff is kind of intense.
JM: Do you exclusively use Death By Audio pedals when recording, or do you use stuff from elsewhere?
OA: I’ll use anything. When we play live, I’ll only use stuff that we built from Death By Audio and just kind of do that as a ‘badge of honour’ or something like that, I guess [laughs]. When recording, lots of people give me gifts, or I’m interested in checking out what the new technologies are, too, so if I can, I’ll dive into different things at different times. The goal of making music is to make the most ultimate, coolest, beautiful music that we possibly want to. You don’t necessarily want to limit yourself. And lots of people are creating all sorts of cool things. We’ve come to a place in this world where there are so many different DIY creators of these instruments and pedals. So then you get a lot of really interesting and unique ideas behind this stuff that never would have come about if people were designing for the masses. It's kind of this awesome place for hand-built effects at this moment.
JM: How important do you think DIY is for making art?
OA: It can be important. It doesn’t have to be. I love DIY. I feel like if there’s any of those times when you’re, ‘Oh, I don’t know how to do this’ or ‘I can’t do that,’ it’s great to think about it like, ‘Okay, let me figure this out and make it happen.’ I’ve taught myself all sorts of things: how to silkscreen, how to build walls and homes, soundproofing, windows, wire electricity, and plumbing [laughs]. I think that it’s interesting to know how to do those things and then you can craft your world around you in the way that you want to. You’re not limited and you can just explore what the possibilities are.
There is something even really pure and awesome too about things that are created by someone. I like that thing where it’s been touched by the human hand, like if someone silk screened that T-shirt rather than it happened on some machine or some perfect thing. There’s something beautiful about the mistakes, and I think that’s even what’s beautiful about music.
JM: Would you consider AI art art, or do you think it needs to be touched by a human in order for it to be called art?
OA: I’ve seen some amazing AI art, and I think it kind of comes from someone with like a demented idea in their mind and maybe them talking to this computer going back and forth creates something; there are lots of really interesting and beautiful video things. Things that kind of meld and melt into these psychedelic worlds which I think is really interesting and awesome. AI is here. It’s another thing that’s not gonna go away. It’s gonna go further and further. So, it may as well be embraced. But I think sometimes people use these things, and this is apparent in art and stuff all over the place, just because they’re kind of lazy or something. Or they use it in a way they think can get something out of it without having to do anything. I think it’s when people do creative things with these things or creative things with any tools that really makes it turn into something beautiful.
JM: My last question, what do you hope people take away from Synthesizer?
OA: Maybe it can bring them some comfort, peace, or excitement or motivate them to do something. Or see that people created this music and actually created this circuit board which is our cover and sort of lives in these worlds and maybe it’s comfort for people. I know it's comforting for me this music. It’s all recorded in the aesthetics and the things I really like. If they love that too, then that’s great [laughs]. But you can take your own things. Some people can hate it, love it, do whatever you want I guess [laughs].