Post-Nothing is the debut studio album by Canadian rock duo Japandroids.
The album was originally released in Canada on 28 April 2009, by Unfamiliar Records. Pitchfork awarded 'Best New Music' to both the album and lead single "Young Hearts Spark Fire", helping to expose the band to a large audience outside of Canada.[2][3] Japandroids were subsequently signed to Polyvinyl, who re-released the album worldwide on 4 August 2009.[4]
Background
The band self-financed the recording of Post-Nothing in the summer of 2008, with the intention of self-releasing it in 2009.[5] However, by the fall of 2008, King and Prowse had become convinced that the band was going nowhere, and mutually decided to call it quits at the end of the year. It was agreed that they would self-release the album early in 2009, but would not promote it.[5]
In January 2009, Japandroids signed to independent Canadian label Unfamiliar Records, who were eager to release the album, despite the band's reservations about continuing.[5] Frustrated by label interest only after they had decided to break-up, King and Prowse reluctantly agreed to continue Japandroids temporarily, and began performing live again.[5] In March 2009, taste-making website Pitchfork awarded the song "Young Hearts Spark Fire" a 'Best New Music' designation, instantly exposing the band to a large audience outside of Canada.[6]
Post-Nothing was released in Canada on 28 April 2009, by Unfamiliar Records, originally on vinyl only (Unfamiliar had offered to press Post-Nothing on either CD or LP, but not both, with the band opting for an LP release). Pitchfork immediately championed the album, awarding it a 'Best New Music' designation, and praising its rawness, energy and reckless abandon.[3] Japandroids were subsequently signed to Polyvinyl Record Co. in June 2009.[7] On 16 June 2009, Japandroids recorded a live in-studio session at KEXP in Seattle.[8] On 20 July 2009, "Wet Hair" was released as a single in Europe to promote the album ahead of its release, as well as Japandroids’ first-ever European tour. The album was re-released worldwide by Polyvinyl on 4 August 2009.[9]
In October, 2009, Japandroids performed their first-ever shows in the UK with a 4-night stand in London, including an in-store performance at Rough Trade East.[10] On January 4, 2010, Japandroids made their television debut, performing the song "Wet Hair" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.[11] In March, 2010, the band made their first of many SXSW appearances, performing 8 shows over 4 days in Austin.[12] On 16 April 2010, the band recorded an episode of Morning Becomes Eclectic at KCRW in Los Angeles, which included a 6-song live in-studio performance.[13] On 16 June 2010, the band performed "Young Hearts Spark Fire", "Art Czars", and "Younger Us" on MTV Live. On 15 August 2010, Japandroids’ show at The Fonda Theatre in Hollywood was filmed by Last Call with Carson Daly, with their performances of "Young Hearts Spark Fire" and "Art Czars" airing during episodes on 30 September 2010, and 16 November 2010, respectively.[14]
Tour
Japandroids toured extensively to promote the album, earning praise for their energetic live performances.[15] The Post-Nothing Tour consisted of 9 individual legs, and included over 200 shows in more than 20 countries.[16] While primarily headlining their own shows, Japandroids also supporting acts such as A Place To Bury Strangers and Health in Europe, and The Walkmen in North America.[17][18][19]
Following a handful of warm-up shows in Vancouver and an appearance at CMW in Toronto, Japandroids' first full-scale North American tour was originally scheduled to begin on 23 April 2009, in Calgary.[20] After performing one show, they were forced to postpone and reschedule the remainder of the tour due to a health emergency. On the morning of 24 April 2009, King was checked into Calgary's Foothills Medical Center to undergo emergency surgery for a life-threatening perforated ulcer.[21] Touring resumed 13 June 2009 after King's recovery with a performance at Vancouver's Music Waste festival, and continued uninterrupted through to the final show 27 October 2010 at Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey.
The Post-Nothing Tour informally ended with two performances at Schubas Tavern in Chicago, on 31 December 2010, and 1 January 2011.[22] Following these performances, Japandroids returned to Vancouver to begin work on their second album, and did not perform live again until August 2011.[23]
Initially, the band had desired to include several more tracks on the album, but were unable due to insufficient funds. Many of the un-included tracks that the duo had written for the album were later recorded and released in 2010 as series of limited edition 7" singles.[26] These tracks include "Art Czars", "Younger Us", and "Heavenward Grand Prix". In an interview with The Village Voice, King explained the concept, and how the Post-Nothing Tour affected their release:
When we recorded our album, we had a bunch of other songs at different stages of completion. I’m a fan of very cohesive albums, that sound like a certain time and place, and I didn’t want our second album to be made up of songs that we wrote in 2007 or 2008, songs didn’t make it onto Post-Nothing. So if we didn’t record them now, it felt like they were just going to die. And I didn’t really want that to happen, because we play them in our set and we like them a lot. So this was a way for some of those songs to live rather than die. Once we started touring heavily, we knew that there was no way to record a second album until we actually stopped and came home for a good chunk of time. But the more we toured, the more opportunities we got to continue touring, and we just couldn’t say no. So we thought, at the very least, whenever we came home for a week or two, we could try to record a seven-inch single. It was our way of having new music trickle out in spite of all that touring.[27]
Japandroids had originally planned to release five singles, but abandoned the project after only three in order to focus on writing and recording their second album. A fourth 7" single, their final for Polyvinyl, was eventually released on 15 May 2012, for "The House That Heaven Built", the lead single from their second album Celebration Rock.[28]
