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| The White Heat: young punks who have actually heard of the Stooges. Courtesy photo |
Old-fashioned rock grit and an unmatched collective wit make White Heat (formerly Slobber, formerly B Side Project) a force to reckon with. I caught up with the boys for my second interview with them in three years to discuss their second release - a four-track EP and 7-inch record - and a subsequent West Coast tour that kicks off Friday, August 8 at Flight, an artist collective based out of Blue Star silos #15 and 18. Maintained by the locals, this gallery features performance artists, musicians, fire twirlers, sculptors, painters, and bore silicate lamp workers. Between flip-kicks, wild bursts of laughter, and sips of Miller High Life, the Fleming brothers, Mark and Adam, Matt Hoopengartner, and Chris Bronca talked about the new release and the hazards of playing the Warped Tour.
Iliana Lopez: What's new and exciting?
Adam Fleming (drums): We're going to have a Playstation 2 in the van.
Chris Bronca (vocals): …new and interesting about the BAND not the VAN.
AF: We have a record that's completely finished - like 14 songs - that's kind of sitting there waiting. Slated for late fall. Hopefully we'll have gotten accepted to CMJ music festival in October.
IL: What was it like playing on the Warped Tour?
AF: Totally warped! Mark almost passed out.
Mark Fleming (guitar): I didn't bring a hat or sunglasses or anything ... tight jeans and a black T-shirt.
AF: It was cool to take a look at it from the band's perspective, part of the circus show. What sucked was that we were one of four battle-of-the-band bands that was scheduled to play. Then at the last minute, like four more bands with some pull played.
MF: Every band's always like "everyone hates us." Fuck that, we're the fucking shit and we hate everybody else.
Matt Hoopengartner (bass): Uh, that's not true.
IL: Are you playing any other upcoming shows?
MH: We're doing a radio show August 7 on KSYM for Mike Rummies' show.
CB: The cover art for the 7-inch is hand silkscreened by local artists, Maurice and Liz Treviño. The actually vinyl was pressed in Czechoslovakia at the second-best pressing place in the world.
AF: The vinyl's white. We'll be selling them at the show for five bucks before we go on tour and sell out.
MH: It's a $5 donation at the door or $10 and a free CD.
MF: It's a $30 donation at the door and you get a little something extra.
AF: Mark's side project: One Man Bandit.
CB: There are backwards lyrics on the record, too.
IL: Oh yeah, what do they say?
AF: Osama Bin Laden is God.
IL: Any more name changes planned?
| THE WHITE HEAT 10pm Friday, August 8 Flight (Blue Star silos #15 and 18) $5 481-1200 |
CB: ... to Kid Knee.
MF: We opened up for Kid Rock? Shut up, dude.
AF: Last tour, Matt was a witness to a murder.
MH: I was passed out in the van the whole time.
AF: Meg White was at our show in Detroit.
MH: This is our third tour within a year. So ask us who booked our tour.
IL: Who booked your tour?
MH: I did. I'll tell you what I did. We get these periodic e-mails from Michelle from Gearhead Records telling us what's going on with all the bands. It's got a tour list with all the clubs the bands play at, so I just copied the tour list and found their Web sites and e-mailed the clubs and said "Yeah, this is Matt from the White Heat. Michelle from Gearhead told me to get in touch with you." It worked. •
