White Denim Interview: SXSW 2010

The members of Austin trio White Denim may have an unfair advantage, with SXSW rolling into their hometown every year, but they've earned their status as a formidable band. The rock group has managed to catch the ears of peers and industry types by playing their own brand of retro progressive rock, updated with elements of jazz and jam band flair. Their technical chops, combined with dizzying song structures, produce ebbing compositions, and 'Fits,' their newest release on Downtown Records, has the band poised to enter the 2010 SXSW festival with their highest buzz level yet. Spinner recently caught up with bass player Steve Terebecki before a rehearsal for the band's festival shows.

Describe the sound of the band.

We're a rock and roll band, except we don't really have regular formatting. We can tend to stray a bit. It's really sort of progressive rock, but more overall rock.

How did the band form?

I was in another band, and the other two guys were in a band, and they didn't have a bass player for a show one night, so they asked me to play. It sounded really good that night, and we've been playing together ever since. That was four years ago.
What are your musical influences?

It's constantly changing. We've always been a fan of the heavy stuff. But we get into bands like Yes, King Crimson, Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa. There's some weird Italian prog-rock out there too, one-hit kind of stuff.

How did you decide on your band name?

We didn't know we would be a full-time band living where we do and coming out of Austin. So we didn't put much thought into it. It was a quick process. We sat down and had a competition to see who could come up with the crappiest band name in five minutes. Crappiest name wins. White Denim was the crappiest one we could think of, and that's been the name of the band ever since. We've grown to love it, though.

Any musical guilty pleasures?

All of us like cheesy '80s ballad stuff. We like Hall and Oates in an ironic way. As far as new stuff, I can't really get into Lady Gaga or anything, so I don't listen to that. Basically, we like all the '80s type stuff.

What's in your festival survival kit?

Toilet paper and water, I guess. With a festival like SXSW, everything you need is already there. (Except) maybe earplugs. That could help sometimes.

Any advantage to having the festival on home turf?

I definitely think so. We play it every year. Our first couple of years, we were playing seven to ten times during the week. I think that really helped us to get going faster. I think it would have taken us a lot longer to get the point we are now if SXSW didn't happen in our hometown every year.

Beatles or Stones?

Personally, I would have to say the Beatles. I don't know about the other two guys. But for me, it's the Beatles. They have all this crazy stuff going on.



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