Artist Playlist - White Denim's "Bad Ass Rhythm Sections"

Austin, Texas’ White Denim return to the UK this week, kicking off their tour at Bristol’s Anson Rooms tomorrow (20 May) night. To get us in the mood for their devilish riffs, crunching grooves and soulful vocals, the band’s Steven Terebecki (bass) and Joshua Block (drums) have made us this Playlist of “Bad Ass Rhythm Sections” – plus listen to an audio interview with singer James Petralli below.

ST: “King and Gould slayed the Isle Of White boy funk fusion of the early 80s. Not really a fan of slap, but here you can’t resist.”

ST: “As a young an impressionable teen, Watt laid down the first bass lines that really made my ears perk up. I had to learn all of them. At 1:06 when Hurley joins in, the energy is just insane!”

ST: “I almost feel silly putting an Erskine and Pastorius jam amongst the rest… but being completely obsessed about your instrument can provide some pretty strong results.”

ST: “Tightest band I ever saw with my own eyes. The bad assness of Thomson and Manley on this song is pretty unbelievable.”

JB: “Three songs in 6 minutes with more grooves than most full length records.”

JB: “This is one of my favorite bands of all time. Everyone sounds like a groovin part of the rhythm section at times on this. Even the solo is infectiously rhythmic!”

JB: “Can you count the vocals as part of the rhythm section? XTC man! Not sure what else to say!”

JB: “Skynyrd was groovy. Nuff said.”

JB: “It helps that these guys were in frickin Steely Dan! Seriously, there’s not a rhythm section that played for these guys that wasn’t amazing.”

JB: “The Hot Band were on so many amazing performances, and this one has to be one of my favorites. Definitely my favorite of the entire OGWT series. I love this group and Emmylou is rockin on this!”

For more, including full tour dates, head to Whitedenimmusic.com, plus here’s Q’s audio interview with the band.

listen to ‘White Denim on the road, in London…’ on Audioboo