Interview by Natalie K.
March 20, 2010
http://www.aplacetoburystrangers.com
http://www.myspace.com/aplacetoburystrangers
Estrella: Can you please state your name and what you do in the band?
Oliver: My name is Oliver Ackermann and I play guitar and sing in A Place to Bury Strangers.
Estrella: Your tour with The Big Pink, how has it been going?
Oliver: It’s been great. It has been really fun. We have been playing with The Big Pink and they are really cool.
Estrella: How did you guys get on this tour?
Oliver: I think their booking agent is this guy we know from back in the day. I did not even realize he was their booking agent but he asked if we maybe wanted to do it and of course we did.
Estrella: Any good cities so far?
Oliver: Some of my favorite cities are going to places I have never been before. It was cool to be in Milwaukee and a city in Montana. It was a basement show and the kids went nuts.
Estrella: Good response from the show?
Oliver: Yeah really good response, the cops even came out to the show. They shut us down of course, but it was still good. (laughs)
Estrella: After this you are heading overseas for a headlining tour, is this your first one for a long duration of a time?
Oliver: This may be our third headlining tour. I think we have always headlined overseas.
Estrella: I read you guys opened up for MGMT overseas.
Oliver: Oh yeah, that is right, so maybe it is the second one. The MGMT one was half on our own and half MGMT.
Estrella: Excited about going back over there?
Oliver: Yeah, I am really excited, it is always so much fun over there.
Estrella: I know there is a little bit of time in-between tours, do you have anything planned, or are you going to relax?
Oliver: When I am at home in Brooklyn it is way more crazy, intense and stressful. It can be really fun as well but my life is touring, so not really relaxing but working for two weeks should be good.
Estrella: Working on what?
Oliver: All sorts of things, music, try and record some things, and also planning stuff we are going to bring on tour for Europe.
Estrella: Anything the fans can expect over there?
Oliver: They can expect it to be fucking nuts (laughs).
Estrella: What is going to happen when overseas tour ends?
Oliver: Then we have a week or two off before going back to the west coast for another week or two.
Estrella: Basically more touring?
Oliver: Pretty much, I hope it will sort of end by the fall. Probably not, they always book all these shows we don’t know about until the last minute. We just really want to get into recording a lot of new stuff we have been working on
Estrella: Do you ever test out your new stuff for audiences while on the road?
Oliver: Sure, or even write stuff while on the road. That stuff definitely happens. We always try to keep everything as fresh as we can. I always get excited about playing songs we have not played or working on doing new stuff. David was saying this the other day that I always like to throw a wrench in everything we do and maybe that is right. It is fun to be on the edge, not knowing if the show is going to work out.
Estrella: How did you guys decide on “Ego Death” for your third single? That’s a long song.
Oliver: Um, yeah it is kind of long, maybe seven minutes and I did a radio edit which brought it down to four minutes. There are a ton of different factors, sometimes it was not my first choice but you are convinced. There are always good arguments for what can be a good single and at the end of the day we felt it was right. I could have been convinced that any of the songs would have been the next single and eventually go with that.
Estrella: To go along with it, you guys are doing a limited edition 12” EP?
Oliver: It has not come out yet though.
Estrella: Oh, I thought it did!
Oliver: Well, it was supposed to have but I don’t think we are going to get it until New York. I love records so anything I can possibly release on record I will. It is the kind of thing I can keep and hold onto, I love listening to music on vinyl.
Estrella: What is something you have always wanted to do but have not done yet?
Oliver: I think I don’t know what that is. I would love to go to Antarctica, or Japan. I would love to go scuba diving. I would love to do a back flip.
Estrella: You cannot do a backflip?
Oliver: I probably can, I don’t know. I could when I was younger.
Estrella: What is a song you never get sick of hearing?
Oliver: There are a lot of songs I never get sick of hearing and maybe if I heard them too much, I would get sick of them. One song would be “Dreamsucker” by New Grooms, that song I never get sick of.
Estrella: If you could see any band or artist perform any song live, what would it be and why?
Oliver: Intense question. I guess I would want to see The Beatles play, “I Want to Hold your Hand” because it would be sweet. It would be good times to see people going crazy and at that time music was something completely different.
Estrella: Any final comments?
Oliver: No, good job, good team.
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