White Lightning

Five years after wowing all and sundry with their tightly-wound art rock anthems, Austin, Texas four-piece White Denim have decided to loosen their belts a little and get their groove on for their latest effort, Corsicana Lemonade. A suitably sweet affair, the opus is a heady brew of Canned Heat-inspired bluesy boogie and Thin Lizzy-esque melodic guitar leads. When we catch up with singer and guitarist James Petralli he tells us that he had a blast making his “barbeque record”.

“The whole experience was awesome,” he beams. “We found an almost-mansion on the lake in Austin and it was really great. We did all the soundproofing ourselves and turned an ageing house into a make-shift recording studio. I’d agree with the Canned Heat and Thin Lizzy references for sure, especially the Lizzy one. I like Canned Heat a lot and I know the other guys do too, but when we were planning the record we all thought, ‘Man, we should make this more like Thin Lizzy.’ They were definitely a big influence for this album.”
And was there a particular Thin Lizzy LP that got the band's creative juices flowing during their writing and recording?
“Vagabonds Of The Western World was the one we listened to the most. The guys had the whole catalogue constantly blasting out throughout the last year of touring that we did. I really like that song 'Gonna Creep Up On You' especially. That was a track that got played at least every other day. It's such a great riff. That band had such an awesome groove and that voice... they were such a great rock 'n' roll band.”
Of course, White Denim are no slouches in the rock 'n' roll department either and their latest release sees them at the peak of their powers thanks to a looser, more organic sound.
“I think our new sound is the result of us wanting to groove, you know?,” begins James. “From the beginning of the album we knew we wanted to record performances of the four of us playing together live, so we just started to groove and that led to a looser, more open thing. I think we’ll always make records like this from now on.
“We like that we’re not blasting metronomes in everyone’s ear any more or being really rigid with how things are done,” he continues. “It’s so much easier and more fun for everyone. I just don’t think there’s a reason to cut a record any other way now that we’ve done it like this. It just seems kinda’ silly to think so much about the parts. Don’t get me wrong, I like our early recordings. Shit, there’s something about all of them I still like. However, I wish I could take some of those tunes and track them the way we did this record for sure. I think with a more natural sound people might be able to connect to it easier. Those early records are like art projects, though. I have to watch myself not to beat up on them too much.”
Currently enjoying a day off with his baby daughter, James and White Denim are touring the States with Tame Impala at the moment and the new father tells us he's enjoying his time with the Aussies.
“Tame Impala are great – they’re youngsters!” he laughs. “People love them and they’re really making a connection. We’re a little bit older than your average pop group or whatever so we have a lot of conversations with them and we ask them stuff like, ‘What are young people like today? I don’t really know. Is it all dance music with them?’ [laughs]. It’s really refreshing to see a bunch of young faces out there getting psychedelic and it’s a good fit to be out with them.”
In a few weeks time, James will be returning to Irish shores for a date in Whelan's and, to borrow a line from one of his favourite bands, he can't wait until the boys are back in town again.
“Man, it’s been way too long since we’ve been in Ireland,” he grins. “We’re really excited. We’ve tons of great and slightly fuzzy
memories from our last visit. I think that was in 2009. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone again.”

White Denim play Whelan's, Dublin on November 23. Corsicana Lemonade is released on November 1.