Austin, TX’s White Denim have been making music since 2005, yet they’re finally receiving some well deserved attention with the release of of their most recent LP D (Downtown Records) at the end of May. Previous to D, White Denim was often known for DIY self-recording, myriad musical influences and unique song structures. However, with the new album, the trio added a fourth member (Austin Jenkins) to the mix and opted for a traditional studio approach. The result was a fantastic album (pick it up here) and an early highlight to summer. Frontman James Petralli took a bit to discuss their current tour, the new record and Austin (the city).

 

 

Apes on Tape: Right out of the gate, this was your guys’ first time to the Gorge/Sasquatch, no? Were you pretty giddy about that? Any particular expectations going in?

James Petralli: Yes, that was our first time to the Gorge and it was absolutely amazing. The site was beautiful, the hospitality was top notch, and the folks running the stage and sound were totally professional and on point. It is rare that we have the opportunity to experience something like that in this country. We are used to performing in the dives of America with a handful of nice places along the way. We are very excited to have played the festival. After our gig on Sunday, we met a few enthusiastic members of what in our opinion is the best contemporary band in the world. The first face I saw after getting off of the stage belonged to Jeff Tweedy. I am still processing, that to be honest. When we worked our first two records, Born Again in the U.S.A by Loose Fur was in heavy rotation. Wilco is a band that we have looked up to from the start of this group. I can’t say enough about the festival for providing that experience alone. It was validating.

And while you’re answering these, you’re most likely in the midst of a pretty incredible West Coast jaunt. How’s that been so far? Are you fans of the Left Coast?

We are actually on a short break from tour at the moment, but the West is always fun. Aside from the intensely long drives from city to city, it is in our opinion the most beautiful and welcoming part of America to tour.

Now, more importantly, D has finally arrived. Congratulations, first off. But how have audiences been receiving the new stuff so far or is it too early to tell?

It seems that people are very receptive to the new material. This record was essentially built for the stage, so that is where the tunes are ultimately coming to life. We have received a ton of positive feedback from long-time fans. Those are the people we are trying to continue speaking to.

On that note, the video for “Drug” is stellar. I didn’t recognize any of the directors listed for it, but could you give a bit of background on the video’s concept and how it came to be?

We generally like to be involved in every step of the process when it comes to releasing records. There are some things that we had to let go of with this record, but art direction was fortunately not one of them. The man who handles the majority of this work for us is Michael Hammett. He and I went to college together and began working on film and music projects in the early 2000’s. He comes from a very artistic family that calls themselves the Modern Plow Collective. This video is only the second music video that they have done for us, but Michael and his cousin Bobby Weiss have been involved in the visual aspect of our group from the beginning. I am sure that they will be thrilled to hear that you enjoyed the video. All I can say is that the visual concept was born very late at night. I fear that any explanation from me would demean the potential impact of the work.

Back-tracking a bit, Last Days of Summer was certainly a nice breath of fresh air in the dog days of last summer. How was the fan feedback for you on that? I assume the free download might have helped.

People obviously like free anything! Honestly it pained us to give it away, but it was our only option at the time. I am thrilled that people have enjoyed the music on that record, but a bit disappointed that people don’t generally try to read between the lines. When we released those recordings on our website we were in an extremely tight spot. We are slowly getting back to good, but out of approximately 50,000 downloads under five hundred people have clicked the “support” button next to the download link. If you are reading this supporters…THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! YOU ARE VERY NICE PEOPLE!!! The upside of the whole situation is that we got to share more of our music with people. The only way to look at that is as a success.

The Gorilla vs Bear festival in Dallas was just announced and your included on the bill. Are you guys pretty excited about playing that and helping developing a new and potentially renowned festival outside of that Other Music City in Texas?

Yes, we are honored to have been asked to be a part of that event. GVB have been longtime supporters of our band, and we can’t thank them enough for pointing folks in our direction from the start. Three of us are from the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and the band always enjoys playing there. The metroplex including little d has always boasted an abundance of crazy talented people, even more so than Austin really. Hopefully the city will warm up to the arts again eventually. It can be a fairly volatile and competitive city to work in at the moment, due mostly to the fact that there are very few existing outlets for people. We are very excited for that event though.

And are you guys good pals with the gang running GvB?

Yes. We love those guys. They are exceptional people.

On Austin, as longtime residents, are you in the hometown crowd hoping to “keep Austin weird” and as it is or are you pleased to see SXSW growing so wildly and so newcomers moving there?

I am happy to live in Austin for mostly non music related reasons at this point. It is a beautiful and friendly city, and I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon. SXSW is great for the local economy and that is a total plus. I could take or leave most of the music biz hubbub though. There are great people here in Austin and there are also a ton of dipshits working in music. I hate to say it, but as I am typing this I am realizing that I may want to keep it weird. Strike that. At the moment, I am just as frustrated with old Austin as I am with new Austin. I am completely thankful but also somewhat sad that we have to travel to London to feel like we are playing to a hometown crowd.