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THE WHIGS
ATO RECORDS RELEASE THE WHIGS’ MISSION
CONTROL FEBRUARY 20th LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O’BRIEN ENTERED BILLBOARD ALTERNATIVE NEW ARTIST & ON TOUR NOW / CONFIRMED TOUR WITH DRIVE BY TRUCKERS SXSW SHOW CONFIRMED WITH MY MORNING JACKET & YO LA TENGO The Whigs are pleased to announce a February 20th performance on Late Night With Conan O’Brien in support of their new album, MISSION CONTROL. Since the release of the band’s ATO Records debut (Radiohead, My Morning Jacket), The Whigs have been featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition and have performed on the “Late Show with David Letterman.” MISSION CONTROL debuted on Billboard’s Alternative New Artists Chart at #4 and #10 on the Heatseekers chart. Before heading out with The Drive By Truckers for a string of dates beginning March 16th in Newport, Kentucky, the Athens, GA trio will join My Morning Jacket & Yo La Tengo for a special SXSW show at The Austin Music Hall on March 13th. The Whigs have been praised by Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, Maxim, People, Elle and The New York Daily News among countless others, for their fierce intensity and explosive punk rock energy. Spin Magazine recently featured The Whigs in their “Breaking Out” section and praised MISSION CONTROL as "a collection of rousing rock n roll fundamentals ... tightly constructed tunes, wiry guitar shards and ecstatic, beer-soaked choruses." Paste Magazine declared the band as one of “4 Artists To Watch” who “specialize in a blend of brash garage rock with a heartfelt Southern charm … MISSION CONTROL finds the band upping the rock ante and cranking the volume.” Entertainment Weekly goes on to say “they deliver on the hype … unabashedly hook-filled, the album will leave you aching to see this group live” while Performing Songwriter raves MISSION CONTROL is “a batch of songs that calls to mind the left-field pop of Guided By Voices, Nirvana grunge, Pet Sounds melodicism and points between.” Newhouse News Service adds MISSION CONTROL “blasts off with a sound that’s reminiscent of earlier acts ranging from The Replacements to The Clash, with traces of Foo Fighters and even the rhythm section torrent of the early Who … there’s a raw-edged urgency and energy that flows through … consider this the first great rock album of 2008.” MISSION CONTROL is a raucous thirty-seven minutes produced by Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith). The Whigs on “Late Show with David Letterman” www.myspace.com/thewhigs TOUR DATES (more to be announced): HEADLINING: February 14th Creepy
Crawl St.
Louis, MO SXSW (more shows / parties to be announced soon): March 13th Austin Music Hall Austin, TX WITH THE DRIVE BY TRUCKERS: March 16th Southgate
House Newport,
KY *****
Parker Gispert — lead vocals, guitar, keyboard With their fierce intensity and explosive punk rock energy, The Whigs had a specific mission in mind for their new album, MISSION CONTROL; to capture the energy and spirit of their live show. The legendary Hollywood Sunset Sound Studios (where everyone from The Beach Boys to Led Zeppelin have tracked) was a far cry from the sweaty, dilapidated mansion in Athens, GA, where the then-college students made their self-produced and later critically acclaimed debut GIVE ‘EM ALL A BIG FAT LIP, but it proved an optimal background for their ATO Records debut, MISSION CONTROL. MISSION CONTROL is a raucous thirty-seven minutes embodying all things forgotten in alt rocks uncompromising optimism. Focusing on songs, playing them hard and with heart - its no surprise MISSION CONTROL captures a raw and gritty spirit that makes pop music interesting. The band’s new album delivers on the promise the trio raised with 2005’s self-released GIVE ‘EM ALL A BIG FAT LIP - an attention-getting shot across the bow that had everyone from Rolling Stone, Spin, Blender, Entertainment Weekly and many others scrambling to be the first to praise the young newcomers. The album is a reaction, a reengagement in the bare-boned aesthetic and melody of indie rock music and its left-of-center predecessors. “Pavement were huge for me,” says songwriter Parker Gispert. “I remember discovering them and the Replacements and realizing that these people wrote pop songs — really well-written, catchy tunes with cool lyrics — and that made pop music appealing for me.” In July 2007, The Whigs entered Sunset Sound with noted producer Rob Schnapf, who has worked with Elliott Smith, Beck and Guided By Voices. “One of the things we liked about Rob is that he brings out the style of whomever he’s working with” says Gispert who cites a major goal for MISSION CONTROL was to capture the full sound of the band’s live show while allowing the absence of overdubs and extra guitar parts to highlight the purpose of the prominent instruments in each of the songs. Drummer Julian Dorio explains, “What’s important is capturing the spirit of old fashion rock n roll. Everybody has their purpose in the songs. It should sound full yet sound like there are three of us. The bass does a lot of melodies. There aren’t two people playing the same thing on guitar. No one is sitting there backing up what someone else is doing. Hopefully that comes across.” Tracks like the blistering opener “Like a Vibration” and the cymbal thrasher “Need You Need You” really jump off the speakers and set the album’s no-holds-barred tone. But The Whigs prove their versatility by switching up the mood on the melancholic “I Never Want To Go Home,” the crowd favorite “Right Hand On My Heart,” and the psychedelic “Sleep Sunshine.” “We listen to a ton of different kinds of music, and the bands I love aren't necessarily bands that have a certain sound. Your sound is more of a byproduct of the songs that you write” explains Gispert. The Whigs toured relentlessly behind GIVE ‘EM ALL A BIG FAT LIP, including a stop at the 2007 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. Now with new bass player Tim Deaux on board, The Whigs are ready to hit the road again in support of MISSION CONTROL, which will be released on January 22nd, 2008. “There’s nothing more revealing than playing live,” Dorio says, “That’s when you find out what the songs are made of.”
***** THE WHIGS
*****
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