helped them produce what they rate as their most accessible record yet. “We wanted to move beyond what we were doing,’ Josh Block explains when asked about the recruiting of a second guitarist, “Adding Austin did that in so many different ways. It added a new insight into the music and it added a new element to the live aspect of the band.” Watching Jenkins throw his two cents into the mix, as we later witnessed at the Electric Ballrooms in Camden, was something of a spectacle to behold. The beam on his face failed to subside throughout the fierce and zealous fret-play that raced like Duane Allman through the band’s inspired and spontaneous Allman Bros style onstage jams. The official arrival of Austin has not been the only development in camp Denim, though. After jumping ship from small indie label Full Time Hobby Records, White Denim are now on the books at Downtown and with it comes the opportunity – the band resist using the phrase ‘pressure’ – to cultivate a more commercial direction, “beer drinkers and frat boys, they wanted to push
D-Tuned O
Texan rockers White Denim have developed from sprawling garage-rockers to distinguished Southern-prog visionaries. DAN JONES talks to Josh Block and Austin Jenkins about jamming, record labels and Jethro Tull bootlegs…
n their latest LP, the cryptically titled D,Texan trio White Denim expanded their swelled to a four-piece with new guitarist, Austin Jenkins. Cornered by Playmusic, Jenkins and his buddy Josh Block (drums) explained that the band’s re-vamped bigger sound has
something like that, a bit more hook laden pop”, Austin confirms. While White Denim have hooks, and plenty of them, this structured method of organisation fails to mirror the expansive progression of a band who thrive under free song structures. The talk of singles and a marketable pop song may, on the surface at least, sound completely at odds with the bands rootsy, avant-country sound but whilst new tracks like ‘Street Joy’ and ‘Drug’ do offer something in the way of what Downtown yearned for, ‘Denim’s unique vibe remains intact. “We did what we wanted really”, Josh said, with Austin adding, “We didn’t go all the way into the compromise, it still felt like something we were excited to do, it was just a different perimeter.”
Such ranging brilliance can only be attained through a free-for-all creative
process, and instinctive jamming is a vital part of the band’s MO. “Just listening to each other and knowing how the other is going to react instinctively,” Austin confesses, “I think that a lot of the jamming ideas take place within a structure. There’s a common goal we’re aiming for so when we jam I feel like it’s easier for people to leave space and not just cloud everything. We do actually have an idea of what we’re jamming.” Songs like ‘Bess St’ and ‘River to Consider’ definitely profit from unconventional song structures, it’s part of the band’s irregular draw, but this natural arrangement is something that’s rigorously worked on by lead vocalist James Petralli, as Austin explains. “He’s good at making it sound natural with the elongated phrases and more angular patterns. I call it ‘through- composed’, like the piece sounds like it’s through- composed rather than chorus, verse…I think he’s got a mastery over that.” And as quickly as we were singing his praises back stage at The Ballroom, the man himself walks jubilantly into the room with a couple of CDs and an ear-to-ear smile, “I just met this guy who happened to have a really bitchin’ Jethro Tull bootleg’, he grins, ‘he was like hey, ‘can I bootleg your show?’ So I was like ‘if you ask permission it’s not really a bootleg’ but yeah you’re welcome to!” Bootlegs and renegade recordings, White Denim are at the epicentre of a boundary-less rock revival. “Dolly Parton played Liverpool last night”, Austin reveals, “Her band was hanging out in the hotel we were staying in. This guy said she’s kept the same band members for over twenty years. Can you imagine being in a band for that long?” No Austin, we can’t, but we hope to hell that you’ll find out… PM
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www.playmusicpickup.co.uk
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