Japandroids – CAMP Basement, London 22/05/12

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You can hardly blame the double-takes and somewhat bewildered expressions on almost every face that enters Camp Basement, as Montreal MC Cadence Weapon lurks on the venue’s compact and modest stage. It’s hardly the type of act you’d normally expect to support a band with the punk influences that Japandroids have. But despite the bafflement on entry, it only takes a few tracks, or “jams” as the former Polaris Prize nominee and Grimes affiliate puts it, before each and every new arrival is won over.

Now, rather than causing thoughts to linger on how rap itself is going through a “punk” phase, with the likes of Odd Future bringing the genre back to the alternative crowd like NWA and Public Enemy before them, Cadence Weapon actually goes to show a lot about the headline act. The energy of the Canadian rapper as he makes his way into the crowd, encouraging random members of the audience to sing along to tracks oblivious to their pre-knowledge, matches exactly that of his tour mates who have long been regarded as a “great live” act for the staunch band tee wearing gig-goer.

You see, Japandroids are not only known for their raw energy live but also for the audience participation they not only evoke but actively seek. Classic punk call-backs like “Woah, ohh!” litter the choruses of their songs so often that they needn’t write them in the linear notes, you’d just as well half-expect it anyway. This evening’s outing however, a couple of weeks before Japandroids’ new album comes out, seems a different prospect altogether, even for the diehard fans that can be heard frequently discussing how they’ve have seen the Vancouver pair more times than they have fingers to count on.

Airing half a sets worth of new, unheard tracks feels like a true test; sifting the great live band from merely a good band with great, responsive fans. “We’re going to be back here in a few weeks,” frontman Brian King tells the crowd as the duo get ready to start things off, “but this is like a special pre-rehearsal; you won’t know a lot of the songs. Well, unless you’ve already downloaded the new record, which might makes things a lot more fun!”

To the untrained eye and ear, however, it’s hard to distinguish between the old and the new – at least in terms of the crowd’s response, except perhaps when recent single, (the only track from the new record that anyone has heard), ‘The House That Heaven Built’ kicks in. The audience reels off each line like an old favourite, underlining what is missing with the rest of the new material, where matters are more understandably mute. There are still fists in the air a plenty though and spontaneous instances of crowd-surfing as their set draws to a close before King calls out during a bit of a breather “I don’t know how much time we got left but we’re just going to play until somewhat kicks us off”.

A makeshift onstage encore ensues and they play three more songs, their last King describes as “the best song we have”. It’s a mark of a truly great act that you cannot tell the brilliance of their best track apart from those before it. Japandroids are a band to warrant a hell of a lot of credit on tonight’s performance: No matter how many shows they play, how many times an audience member has seen them previously or not, whether they’re playing familiar tracks or some unreleased, it’s just refreshing to see a band and crowd have so much fun in equal and constant measures.