Japandroids : Fate & Alcohol

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Japandroids Fate & Alcohol review

Japandroids were never the type of band to fade away. You’d be forgiven to assume otherwise, being that we hadn’t heard anything from them since 2017’s Near to the Wild Heart of Life (unless you count 2020’s live album Massey Fucking Hall, but lots of things happened in 2020 that I would like to forget). Near to the Wild Heart of Life was a chance to double-down on greatness. It’s a great rock album that’s better than you remember, but through no fault of its own, it could never be as great as its predecessor, 2012’s transcendent Celebration Rock

At this point, I don’t need to tell you about Celebration Rock. If you’re reading this, chances are you know all about it. You know how great it is. You may even have a lyric tattooed on your arm. I was 23 when that album dropped, fresh out of college and not yet ready to embrace the real world just yet. Anything was possible, and the most important thing to me at that time in my life was getting drunk on the weekend with my friends, hoping that feeling was never gonna end. Celebration Rock was our soundtrack, and guitarist/singer Brian King and drummer David Prowse were the “dudes rock” blueprint. It’s an album that put everything on the line. It’s a cheap beer buzz unlike any other. It’s the first kiss that will last forever. It’s the best fucking night of your life. As long as Celebration Rock is within reach, that feeling will never die.

But a lot has changed since that album. Seven years in between albums is a long time to be away from the scene, although King and Prowse never seemed that interested in playing the game anyway. Turns out, they were barely interested in playing with each other. In a recent Stereogum feature, both admitted that it was hard to be out on the road with each other, and the last thing they wanted to do was enter the recording studio. Not exactly ideal talking points you would put on a band’s resume. 

Like I said, you’d be forgiven in assuming Japandroids had faded away. But these are the guys who wrote “The House That Heaven Built,” did you really think they’d go down without a fight? Fuck no. Enter Fate & Alcohol, the final Japandroids album in which the dudes get back together for one last ride. 

Depending on your attachment to the band’s music, your mileage may vary on Fate & Alcohol. It’s admittedly a clumsy album, one that could maybe benefit from being cut by a few songs (which is ironic given I was originally happy to see they broke the eight-track album mold). That said, it’s great to hear Japandroids rip into it again. They’re still more than capable of delivering thrilling rock and roll fantasies. 

In that recent Stereogum feature, King admitted to his newfound sobriety after years of binge drinking and destroying his body on the road. With that in mind, you can hear him working through these changes on Fate & Alcohol. The drunken nights aren’t euphoric so much as they are exhausting. Each drink carries more weight. You have to think about that next beer a little bit more. The nights of reckless abandon turn into sweaty, anxious morning visits to a diner in “Chicago,” and the more he drinks the more he thinks like on “D&T.” “We all know the trouble I’mma get into tonight / unless I fight back against these demons of mine,” King sings, pleading for someone to take his phone away from him before shit gets worse. It’s a hell of a different vibe than saying “fuck it,” getting out of bed, and getting a drink with your bro instead. Priorities change.  

But that’s not to say Japandroids have lost all the magic with time. King and Prowse are still dreamers after all, forever on the hunt for some unnamed incredible feeling. You can hear it in album highlights “Fugitive Summer,” “Positively 34th Street,” and “Alice,” the latter of which they played live on their last tour. In fact, most of this record was written on the road during that tour. Ironically, while the band won’t be touring to promote this record, it comes as no surprise that a lot of these songs would sound great live in a sweaty night club. You can practically see the kids falling over themselves in the pit and reaching out to sing the refrain in “Upon Sober Reflection.” They’ll have to keep some of these songs on ice ‘til the inevitable reunion tour down the road. 

The thing I think I struggle with the most about Fate & Alcohol—and maybe this is just a me thing—is how it prompts the question, “how old am I really?” Did I grow old and boring already? No, it’s the children who are wrong, right? This, of course, is not Japandroids’ problem, but I imagine I’m not the only one who is listening to this record with a little existential dread. While there are more than a few glimpses of the same guys who wrote “Fire’s Highway” throughout Fate & Alcohol, I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t admit some of this stuff sounds about as authentic as Broncos-era Russell Wilson. It just doesn’t quite connect like it used to. I know we all must grow up someday. I just didn’t think I’d be reminded about it when listening to a Japandroids record. Comparatively, when I listen to Celebration Rock and even Near to the Wild Heart of Life to a certain extent, I feel 23 again. I’m still that kid in the front row, fist in the air, a beer in the other, shouting the woah-oh-oh choruses right back at King and Prowse. I don’t get that feeling when listening to Fate & Alcohol. It just makes me miss it more. 

It’s also entirely possible I’m missing the plot. After all, Japandroids never made music that was meant for dissecting. This is punch-drunk rock and roll, baby. Just go with it. Not everything is meant to be picked apart, and you can’t stay young forever. For those of us who have been on board since Post-Nothing, Fate & Alcohol is a gift. They didn’t have to release a new album, but they did and we’re better for it. While it may not live up to some lofty expectations, you can sure do a hell of a lot worse. The boys are leaving town for good, so why not enjoy one more for the road? 


Label: Anti-

Year: 2024


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Japandroids Fate & Alcohol review

Japandroids : Fate & Alcohol

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