White Fang
May 25th, 2011 | Band of the Week | 1 Comment
There are times when you know you’ll like a band before you even hear them. Maybe it’s their name, something you read about them, or the album cover. When you actually do listen to them, they’re just giving you more reason to like them. They’re not even confirming what you thought, they’re just adding to it. I’ve fallen for this week’s band of the week like that. And the band of the week is…
WHITE FANG!!!
If you read this blog you know I like weird, lo-fi stuff. You also might know that a band with an absurd conviction of their own awesomeness despite being out of time, out of place, out of fashion, and out of money, can charm me off my feet. White Fang is like that kid you knew in grade 1 who loved wrestling, spoke weirdly and was always getting in trouble, who never changed as he grew up, but simply became amazingly entertaining to be around, especially once he started drinking. And he has charmed me off my feet. Big time.
On the cover of their amazingly-titled album, Grateful To Shred, is a dude with long, curly stoner hair wearing a Slayer tanktop, crushing a packet of cigarettes in his right hand. Not only is it an amazing photo, but it is amazingly appropriate for the contents of the album, which are scuzzy, funny, scrappy, consistently entertaining and enjoyable, and entirely lacking of any kind of pretension or of-the-moment fashions. There are no synths or drum machines or fancy pro-tools editing. The only pedals used appear to be distortion pedals. Drums are loud and caveman-like. The vocals are usually yelled out by what sounds like an overexcited 14-year-old. There is a song with Van Halen-style fingertapping. There is a song called “Can’t Find My Weed”. It is amazing.
Though scrappy little bands of all genres from all over the world make their own little albums and post them online, many with no ambitions further than to have their friends or whoever may stumble upon them enjoy them, White Fang has created one of the most insular, characteristic, and well-put together albums I’ve heard from among the bajillions of like-minded bands who email me every day. It’s not too goofy to not be taken seriously, and it’s too off-kilter for the Thee Oh Sees/The Fresh and Onlys/Black Lips club of scuzz-rockers. It is it’s own thing, and yet it’s clear where this music is coming from. Yes, the 80′s, 90′s, punk, lo-fi, classic rock, metal and such. But also…the heart…
