White Denim

With their debut due before the month's out, “clumsy geeky flourishing" (more below) Texans' White Denim electronically answer our questions about hidden 17 minute opuses, having an utterly shit name and making the occasional song you can sit to.

Let’s start with the backstory, how did you guys get together?

We all met at a bar called Beerland in Austin, Tx and were impressed with each others skills (we were in different bands) so we joined forces.

You seem to be a real word-of-mouth type band, even in the era of the blog - more a kind of nudge to a friend than any sort of hype. Has it felt like that for you guys?

I think the people that takes care of our booking does an excellent job of setting us up with shows where we play in front of a lot of people. Most people have never heard of us and so they are surprised (for better or worse). I still think if we booked our own shows that only 6 people would show up.

Do you think a lot of it’s down to the live show? Because you have built up a ferocious reputation of blowing audiences away and all other bands on the bill out of the water.

Well, our recordings and songwriting are out of this world amazingly excellent, but most people are just impressed with out live show, yes.

There’s an awful lot going on each track that tends to put reviewers in thesaurus-inducing spins hence the “clanging post punk din and howling spazz-rock” combinations. Do you always try to layer lots of ideas onto one track?

We always tend to work on a track until it is “done”. It has been the beauty of working in our own studio. On a side note, “clumsy geeky flourishes”.

Is it hard then to control this and not go off on wild tangents? Or is there a seventeen-minute opus on the record that I’ve not yet heard…

We have recorded many 17 minute opuses but we did not include them on this record.

Where does the sound have its roots? I’ve read Minutemen mentioned – not a million miles away - but there’s also quite a lot of dirty and raw blues in there.

I think we all bring a bit of our own roots in. To put it as simply as possible, James brings the soul, Steve brings the punk, and Josh brings the jazz.

Do you think you’re somewhat ushering us back to a time of just good old fashioned but equally boundary-testing rock n’ roll?

While we were making it we weren’t really thinking about ushering anyone anywhere. We were just trying to make what sounded good to us right then. Of course, when we recording it only about 75 people knew we existed.

To get onto all things exciting, the album’s out over here next month, what should we expect? Will it be more of the same in relation to the Let’s Talk About It EP?

Well, the Let’s talk about it EP is actually included on the record and I think the other 9 songs are definitely an extension of it, but quite a long extension. There are pianos, long instrumental passages, some songs you may be able to sit with as opposed to spazzing out to.

Where and when was it recorded?

It was recorded in Josh Block’s Spartan Trailer in Driftwood, Texas from Fall of 2006 all the way until maybe February of 2008? Most of it was done by the middle of 2007 though, I think.

How did you hook up with Full Time Hobby over here in the UK? And what’s the plan for releasing in the States?

I am pretty sure that Full Time Hobby was a godsend, I have no idea how they found us and I love all of them, coolest bunch of dudes! As far as the US release, we are going to release it ourselves on vinyl and digital around the same time that the UK release drops.

What’s Austin like as a city to make music in? Obviously the musical world and its mother descend once a year but how thriving is it in the other 51 weeks?

The other 51 weeks are pretty similar as far as how much music you can see. There are probably 10,000 bands in Austin. Everyone is in a band. We all moved here to play music and I think other people do the same. At one point towards the beginning of Parque Touch/White Denim I was in 6 groups at once.

Any fellow Texan bands you could recommend to us?

Assacre, Crapulence, Dazzling King Solomon, Brazos, {Sunset}, Foot Patrol, Marked Men, Weird Weeds, Plutonium Farmers, Gary Barftits, depending on your cup of tea.

Who’s idea was the weightlifting while smoking photo by the way? It’s definitely one of the cooler press shots around.

AUBREY EDWARDS. She is a terrific photographer and that photo never gets credited. www.aubreyedwards.com

Oh and I went to www.whitedenim.com and found it’s a fairly obscure Pennsylvanian record label. Who’s going to end up suing who here then? Or should they be thankful your inadvertently putting business their way?

They seem to hate us more than be thankful for us. It’s a pretty great label though!

While we’re at it, where did the name come from? My mate reckons it’s a bit shit (he’s a big fan besides) but do feel free to say you think he’s a bit shit too.

Well, we all were fans of naming the group something as shitty as possible. Totally Revolution was in the running, as well as Crazy Sexy Rainbow. But tangibly, White Denim is one of the shittiest things available. Your mate is right.

Well I don’t have much of a problem with the name and can’t wait for the record to come out – cheers for taking the time out to answer the questions.

You should have a problem with the name, and if I see you wearing it I’m going to spill ketchup on you.

White Denim’s debut album ‘Workout Holiday’ is out June 23, followed by the new single ‘All You Really Have To Do’ on the July 7, both on Full Time Hobby