Blow out your eardrums with A Place to Bury Strangers

“Bad Idea” by A Place to Bury Strangers is one of the catchiest songs to come out in a long time. Within a few minutes of listening to it, you may find yourself singing along. It’s just that good.

If you think about it, most of us can identify with a song like “Bad Idea.” We’ve all had them. Most of us have followed through on them, too. It’s like a warm, fuzzy blast of sonic empathy. The chorus gets in your head and it's just so simple and so right there in the moment. You feel for the voice behind the wall of noise. And what beautiful noise it is. We suggest turning it up.

A Place to Bury Strangers, who are playing at Valley Bar on Saturday, have a reputation for being an incredibly loud and intense band.

“There's something about that struggle (between the band, the sound, and the audience) that just keeps it real. And, you know, I don't know, it's exciting, as well. When you feel that bass rumbling through your body, you can't deny it. If it's music that you love, it's the freaking best,” says Oliver Ackermann of the New York-based band who has been cranking out music since 2002.

Ackermann is a joy to talk to as well. The guy exudes enthusiasm for what he's doing but also seems to be genuinely stoked that anyone is interested in what he has to say. It feels as if he would be making great tunes like “Bad Idea” no matter if two people or 200 were coming to the show.

A studio guy at heart, Ackermann also appreciates taking the show on the road.

“The road can be so rewarding. It’s so fun being out and traveling, meeting new people and seeing old friends ... playing crazy shows. You know, there’s no kind of drug really like that,” he says.

When he’s not rocking with A Place to Bury Strangers, Ackermann is making some of the coolest effects pedals out there with his company, Death By Audio, since 2002. Ackermann has recently released a bass pedal called Bass War that sounds killer, and their popular Fuzz War pedal is widely used as well.

“I’m a fan of all these bands and all this stuff that’s going on and having them use effects pedals that I made is just totally insane,” Ackermann says.

The singe and guitarist says he was trying to build recording equipment and modify amplifiers and sort of stumbled into the effects pedal business.

“I was trying to make sounds that you couldn’t get anywhere else and was slowly destroying a lot of shit, but I was also reading a lot of books. This was before a lot of this information was available on the internet, so I would go to these technical libraries, read engineering books and not understand a thing about it, but slowly I developed the skills to pull these things apart, build some changes and then the next thing you know, you’re making shit work,” he says.

When you listen to "Synthesizer," A Place to Bury Strangers’ album that came out in early October, you can’t help but reflect on Ackermann’s affinity for noise-making devices. The album sounds amazing. The band are a thoroughly modern take on legendary predecessors like The Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine, with a dollop of Sonic Youth for good measure. But A Place to Bury Strangers do their own thing. Fans of music that layer the fuzzy guitars, droning bass and propulsive drums will love what A Place to Bury Strangers bring to the table.
It's not just “Bad Idea” that sets an excellent tone for your day, but tracks like “Have You Ever Been In Love” and “It’s Too Much” are more than just memorable. They seep into your skin and vibrate alongside your pulse. Synthesizer’s cover itself can become a synthesizer.

“You can build the cover into an actual synthesizer. We use that synthesizer on all the tracks on the record,” says Ackermann.

It is true, too. You can buy the parts from Ackermann’s Death By Audio website (or source them yourself, according to the site) to create the synthesizer that graces the album art. Check out the noisy opener, “Disgust” from Synthesizer and see if you wouldn’t mind being able to make some of the same types of sounds in your very own home.

The main thing, though, is that Ackermann is doing all of this for the right reason. The guy just loves to create new things, whether it is music or the gear to make the music great. Creating is key.

“Yeah, fuck it! I think I may as well just go for it. Seeing bands changed my life and listening to music just kind of makes me want to keep going,” he says.

A Place To Bury Strangers. 7 p.m. doors, 7:30 p.m. show, Saturday, Nov. 2. Valley Bar, 130 N. Central Ave. Tickets are $20 on the Valley Bar website.