The Witzard

"This album [expresses] the gathering of the band's journey across the past two years; a journey full of encounters, people, music, places, and coincidences. All [of these] adventures are permeated in the band's sound, like the memories of a tough hobo. There are hobos who ride trains [and] others ride roads. The HOBO-FI rides Rock "N" Roll from a Blues train to all the lonely Punk ways," self-described " GARAGE / LO-FI / power BLUES " Ancona, Italy -based band Gentlemens (sometimes, referred to as "The Gentlemens" ) wrote within a brief, albeit perfectly descriptive, emailed statement. I first spoke with Gentlemens pseudo-frontman Giordano Baldoni about a year ago, June 2015, after either I discovered them or they discovered me via Twitter ; his initial email included this interesting little tidbit, "We are a little and unsigned band from Ancona (Italy) , we like to play live, and our main favorite bands are the Garage band...

It's a rather unlikely story, which almost sounds too good to be true, but it all started with a single White Denim-centric piece I published back in October-November 2013; "I saw you recently featured White Denim [on The Witzard], and thought you might find UBK's (Israel) new music video interesting," read an email from a publicist named Emma. Uri Brauner Kinrot-fronted UBK would soon effortlessly morph from a mere solo project into a full-fledged band called Ouzo Bazooka. I've been in sporadic contact with UBK's people, fellow band mates, and most recently, Kinrot himself over the course of the past three years and have been honored to feature a number of their videos here on this very site. I would, if pressed, likely attempt to best describe Ouzo Bazooka's unique Israeli Rock sound as a stylistic love child between The Black Keys, Eric Clapton-helmed Cream, and a Mediterranean-influenced version of The Rolling Stones. Ouzo Bazooka's genre-blendin...

"Three years on from their critically acclaimed "barbeque" record Corsicana Lemonade , White Denim are back with more than just a new album to commemorate. Their sixth record, Stiff – out 25 March, 2016 via Downtown/Sony Red – is a return to the Austin quartet's frenetic rock band roots, and is both a jubilant thrill ride and joyous celebration of their past ten years," Downtown Records gushed within a label-sanctioned press release on the heels of Stiff lead-off single, "Holda You (I'm Psycho)." Stiff was preceded by frontman James Pertalli 's lone solo outing under his newly-minted Bop English moniker, Constant Bop (April 2015) and a series of blistering 70's-indebted White Denim covers including "Custard Pie," Fargo -premiered "Just Dropped In (to See What Condition My Condition Was In)," and "Light Up or Leave Me Alone." Mere weeks ahead of Thanksgiving , Downtown sent out an email to anyo...

"Kinrot describes ["Children of The Revolution"] as an interpretation of the emerging social movement in the middle-eastern countries: "From the social justice protests that happened in Israel during 2011 (and to this day), and all the manifestations that are changing the Middle East surface, emerged a strong connection to this song and its relevancy for today's reality," reads a pull-quote lifted from Ouzo Bazooka frontman Uri Brauner Kinrot (formerly UBK ). Initially billed as "Mediterranean garage rock / Israel," I've been in touch with UBK and his social media team since about November 2013, after they saw an old featurette I did on White Denim ; at this point in time, I've written about roughly 3-5 UBK/Ouzo Bazooka videos and I would best liken their overall sound to a Mediterranean -influenced brand of Queens of The Stone Age 's Desert Acid-Rock infused with The Black Keys' radio-friendly Blues-Rock Americana . ...

"Dani's Blues (It Was Beyond Our Control)" is a fun introduction, with the chiming piano riff recalling early 70's AM Pop - think Paul McCartney 's initial solo releases, those early Elton John albums, or even ELO at their most creative," Clash Music poetically likened White Denim frontman James Petralli aka Bop English 's recent premier single to its predecessors/possible influences. After four tedious years-worth of studio tinkery, Petralli's "solo" debut, Constant Bop , is finally ready for a world-wide release on Blood and Biscuits /Downtown Records this upcoming April 13-14th; " Constant Bop is a widely collaborative project that features production from Jim Vollentine , 5th Street Studio's Ryan Joseph and Nick Joswick, as well as Matt Oliver of Big Orange Studios and the band TV Torso... White Denim 's drummer Josh Block , guitarist Austin Jenkins, and bass player Steve Terebecki , as well as former Shearwater...

It's probably just some sort of weird subconscious coincidence, but the track I'm about to review is titled "At Night In Dreams" and man, did I have a colorful dream last night: I was attending some sort of St. Patty's -themed little people marathon race in my hometown, where all the runners were either dressed like leprechauns, nuns, or priests... But they could party harder than any binge-drinking testosterone-filled frat dudes! Anyways, White Denim is currently one of my favorite bands, but my first exposure to their music wasn't even a proper White Denim album; frontman James Petralli released an unofficial "solo album" a few years ago, which featured Portastudio -recorded covers of Elvis Costello , Ween, Neil Young , Stevie Wonder, King Crimson , and White Stripes album deep cuts. Needless to say, White Denim 's most recent record, Corsicana Lemonade quickly became one of my favorite Rock "N" Roll albums of 2013-14! It's...

About a week ago, I got an interesting email from a woman named Emma , which started out with "I saw you recently featured White Denim [on your blog], and thought you might find UBK's (Israel) new music video interesting." Down towards the bottom of the message, it also lists his music likely well-suited for fans of The Black Keys , Hanni el Khatib, The Black Angels , and Classic Rock super-group Cream . Uri Brauner Kinrot (UBK) previously toured the world with a Balkan surf guitar-tuba-drums power trio and an infamous New York Punk band; his debut solo album, Ouzo Bazooka , is a stylistic "mix of East and West, Martin and Morrison [that] sends you on a psychedelic high, a journey in time and space." Lead single "I Got You" is a scorchin' hot, down and dirty Rock "N" Roll romper with companion visuals directed by Guy J. Bolandi , which follows a gaggle of beautiful women performing post-apocalyptic ceremonies on the terribly obli...

Purchased on a whim and the sheer strength of two Southern -fried rockin' Blues-Funk teaser singles, White Denim 's recently released sixth album, Corsicana Lemonade is without a doubt one of this past year's late-blooming sleeper hits; While I've always seen White Denim 's name strewn across various Indie Rock -leaning blogs (especially Gorilla vs. Bear ), I'd never really given the Austin -based band a legitimate shot. It's just a solid, no frills 10-track Rock "N" Roll album that's equal parts Black Keys and Creedence (with some added Psych-Rock flavor). But in true Southern Rock fashion, White Denim recruited The Bottom Dollar String Band for "Pretty Green Mash," a reduced version of their lead Corsicana Lemonade single. From what I understand, the track's included on a "Pretty Green" online/tour-exclusive 10" EP, along with B-sides "Under mi Pretty Green" and rough album closer "...

It turns out that "At Night In Dreams" is the absolute Fuzz-Rock romper of a track that White Denim briefly teased along with Corsicana Lemonade 's initial release announcement (uploaded back in August). Sans lyrics at that point, "At Night In Dreams" was chopped up throughout Michael Hammett, James Petralli & Aaron Weiss' behind-the-scenes Corsicana Lemonade mini-film. Anchored by a looping Space-Funk guitar line, frontman James Petralli (son of 1980-90's baseball player Geno Petralli ) kinda has a wonderfully tortured-sounding, whiskey-soaked growl that could be likened to their "Modern-Rock" peers The Black Keys or Kings of Leon . White Denim previously unleashed a slightly deranged Frank Zappa & The Mothers -reminiscent music video for the album's quasi-lead single "Pretty Green" and quite honestly, on the sheer strength of the 2 aforementioned tracks... I'll definitely be picking up a copy of the C...

Once you get past the inherent trippiness and utter nonsense that comes along with White Denim 's latest "Pretty Green" video, it's a pretty damn great Rock "N" Roll number. Austin 's finest recently teamed up with director(s) The Modern Plow Collective to create what The Line of Best Fit (who premiered the video) describes as "a particularly hungry acid trip." It features both quick glimpses and extended scenes of White Denim dressed in all sorts of fucked up food masks, face-encompassing beards, empty-looking gold masks, green screened giant lips, and a bunch of 90's-reminiscent cheesy CGI video trickery. Forget about anything vaguely weird that Michael Jackson ever released, White Denim have easily produced the most tripped out performance video I've ever seen! ha Sonically, I think "Pretty Green" sounds a lot like The Black Keys and I'm sure we could sit here and argue ALL DAY about who came first... Wilco ...

"It's taken five records to make one that sounds the way we do on-stage," lamented White Denim frontman James Petralli , who recorded a 6-track Portastudio -assisted covers album on-the-fly last April... "We wheeled-in a bunch of crazy 50's gear and played from noon until 2am every day until the album was done." Downtown Records plans to unleash Corsicana Lemonade , which was jointly produced by Jeff Tweedy, Tom Schick , and local Austin maestro Jim Vollentine , this upcoming October 29th. White Denim could more or less be likened to a slightly more Indie Rock -minded, Funk -infused version of The Black Keys or something along the lines of Squeeze , Big Star, and Rick Derringer . Aside from a nifty little Corsicana Lemonade album teaser clip, "Pretty Green" is a blistering Rock "N" Roll romper, despite it's semi-questionable title. This marks the first time during White Denim 's 7-year career that they've worked...

Daughn Gibson and director Jeremiah Rouse have essentially managed to flip the whole concept of the flashy modern-day "music video" on it's head, stripping it back down to it's primal elements: grandiose sound and tasteful film flourishes. A former Hardcore Punk drummer (Pearls & Brass) who notoriously moonlighted as a truck driver, Gibson's latest single, "Kissin' On The Blacktop" also seemingly duals as his first ever music video release. It's a gritty brew-N-smoke-soaked scene that works quite well with Daughn Gibson 's Alt. Country/Americana hybrid sound. Surrounded by a cast of shady-looking, yet deeply interesting characters, Gibson successfully weaves a Bluesy tale about a booze-fueled romance with "Kissin' On The Blacktop" while at the fictitious "Twin Willows" watering hole; We're talkin' about toothless pool sharks, whiskey-drinking cowboys, a leopard-skinned gold digger, smokin' h...

Daughn Gibson is a former truck driver who looks like he could be a flannel/chainsaw model and sings kinda like a disjointed mix between Joy Division , Crash Test Dummies , and Johnny Cash . Gibson's new label, Sub Pop is gearing up to release his second album, Me Mean , this upcoming July 8-9th; It was recorded with producer, Benjamin Balcom and features guitar work from John Baizley (Baroness) and Jim Elkington (Brokeback). I really don't think that calling Daughn Gibson 's unique style of music Americana would be totally inappropriate or wrong... Sub Pop laments that "if All Hell was a gritty black-and-white movie, Me Moan is a widescreen IMAX 3-D extravaganza." Just unleashed late Thursday afternoon, "The Sound of Law" is a deep, gravely-voiced progressively dark track that makes use of a wide array of live instrumentation including drums, pedal steel, horns, house strings, bagpipes, and organs. Daughn Gibson was born and raised in Naz...

For starters, Daughn Gibson 's voice kinda sounds like an oddly appropriate mix between Johnny Cash , Barry White , and a bowl-full of coarse gravel; a style which is more than likely a direct result of teenage years spent drumming with assorted Philly and New York -area Hardcore Punk/Metal bands and the 10 years' time traveling cross-country in a BIG empty mac truck, blasting radio-transmitted Country music. When Daughn Gibson moved from his childhood town of Narazeth, PA to Carlisle in late 2010-11, he recorded what eventually ended up being All Hell ... simply created because "there weren't as many like-minded musicians to start a band with." Gibson's close friend Matt Korvette from Pissed Jeans pressed up a limited LP release of All Hell on his home-grown Indie label imprint, White Denim . Daughn Gibson then decided to follow that up with a 2-track 45 and Bandcamp digi-single simply titled, "Lite Me Up" in conjunction with Dull Kni...

Seems as though White Denim's primary singer-songwriter, James Petralli decided to partake in one of Middle America 's most cherished pastimes over the weekend: "Spring Cleaning." Like all too many of us, Petralli was rooting through his Austin, TX garage and quickly dug up a lost treasure... Tascam Portastudio fully in toe, Petralli then took to Facebook , asking White Denim 's trusty fans to submit classic songs that they'd like to hear covered. By late Friday evening, James Petralli re-emerged complete with a 6-track zipfile, Fun Friday : Elvis Costello , Ween, Neil Young, Stevie Wonder , King Crimson, and White Stripes' "WEAReGOinGTObefriENDs" (2002). Arguably a tad bit more laidback than White Denim 's usual rapid-paced, Jazz-Fusion output, Fun Friday was recorded straight to Petralli's handy Tascam Portastudio over roughly 5-6 hours... further topped with a few Austin Jenkins -crafted guitar riffs. It should also be of pa...