New York City intergalactic softcore pornstar rock outfit Whitewash was born in the fall of 2012 at NYU when Jon (bass) met Sam (guitar) and promptly began playing along to the entire Ween discography as a duo, choosing bedroom jams with self-taught instruments over Washington Square busking. Jon met Evan (drums) in auditions for NYU jazz programs and the rhythm section was born. The newly-molded trio covered classics like Led Zeppelin as well as newer oddities like Mac Demarco and Thee Oh Sees, unsure of where to take creative root; with the addition of Evan’s roommate Aram (rhythm guitar), Whitewash began channeling its own sound by experimenting with everything from bossa nova to noise rock. Early Whitewash originals were raw, simple, and evocative. Lyrically, the band has covered everything from honeyed love ballads addressed to Japanese frozen desserts all the way to cloying condemnation of Russian geopolitical aggression.
A year of composition and test recordings evolved into the DIY debut EP “Fraud in Lisbon,” produced entirely on Jon’s laptop over the course of a semester at NYU - budget restraints made the recording minimalist in stylistic approach, but it’s also been described as a lush and developed sound. The band made an appearance at several NYC venues following the release, but sadly three of its four members promptly boarded jet planes to Paris and Prague, leaving the boys scattered across continents and oceans and icebergs and plains and waterparks and whales and rhinos.
When the boys finally reunited in New York in June of 2014, they were determined to make bigger ripples in the non-digital world, and embarked upon a series of NYC shows which continued long into the depths of winter (including a belated Fraud in Lisbon release at the Knitting Factory). As the weather grew colder, the maturing child-men of Whitewash withdrew into The Pancake Factory, where grizzled sonic veteran Mike Hurst engineered their second release and first studio LP, “Shibboleth.” The increased production value and expertise was crucial in the creation of an album which is both lengthier and somehow more diverse than its predecessor - Shibboleth includes not only carefully-crafted pop songs, but drug-addled 80s synth-pop throwbacks, psychedelic folk explorations, and of course distortion-heavy guitar freak-outs. In early 2015, Whitewash performed with increasing frequency and went on its first stint of out-of-town shows before releasing Shibboleth in May.
/ whitewashtheband
12 июл 2024
