White Savage, Magas, Headache City, Attack Formation
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Finally, about a year into it, they practiced. They’d recruited bassist Ryan Weinstein, who’d been in ZZZZ with Sharp and also played in the Returnables, and guitarist John Martin from the Austin band Zulu as Kono, who bartended with McCann at Delilah’s. Martin left after two rehearsals and was replaced by Colin Smith of the Screaming Yellow Zonkers. (McCann has come up with a revisionist explanation for the substitution: “You have to be six feet tall to be in the band.”)
Even with a rehearsal schedule, the project was still in spirit more “men’s club” than band, says Gummere–the emphasis was on the hanging-out-together part rather than the songs. “It was funny,” McCann says. “First practice, when Jered showed up, I had no idea what exactly he was going to do in the band. I thought he might play guitar, but then he showed up with half of a drum kit and keyboards and he was like, ‘That’s what I’m gonna do.’”
I did catch White Savage at an unofficial SXSW gig, their second show (their third was in Milwaukee just a couple weeks ago), and they’re even better in the flesh than on vinyl. White Savage make Chin Up Chin Up and the Ponys seem sedate, but despite their brutal sound they have more to offer than just sensory overload–they’re great for that righteous old-fashioned thrill of watching a bunch of guys go absolutely apeshit for four minutes at a time. Sadly, their hometown crowd might only get one more chance to experience that. Tonight, Friday the 13th, White Savage play Subterranean, and then they’re leaving for a short west-coast tour. (Their seven-inch has been re-pressed and they’ll have copies on hand.) But after they get back, Smith’s heading to Yale to study photography. “And then we don’t know,” says McCann. They hope to record all six songs they’ve learned, including new versions of the three already in the can, but their plans aren’t solid.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): Colin Smith, Bob Johnson,Greg Sharp, Ryan Weinstein, Jered Gummere, Jim McCann photo by Marty Perez.
