The Whigs
Gringo Star, Clear Plastic Masks
Sat, April 27, 2013
Doors: 9:00 pm / Show: 10:00 pm
40 Watt Club$15.00
Tickets
This event is 18 and over
http://www.40watt.com/event/217437/
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The Whigs
With their new album Enjoy The Company, The Whigs have created a raucous ode to rock and roll. From the opening track, an exhilarating eight-minute mission statement called "Staying Alive," the record offers a powerful sonic rendering of a band opening up to the depth of their past and kicking open the doors to their future. But most of all, this is the undeniably established sound of a band affirming their legacy in the American rock and roll paradigm.
While The Whigs recorded their second record Mission Control at famed Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood and their third release In The Dark in Athens, the making of Enjoy The Company was a dramatically different affair. This time the group sought the guidance of veteran producer John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr, Son Volt, Sonic Youth) and the solitude of Dreamland Studios housed in a historic church in rural Woodstock, New York. "We went out there to record without any distractions," bassist Timothy Deaux explains. "There were no girlfriends there, no bars to go out to. It was just us and the music. Our last album focused on some pretty dark themes and with this one I think there's a newfound sense of optimism and purpose. We didn't make a sugary record, but I think we are honestly feeling good about the band and our lives and it comes across in the sound."
As a result, The Whigs latest features ten tracks of pure celebratory rock and roll fueled by the rhythms of the road, the classic albums that inspired them and nights spent together on stage. "When we're out there driving from show to show, that's my favorite time to get new song ideas," Gispert says. "And the tracks we eventually picked for the album are the ones that we love playing live."
The song "Gospel" mines a joyous guitar hook for a timeless FM radio feel while another track "Rock And Roll Forever" is a spirited hard riffing love letter to the power of primal rock. And after opening with the impassioned declaration of resilience in "Staying Alive," the record perfectly bookends with an equally ardent proclamation entitled "Ours." The song begins with reflective vocals over a lone guitar. Then, like some lost track from a beloved vinyl classic, the music builds, drums exploding accompanied by a volley of power chords. "That song was written about a child whose parents were teaching him how to share," Gispert explains. "It's not mine or yours, but ours. Our band, our music – it's open to anybody."
While The Whigs recorded their second record Mission Control at famed Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood and their third release In The Dark in Athens, the making of Enjoy The Company was a dramatically different affair. This time the group sought the guidance of veteran producer John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr, Son Volt, Sonic Youth) and the solitude of Dreamland Studios housed in a historic church in rural Woodstock, New York. "We went out there to record without any distractions," bassist Timothy Deaux explains. "There were no girlfriends there, no bars to go out to. It was just us and the music. Our last album focused on some pretty dark themes and with this one I think there's a newfound sense of optimism and purpose. We didn't make a sugary record, but I think we are honestly feeling good about the band and our lives and it comes across in the sound."
As a result, The Whigs latest features ten tracks of pure celebratory rock and roll fueled by the rhythms of the road, the classic albums that inspired them and nights spent together on stage. "When we're out there driving from show to show, that's my favorite time to get new song ideas," Gispert says. "And the tracks we eventually picked for the album are the ones that we love playing live."
The song "Gospel" mines a joyous guitar hook for a timeless FM radio feel while another track "Rock And Roll Forever" is a spirited hard riffing love letter to the power of primal rock. And after opening with the impassioned declaration of resilience in "Staying Alive," the record perfectly bookends with an equally ardent proclamation entitled "Ours." The song begins with reflective vocals over a lone guitar. Then, like some lost track from a beloved vinyl classic, the music builds, drums exploding accompanied by a volley of power chords. "That song was written about a child whose parents were teaching him how to share," Gispert explains. "It's not mine or yours, but ours. Our band, our music – it's open to anybody."
Gringo Star
Boiling up from the independent musical cauldron Hotlanta has become, here comes Gringo Star with its follow up to 2008's critically acclaimed debut, "All Y'all. The band now comes into its own with "Count Yer Lucky Stars, " a collection of catchy and instantly classic pop music. You won't be able to stop humming this spate of new and bright tunes, music that lifts the spirit. In this Ben Allen (Animal Collective, Gnarls Barkley, Deerhunter) produced record, the surge of primordial forces that reveals itself through rock and roll only about every other generation has infected these multi-instrumentalists and the result is an upbeat album of raw energy and positivity. Live, if you can resist the urge to dance, you'll find your limbs shaking and your toes tapping to a band which has been described as "explosive," "electrifying," and "exceptional."
No need for the devices of the main stream musical glitterati who hide lifeless melodies and meaningless lyrics in stage productions and synchronized dancing meant to distract their wide eyed fans; here it's the music itself - honest and intense. The Gringos, brothers Nicholas and Pete Furgiuele, Pete DeLorenzo and Chris Kaufmann, play each show as if their lives depended on it, and it's that urgency combined with great song writing, pop beats and skilled harmonies that raise Gringo Star above the cacophonous crowd.
These four guys should be literally showered with the same kind of excited stammering and fawning heaped onto the stars of the early days of rock and roll, the musicians who were raging around the U.S., night after night, putting it all out there, playing their hearts out, singing until they were hoarse and soaked in sweat, letting the music do their talking. There were once musical movements in this country, but the fracturing and splintering of the music scene stopped new waves from forming and cresting. This is a band which is creating the new standards to usher in the next tsunami. If you have the chance to catch them in a small venue, you better do it while you still can.
No need for the devices of the main stream musical glitterati who hide lifeless melodies and meaningless lyrics in stage productions and synchronized dancing meant to distract their wide eyed fans; here it's the music itself - honest and intense. The Gringos, brothers Nicholas and Pete Furgiuele, Pete DeLorenzo and Chris Kaufmann, play each show as if their lives depended on it, and it's that urgency combined with great song writing, pop beats and skilled harmonies that raise Gringo Star above the cacophonous crowd.
These four guys should be literally showered with the same kind of excited stammering and fawning heaped onto the stars of the early days of rock and roll, the musicians who were raging around the U.S., night after night, putting it all out there, playing their hearts out, singing until they were hoarse and soaked in sweat, letting the music do their talking. There were once musical movements in this country, but the fracturing and splintering of the music scene stopped new waves from forming and cresting. This is a band which is creating the new standards to usher in the next tsunami. If you have the chance to catch them in a small venue, you better do it while you still can.
Clear Plastic Masks
The members of Clear Plastic Masks, formed in 2011, had been buddies and neighbors for years, relentlessly and enthusiastically supporting each others' artistic endeavors before coalescing into the definite unit they now are. Blessed to be part of an extended family of musicians the band's sound owes much to the collective experience of playing with so many friends.
