US psych rockers White Denim have announced details of their first headline tour of 2009, as well as more info about forthcoming second album ‘Fits’ (out 22nd June). White Denim have already blazed a trail through the UK with their recent festival appearances at Stag and Dagger and The Great Escape, showcasing material from both ‘Fits‘ and 2008’s highly acclaimed debut ‘Workout Holiday’. The band’s headline shows start on the 23rd June in Birmingham, and via an appearance at The Hop Farm festival, culminate at London’s Heaven on the 8th July. Full details are below.
After an incredible breakthrough year that was 2008, White Denim celebrate the first year anniversary of ‘Workout Holiday’ (Albums of the Year from Observer Music Monthly, Uncut, The Sun and Clash) by releasing the eagerly anticipated follow up ‘Fits’. 2009 promises to be as incendiary. The band’s new tour dates follow on from classic UK shows that stopped at Bloomsbury Bowling, Borderline, Cargo and culminated in the you-really-should-have-been-there Dingwalls show in November 2008 which was one of The Independent’s Gigs of the Year (“the kind of group that becomes one’s favourite band. If they carry on at this rate, they should be one of next year’s big crossover successes”)
‘Fits’- the title is both a knowingly bad pun and a reference to the odd tantrum endured in its creation- manages just that. Anyone familiar with the ferocious drive of the Texan trio’s renowned live shows, where songs merge into each other and the playing guides the direction of the performance, will recognise their approach. Recorded and produced by the band in their own infamous studio/trailer, ‘Fits’ is more coherent than debut Workout Holiday, yet sacrifices none of its imagination. Though there’s barely a pause between tracks the set ebbs and flows, ranging from the soft-hearted to the ferocious.
The band describe it, with only light sarcasm, as ‘The Friendship Record’ ‘We were congratulating each other for having good ideas,” says singer/guitarist James Petralli of the sessions, “We went through a lot of positive and negative things and came out of it a lot closer.”
Declared influences range from the obvious- the early works of Funkadelic- to the audible- drummer Josh Block has been listening to a lot of seventies Brazilian pop and it shows.
There are the curveballs you might expect from White Denim, but they are unifying and never forced. The mysteriously titled ‘Sex Prayer’ is an unexpected groove-led fusion riddim instrumental composed and largely performed by bassist Steve Terebecki. The frantic ‘Hard Attack’ is in garbled Spanish. More typical is the pummelling yet swirling upcoming single ‘I Start To Run’, as blunt as any sixties garage band that ever attempted rhythm and blues, yet dressed in a post-post punk arrangement that DFA would be proud of. Danceable rock music does not always have to fit the Brooklyn template. The playful touches act as a wonderful counterpoint to the soulful holler and keys/drums/harmonies second half of this killer tune.
The woozy, fuzzed up ‘All Consolation’ extends the mind-expanding Texan tradition of Roky Erickson, Butthole Surfers and Secret Machines while ‘Everybody Somebody’ is their own take on classic rock, powered by nagging percussion and bubbling keys. Yet White Denim can never be merely nostalgic. ‘Radio Milk’ and ‘Say What You Want’ indubitably rock, yet the rhythms driving them are quietly unsettling and anything but predictable. According to Petralli the songs “deal directly with the sense of paranoia that came with the congratulations we got. Once it’s out there it’s no longer yours. We’re just addressing the fears that come with that.”
The fabulously driving ‘Mirrored And Reversed’ has a ‘Suspicious Minds’ false fade that confounds expectations. Lyrically it deals with the contradiction of their current situation. “Being in a rock band is absurd for an adult. Until last year we lived our lives growing up, worrying about insurance and starting families. Now we do this. So it’s about being afraid of preserving your dreams,” says Petralli. Or, as he sings, “Hoping the hopes of a child”. More prosaically, he describes the music as ‘a good steady shuffle.’ This could possibly be one of the most humble understatements of the year.
These are songs born of experience and doubt. The skipping country-rock of ‘Paint Yourself’, closer to the Meat Puppets than Laurel Canyon, the heartfelt ‘Regina Holding Hands’, White Denim’s take on Shuggie-style soul music (and signals, if it were needed, the emergence of a great singer), and the gentle, moody closer ‘Syncn’ details a relationship that can’t succeed. As bold a closer as ‘Radio Milk’ is an opener, with James’ voice nudged and encased by a fantastically restrained drum workout and predatory instrumentation until the vocal breakdown rounds out a triumphant return.
For all the contemplation ‘Fits’ is effortlessly fun. There are more elements of jazz and soul than previously. Vocals sit in the mix rather than on top, effectively another instrument. The playing is, again, deft without being showy, and there are melodic hooks to spare. So what’s the secret? “We set the tempos high and set off,” says Petralli. It’s that simple. And it works. In spades.
Headline tour dates:
June
Tues 23rd Bar Academy, Birmingham
Wed 24th Ruby Lounge, Manchester
Fri 26th Academy 2, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Sat 27th Stiff Kitten, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Mon 29th Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Scotland
Tues 30th Digital, Newcastle
July
Thurs 2nd Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
Fri 3rd Academy 2, Oxford
Sat 4th The Hop Farm, Kent
Sun 5th Talking Heads, Southampton
Tues 7th Thekla, Bristol
Wed 8th Heaven, London
After an incredible breakthrough year that was 2008, White Denim celebrate the first year anniversary of ‘Workout Holiday’ (Albums of the Year from Observer Music Monthly, Uncut, The Sun and Clash) by releasing the eagerly anticipated follow up ‘Fits’. 2009 promises to be as incendiary. The band’s new tour dates follow on from classic UK shows that stopped at Bloomsbury Bowling, Borderline, Cargo and culminated in the you-really-should-have-been-there Dingwalls show in November 2008 which was one of The Independent’s Gigs of the Year (“the kind of group that becomes one’s favourite band. If they carry on at this rate, they should be one of next year’s big crossover successes”)
‘Fits’- the title is both a knowingly bad pun and a reference to the odd tantrum endured in its creation- manages just that. Anyone familiar with the ferocious drive of the Texan trio’s renowned live shows, where songs merge into each other and the playing guides the direction of the performance, will recognise their approach. Recorded and produced by the band in their own infamous studio/trailer, ‘Fits’ is more coherent than debut Workout Holiday, yet sacrifices none of its imagination. Though there’s barely a pause between tracks the set ebbs and flows, ranging from the soft-hearted to the ferocious.
The band describe it, with only light sarcasm, as ‘The Friendship Record’ ‘We were congratulating each other for having good ideas,” says singer/guitarist James Petralli of the sessions, “We went through a lot of positive and negative things and came out of it a lot closer.”
Declared influences range from the obvious- the early works of Funkadelic- to the audible- drummer Josh Block has been listening to a lot of seventies Brazilian pop and it shows.
There are the curveballs you might expect from White Denim, but they are unifying and never forced. The mysteriously titled ‘Sex Prayer’ is an unexpected groove-led fusion riddim instrumental composed and largely performed by bassist Steve Terebecki. The frantic ‘Hard Attack’ is in garbled Spanish. More typical is the pummelling yet swirling upcoming single ‘I Start To Run’, as blunt as any sixties garage band that ever attempted rhythm and blues, yet dressed in a post-post punk arrangement that DFA would be proud of. Danceable rock music does not always have to fit the Brooklyn template. The playful touches act as a wonderful counterpoint to the soulful holler and keys/drums/harmonies second half of this killer tune.
The woozy, fuzzed up ‘All Consolation’ extends the mind-expanding Texan tradition of Roky Erickson, Butthole Surfers and Secret Machines while ‘Everybody Somebody’ is their own take on classic rock, powered by nagging percussion and bubbling keys. Yet White Denim can never be merely nostalgic. ‘Radio Milk’ and ‘Say What You Want’ indubitably rock, yet the rhythms driving them are quietly unsettling and anything but predictable. According to Petralli the songs “deal directly with the sense of paranoia that came with the congratulations we got. Once it’s out there it’s no longer yours. We’re just addressing the fears that come with that.”
The fabulously driving ‘Mirrored And Reversed’ has a ‘Suspicious Minds’ false fade that confounds expectations. Lyrically it deals with the contradiction of their current situation. “Being in a rock band is absurd for an adult. Until last year we lived our lives growing up, worrying about insurance and starting families. Now we do this. So it’s about being afraid of preserving your dreams,” says Petralli. Or, as he sings, “Hoping the hopes of a child”. More prosaically, he describes the music as ‘a good steady shuffle.’ This could possibly be one of the most humble understatements of the year.
These are songs born of experience and doubt. The skipping country-rock of ‘Paint Yourself’, closer to the Meat Puppets than Laurel Canyon, the heartfelt ‘Regina Holding Hands’, White Denim’s take on Shuggie-style soul music (and signals, if it were needed, the emergence of a great singer), and the gentle, moody closer ‘Syncn’ details a relationship that can’t succeed. As bold a closer as ‘Radio Milk’ is an opener, with James’ voice nudged and encased by a fantastically restrained drum workout and predatory instrumentation until the vocal breakdown rounds out a triumphant return.
For all the contemplation ‘Fits’ is effortlessly fun. There are more elements of jazz and soul than previously. Vocals sit in the mix rather than on top, effectively another instrument. The playing is, again, deft without being showy, and there are melodic hooks to spare. So what’s the secret? “We set the tempos high and set off,” says Petralli. It’s that simple. And it works. In spades.
Headline tour dates:
June
Tues 23rd Bar Academy, Birmingham
Wed 24th Ruby Lounge, Manchester
Fri 26th Academy 2, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Sat 27th Stiff Kitten, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Mon 29th Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Scotland
Tues 30th Digital, Newcastle
July
Thurs 2nd Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
Fri 3rd Academy 2, Oxford
Sat 4th The Hop Farm, Kent
Sun 5th Talking Heads, Southampton
Tues 7th Thekla, Bristol
Wed 8th Heaven, London
