Dubbed the “loudest band in New York,” A Place to Bury Strangers is sonic annihilation of ear-splitting distortion and outlandish pedal effects littered with shoegaze vocals. Their sound is somewhere in the aural realm of The Jesus and Mary Chain-meets-Reed Ghazala with a chainsaw. The band came together in 2003 and consists of singer/guitarist Oliver Ackermann (who is also the founder of pedal company Death by Audio), bassist Dion Lunadon, and drummer Jay Space. The band is touring with fellow Brooklynites Hooray for Earth during the trek to Texas, performing Tuesday night in San Antonio before spilling over into SXSW.
“There is this amazing, unpredictable thing that happens when you turn up guitars really loud and you have this feedback or there’s an interplay between the guitar and the amp you are playing out,” Ackermann said. “It’s really awesome, beautiful, and kinda scary and unknowing. You have to be really paying attention to what’s going on while you control your instrument at that moment.”
The band plans to perform songs off their third album, to be released later this year through Mute Records. A word of caution: Have your earplugs ready. Last time I didn’t and my hearing was muffled for almost two days
AT SAN ANTONIO
A Place to Bury Strangers, Hooray for Earth, Stellar Corpse, The Returners, Saturday Night Shockers, Evil Come Evil Go, Vanity Press
$10 presale; $12 door
8pm doors
Tues March 15
The Korova, 107 E Martin
(210) 707-4521
AT SXSW
A Place to Bury Strangers
Midnight
Wed March 16
Prague, 422 B Congress Ave, Austin
(512) 477-2483
