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[Portugal. the Man w/ White Denim] [Today, 9 p.m.]
[Waiting Room, Omaha] [$13 in advance, $15 at the doors]
Proceeds make their tour happen!
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as seen in the Daily Nebraskan
Austin's White Denim is a rock band, but its sound is more than just rock.
Its sound is a lot of things, really. It's punk and funk, country and jazz. But for the sake of their families that ask, lead singer-songwriter/guitarist James Petralli will call it "rock." Confusion among grandmothers avoided.
The guys, including Petralli, drummer Josh Block, bassist/vocalist Steve Terebecki and their new guitarist Austin Jenkins, have been very busy with recording as of late. They released what basically turned out to be an album while recording their actual album, a compilation called "Last Day of Summer."
The "real" album is set for release next spring, and the band is out on tour to promote it. Today's stop is in Omaha opening for Portugal. The Man at the Waiting Room.
I was able to catch up with Petralli, who was running across streets mid-interview, a couple days before starting their tour to discuss the new record, South by Southwest and more.
Your guys' music seems to draw from many types of music. What's your favorite type or genre of music to draw from when you're looking to be inspired during the music-writing process?
That's kind of a tough one. It's kind of difficult to choose just one. I listen to a lot of jazz, but I don't know that I draw from that really. But that's what I like to listen to most. In the studio, we listen to a lot of Grand Funk, stuff like that — Grand Funk Railroad — uh, The Stooges, Deep Purple, stuff like that.
With your music being so many things at once, what do you, personally, tell people your sound is?
I generally just say that it's rock ‘n' roll. If family members or whatever are like, "Oh, what kind of music do you play?" I just generally say rock music. And saying that encompasses everything, in a way.
I understand you guys record in a trailer? Sounds kinda cool, in a threadbare way.
Yeah. Josh (Block)'s studio is about an hour outside of Austin. He's got a really cool, old '50s Barton trailer, and it's kind of gutted, and it looks nice in there; it's pretty classy. We just kind of get out there, and we're so far away from anything, we just focus on music, you know.
You guys and all your equipment fit in there pretty well then?
Yeah, it's a 27-foot trailer. It's pretty big. There's also a cabin that we use to track in as well: a big, square cabin.
You guys released kind of a "for fun" compilation of music a few weeks ago, something you called "a little summer retreat" from working on the full-length, so it seems you've been awfully busy with recording. Are you looking forward to stretching your legs on tour?
Yeah, definitely. Definitely. This is going to be our first tour in eight months, so we're really looking forward to getting out and playing again, for sure. We've got cabin fever, being in the studio, recording like 50 tunes.
What were you wanting to do with that release, exactly?
Honestly, we were hoping to kind of help subsidize the tour and also share music that we kind of felt like we had no other way to release. So we wanted to give something to people that are interested in our music. So yeah, we wanted to do something nice, and we were kind of hoping that we would help pay for the tour with it as well.
When are you projecting the new album to be out?
Oh man, it's hard to say. I hope that it comes out in the spring. We're going to be done with it by the middle of November, I think. So it really just depends. We're working with the record company now and stuff.
Does it have a name yet?
No, we don't even have song titles yet. We're really bad at that. We never name anything until just before it goes to the pressing plant. We have a really disorganized filing system. Each of us knows the tunes by three or four different names. It's really confusing when we're like, "Oh, what was the name of that one?"
Is that something you guys sit down and do together, naming the songs?
Kind of. I mean, I write a lot of the material. I write all the lyrics and most of the changes and stuff like that. So I think I just try to make sure the guys are comfortable with all the decisions that I make. So I offer things — it's kind of like a jury.
Are you guys planning to play a chunk of new songs for your sets?
Most of the set this time is actually the record that is going to come out next spring. So we'll probably be playing eight or nine of the new tunes. I think we're playing mostly music that people haven't heard. We'll do a few of the, uh, quote-unquote "classics" and then mostly new material.
South by Southwest is right in your backyard, and having played it more than once, is it something you guys are really fond of, something that will never grow old?
Yeah, I mean, it's an amazing opportunity for young bands. I think that if we lived somewhere else, we'd play it just once or twice maybe. But since it's here, it's really fun to be apart of it. It's an awesome festival. I mean, I think if we wouldn't have played that, we probably wouldn't have gotten a European record deal so fast, and our careers would be totally different.
If they asked you to play for the next five years, would you?
Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I mean, it's exhausting. The first time that we played it, we played like 11 times. And this last year we played four or five shows during the week, so that felt right. But if it's your first time playing it, you have to take the opportunity to play as much as you can. But, I think, that we've done it like four years in a row, we can kind of play a little bit less. People won't get sick of us that way.
What do you think you'd be doing if you weren't in a band or playing music?
I think I'd probably be teaching English to high school students right now, if I wasn't playing. Yeah, I studied English and writing when I was in school. Either that, or before I started doing this music thing, I was driving a truck, and I really kind of liked that. So maybe I'd go back to that. There's a lot of pressure in the classroom.
Its sound is a lot of things, really. It's punk and funk, country and jazz. But for the sake of their families that ask, lead singer-songwriter/guitarist James Petralli will call it "rock." Confusion among grandmothers avoided.
The guys, including Petralli, drummer Josh Block, bassist/vocalist Steve Terebecki and their new guitarist Austin Jenkins, have been very busy with recording as of late. They released what basically turned out to be an album while recording their actual album, a compilation called "Last Day of Summer."
The "real" album is set for release next spring, and the band is out on tour to promote it. Today's stop is in Omaha opening for Portugal. The Man at the Waiting Room.
I was able to catch up with Petralli, who was running across streets mid-interview, a couple days before starting their tour to discuss the new record, South by Southwest and more.
Your guys' music seems to draw from many types of music. What's your favorite type or genre of music to draw from when you're looking to be inspired during the music-writing process?
That's kind of a tough one. It's kind of difficult to choose just one. I listen to a lot of jazz, but I don't know that I draw from that really. But that's what I like to listen to most. In the studio, we listen to a lot of Grand Funk, stuff like that — Grand Funk Railroad — uh, The Stooges, Deep Purple, stuff like that.
With your music being so many things at once, what do you, personally, tell people your sound is?
I generally just say that it's rock ‘n' roll. If family members or whatever are like, "Oh, what kind of music do you play?" I just generally say rock music. And saying that encompasses everything, in a way.
I understand you guys record in a trailer? Sounds kinda cool, in a threadbare way.
Yeah. Josh (Block)'s studio is about an hour outside of Austin. He's got a really cool, old '50s Barton trailer, and it's kind of gutted, and it looks nice in there; it's pretty classy. We just kind of get out there, and we're so far away from anything, we just focus on music, you know.
You guys and all your equipment fit in there pretty well then?
Yeah, it's a 27-foot trailer. It's pretty big. There's also a cabin that we use to track in as well: a big, square cabin.
You guys released kind of a "for fun" compilation of music a few weeks ago, something you called "a little summer retreat" from working on the full-length, so it seems you've been awfully busy with recording. Are you looking forward to stretching your legs on tour?
Yeah, definitely. Definitely. This is going to be our first tour in eight months, so we're really looking forward to getting out and playing again, for sure. We've got cabin fever, being in the studio, recording like 50 tunes.
What were you wanting to do with that release, exactly?
Honestly, we were hoping to kind of help subsidize the tour and also share music that we kind of felt like we had no other way to release. So we wanted to give something to people that are interested in our music. So yeah, we wanted to do something nice, and we were kind of hoping that we would help pay for the tour with it as well.
When are you projecting the new album to be out?
Oh man, it's hard to say. I hope that it comes out in the spring. We're going to be done with it by the middle of November, I think. So it really just depends. We're working with the record company now and stuff.
Does it have a name yet?
No, we don't even have song titles yet. We're really bad at that. We never name anything until just before it goes to the pressing plant. We have a really disorganized filing system. Each of us knows the tunes by three or four different names. It's really confusing when we're like, "Oh, what was the name of that one?"
Is that something you guys sit down and do together, naming the songs?
Kind of. I mean, I write a lot of the material. I write all the lyrics and most of the changes and stuff like that. So I think I just try to make sure the guys are comfortable with all the decisions that I make. So I offer things — it's kind of like a jury.
Are you guys planning to play a chunk of new songs for your sets?
Most of the set this time is actually the record that is going to come out next spring. So we'll probably be playing eight or nine of the new tunes. I think we're playing mostly music that people haven't heard. We'll do a few of the, uh, quote-unquote "classics" and then mostly new material.
South by Southwest is right in your backyard, and having played it more than once, is it something you guys are really fond of, something that will never grow old?
Yeah, I mean, it's an amazing opportunity for young bands. I think that if we lived somewhere else, we'd play it just once or twice maybe. But since it's here, it's really fun to be apart of it. It's an awesome festival. I mean, I think if we wouldn't have played that, we probably wouldn't have gotten a European record deal so fast, and our careers would be totally different.
If they asked you to play for the next five years, would you?
Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I mean, it's exhausting. The first time that we played it, we played like 11 times. And this last year we played four or five shows during the week, so that felt right. But if it's your first time playing it, you have to take the opportunity to play as much as you can. But, I think, that we've done it like four years in a row, we can kind of play a little bit less. People won't get sick of us that way.
What do you think you'd be doing if you weren't in a band or playing music?
I think I'd probably be teaching English to high school students right now, if I wasn't playing. Yeah, I studied English and writing when I was in school. Either that, or before I started doing this music thing, I was driving a truck, and I really kind of liked that. So maybe I'd go back to that. There's a lot of pressure in the classroom.
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