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Watch Japandroids’ Pitch-Perfect ‘The House That Heaven Built’ Video

A little more than three years ago, Japandroids’ Brian King and David Prowse made the six-hour drive from Chicago to Des Moines for a Monday night show. They stood in a nearly empty parking lot unloading their gear and bringing it up a street that’s packed on weekend nights but was basically dead this particular summer evening. Your SPIN contributor was there, newly relocated from Brooklyn, and bumped into them on the way into the venue. After being congratulated on their great festival set, the fellas good-naturedly said they’d expected this town to be a “shithole.” When they played debut album Post Nothing‘s call-to-whoa-ohs “Young Hearts Spark Fire,” they dedicated it to the guy who’d seen them a day earlier in Chicago, without knowing that guy was your SPIN contributor, or whatever.

Japandroids are playing bigger venues now (see below), on the strength of their mortality-embracing sophomore effort Celebration Rock, but the new video for this album’s standout, “The House That Heaven Built,” celebrates that same kind of road-warrior ethic. As the story above suggests, we empathize pretty strongly with the fans shaking the band members’ hands, screaming along, or making out during the live footage here, so we’re not exactly impartial when we say director Jim Larson’s video is a great fit. But the shots of Japandroids slamming down drinks, grinding it out in concert, and then cramming into their van — hell, of dudes in Free Energy T-shirts being wrestled offstage by security — immaculately capture this scuzzy rock anthem’s 99-percenter-#YOLO mantra: “When they love you and they will / Tell them all they’ll love in my shadow /And if they try to slow you down / Tell them all to go to hell.” Japandroids are the kind of band you love too much or not at all, and who’ll convince you life’s too short for anything in between.

Read our revealing profile: Japandroids: Killing Yourself to Live

Japandroids tour dates:
August 14 – Ponte Do Lima, Portugal @ Paredes De Coura Festival
August 16 – Dublin, Ireland @ Workmans Club
August 17 – Belfast, Northern Ireland@ Mandela Hall
August 18 – Skipton, England@ Beacons Festival
August 19 – Leicester, England@ Summer Sundae Festival
August 22 – Reykjavik, Iceland @ Gamli Gaukurinn
August 24 – Hannover, Germany @ Bootboohook Festival
August 25 – Dornstadt, Germany @ Obstwiesen Festival
August 27 – Frankfurt, Germany @ Zoom
August 28 – Dresden, Germany @ Beatpol
August 29 – Berlin, Germany @ Magnet
August 31 – Poznan, Poland @ Fabrika
September 1 – Warsaw, Poland @ Hydrozagadka
September 3 – Budapest, Hungary @ Akvarium
September 4 – Vienna, Austria @ Chelsea
September 6 – Ljubljana, Slovenia @ Kino Siska
September 7 – Graz, Austria @ Postgarage
September 8 – Zagreb, Croatia @ NKC Park
September 10 – Prague, Czech Republic @ Lucerna Music Bar
September 11 – Munich, Germany @ Feierwerk
September 12 – Luzern, Switzerland @ Treibhaus Luzern
September 14 – Brussels, Belgium @ La Chocolaterie
September 15 – Leffinge, Belgium @ Leffingeleuren Festival
September 16 – Tilburg, Netherlands @ Incubate Festival
September 18 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso
September 19 – Rotterdam, Netherlands @ Rotown
September 21 – Hamburg, Germany @ Reeperbahn Festival
September 22 – Munster, Germany @ Gleis 22
September 23 – Cologne, Germany @ Luxor
September 25 – Copehagen, Denmark @ Pumpehuset
September 26 – Aarhus, Denmark @ Voxhall
September 28 – Gothenburg, Sweden @ Pustervik
September 29 – Stockholm, Sweden @ Strand
September 30 – Oslo, Norway @ John Dee
October 12 – Madrid, Spain @ El Sol
October 13 – Barcelona, Spain @ Sala Apolo
October 15 – Winterthur, Switzerland @ Salzhaus
October 16 – St. Gallen, Switzerland @ Grabenhalle
October 18 – Rome, Italy @ Lanificio 159
October 19 – Bologna, Italy @ Covo
October 20 – Padova, Italy @ Loop
October 24 – Athens, Greece @ AN Club
October 26 – London, UK @ Heaven
October 27 – Manchester, UK @ Sound Control
October 29 – Sheffield, UK @ The Harley
October 30 – Birmingham, UK @ Hare & Hounds
November 1 – Paris, France @ Pitchfork Music Festival
November 4 – Austin, TX @ Fun Fun Fun Fest
November 5 – Dallas, TX @ Trees*
November 7 – Scottsdale, AZ @ Martini Ranch*
November 8 – Los Angeles, CA @ Fonda*
November 10 – San Diego, CA @ Porters Pub*
November 12 – San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore*
November 13 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom*
November 15 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos*
November 17 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
November 18 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird
November 20 – St Louis, MO @ Firebird
November 21 – Nashville, TN @ Exit / In
November 23 – Birmingham, AL @ Bottletree
November 24 – Memphis, TN @ Hi-Tone
November 25 – New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
November 27 – Orlando, FL @ The Social
November 28 – Tampa, FL @ Crowbar
November 29 – Gainesville, FL @ High Dive
December 1 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
December 2 – Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle Tavern
December 4 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
December 7 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
December 8 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
December 9 – Boston, MA @ Paradise
December 10 – Montreal, QC @ Cabaret Mile End
December 11- Toronto, ON @ Phoenix
December 13 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
December 14 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock
December 15 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock
December 17 – Winnipeg, MB @ Pyramid
December 18 – Saskatoon, SK @ Louis Pub
December 19 – Edmonton, AB @ Starlite
December 20 – Calgary, AB @ Republik
December 22 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw