SXSW: White Denim

Austin's White Denim prepares for the future

Their 'do-it-together' approach to music and distribution may prove influential

By Joe Gross
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, March 13, 2008

Every year at South by Southwest, one act comes in with an ungodly amount of hype: audience expectations, press coverage, a new album out or about to drop and lines that may well be around the block for the showcase.

This year, that act is Vampire Weekend.

But every year, a band from Austin sort of falls into the same category. Lower volume on the hype, maybe less press or coverage that hasn't made it out of Texas. One year, the Sword was that band. One or two years, it was Ghostland Observatory.

This year White Denim is holding that slot. The trio's been around since February 2006 and made only a handful of recordings, but in addition to plenty of positive local notices and lots of blog action, they've been in Rolling Stone, Harp and GQ.

Steve Terebecki (bass, scotch) and Josh Block (drums, tequila) don't look all that anointed when they sit down to chat on the balcony of the Mohawk, the Red River club where they've been rehearsing for a few hours. James Petralli (voice, guitar, booze unknown) has to skip the interview to deal with some equipment issues. They look like guys who have been working on their music incredibly hard. Because they have.

"We made the weird plunge into being a full-time band in October," Block says. "So every month is a new scare."

But they say they've been sketching out ideas for a new song every day. Their new LP is finished and they're 12 songs into writing material for another. "We try to do everything in a day," Block says.

"That's about us not having jobs," Terebecki says.

"If you don't have a day job, this is your job," Block says.

Work ethic seems important to White Denim. Block was about 9 or 10 when he started playing the organ at church in Waxahachie. "It's a family thing. My mom played, my grandmother played," he says, "When I showed interest in drums, they made me learn to be a percussionist first." Block says the neighbors were tolerant of his drumming. "Everyone in our neighborhood owed our family a favor because their kid at one time probably broke one of my brother's limbs at yard football," Block says. "My brother was six years younger than everyone else and always wanted to play, and five minutes later he always got something broken."

Terebecki's a Navy brat who spent time on the East Coast before landing in Texas. "I was playing violin when I was 9," he says. "My dad was really into music and I kinda grew up around a lot of vinyl. I picked up bass when I was 13. We were too poor to have drums in our apartment. Bass you can plug in and jam, and I liked the Minutemen a lot."

Yes, the Minutemen. It's the band whose singular blend of short songs, punk attitude and folk, funk and jazz moves made them one of the most beloved bands of the 1980s.

Like the Minutemen, White Demin's music seems to go in all sorts of directions at once. Block was trained as a jazz drummer, but he declines to link that with White Denim's music. ("I'm only reluctant to talk about it because it causes expectations," Block says. "The word polyrhythmic comes up, but it doesn't seem to apply to White Denim.")

Petralli and Block spent time in a noisy band called Parque Touch before Terebecki joined up; a lineup shift later of what remained was reborn as White Denim.

"When we first started playing, we were just playing," Terebecki says. "We had no idea whether or not anything was going to happen, so we never discussed direction. James would bring in these parts and me and Josh would just destroy them," meaning take them apart, not insult them.

"He was really good about acting like his ideas were loose so that we wouldn't feel weird," Block says. Eventually, the band fell into total collaboration, including the lyrics, another trait they share with the Minutemen. (Minutemen guitarist D. Boon would often write lyrics for bassist Mike Watt to sing and vice versa.)

"I think things started moving for us at SXSW last year," Terebecki says. "Getting noticed on the Gorilla vs. Bear blog helped. It's a blog that other bloggers check, and (Gorilla runner) Chris Hawkes participates in the 'Blog Radio' show on Sirius Radio's 'Left of Center' station."

Which reminds you that as much as or more than any band in Austin, White Denim has a command of the technological issues before them. The band gave away an EP on Rcrd Lbl, an online-only label that functions more like a blog than a traditional record label.

"Rcrd Lbl sets up loose, short-term agreements with the artists," Block says. "They pay for the music, which is then given away, and the site is ad-supported."

Block thinks ad support is the key (or, at least, a key, or an underexplored avenue) in the bid to monetize online music.

"The music industry is going on about record sales being down and how digital sales aren't making up for it. I always have to ask, 'Well, what about clicks?,' " Block says. "It seems like these labels must know that traffic is the missing part of it, but when they talk to a band they like to say, 'There's no rules any more! We don't know where the money's coming from!' and everyone knows where the money is coming from. It's coming from advertising."

Terebecki takes a sip of his drink. He looks like this is a common topic of conversation in the White Denim camp. "Regarding the disparity in physical and digital sales, someone told me it's like you're bailing water out of a boat and four buckets of water are coming in, causing you to sink, for every one you're bailing out. It seems like those missing three buckets are traffic."

Which is why White Denim intend to press their album themselves on vinyl and work out different deals for digital, maybe iTunes, maybe something else. "Just vinyl and high quality digital downloads," Terebecki says. "CDs seem pretty worthless to us." This DIY vision also speaks to how the band works creatively.

"Let's just record something and release it as soon as it's pressed," Block says. "If someone happens to ask us about the record during a moment we know it's coming out, that's the press the record gets."

But it's not DIY. "The biggest help for us is working with people we actually like," Block says. "Chris from Gorilla is in Dallas. Transmission Entertainment (which owns the Mohawk), who have been so good to us, is local; the guys we talk to about distribution are local. We don't need to say we do everything ourselves because people we trust are helping us."

Besides, White Denim already know they've hit a certain level of success.

"When we played in St. Louis, we saw (DJ, compulsive festival attendee and rock personality) Beatle Bob air-drumming to our music," Block says. "I knew we made it when I met that guy."