THE WHIGS - "Mission Control", release 25.07.2008
THE WHIGS - "MISSION CONTROL"
VÖ: 25.07.2008
Label/Vertrieb: ATO Records/Soulfood Music
Presse/Online Promo
“Nearly every track here highlights a chunky riff you’ll want to hear again and again” – Rolling Stone“The beauty of The Whigs: not only is the band mercifully unpretentious, it’s power-trio format means the tunes are refreshingly uncluttered, allowing clear as-a-bell melodies room to breathe” - Billboard
“Like some big car-driving bad seed pulling up outside the high school, it’s an easy album to fall for” – Pitchfork
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.”
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 July 25th, 2008. “There’s nothing more revealing than playing live,” Dorio says, “That’s when you find out what the songs are made of.”
