Whirlwind Heat
Encyclopedia
Whirlwind Heat is a three-piece band from the city of Grand Rapids
, Michigan
. Although they are avid genre-hoppers, they are often categorized as alternative rock
.
-player/vocalist David Swanson, bassist
Steve Damstra, and drummer
Brad Holland, all sixteen years old at the time. The band's name originates from the cover art done by Raymond Pettibon
for Sonic Youth
's 1990 release Goo
. They played their first show on March 17, 1997. In 1999 the group was joined by guitarist Jason Eberspeaker and released a 45, continuing to play gigs around Michigan.
One such gig was attended by Jack White
of The White Stripes
, who offered to record them. On June 20, 2000, the same day as the release of the White Stripes' album De Stijl
, Whirlwind Heat recorded a handful of songs in White's attic studio. A single entitled "Glaxefusion" was released on Italy Records soon after, as well as a track on White's 2001 compilation, Sympathetic Sounds of Detroit
released by Sympathy Records
.
Eberspeaker soon left the band to follow a career in fine arts. In August 2002, over a brief four-day period, the remaining trio recorded what would be the debut album not only for the band, but for White's label collaboration with V2 Records, Third Man Records. (White also produced the album.) The album, Do Rabbits Wonder?, was released on Third Man Records with distribution by V2 Records and XL Recordings on April 15, 2003, as well as later releasing a cover of the White Stripes song "You're Pretty Good Looking" for the soundtrack of The Hot Chick
. The music video for the single "Purple" was shot by fashion/celebrity photographer Terry Richardson
in New Paltz, NY. The video featured models, Susan Eldridge
and Kemp Muhl
.
In 2004 the band released a short EP
entitled Flamingo Honey, written and recorded in five hours. The EP features ten songs, all approximately one minute in length.
The band's second full-length album Types of Wood was released on April 24, 2006 in the UK
by Brille Records. The album photos of model Susan Eldridge
were shot by Terry Richardson
. Types of Wood has 11 tracks including the singles Reagan which also features on the Reagan EP. Along with the release of the album, the band filmed a video for each song. The video for Reagan was directed by Matthew Gray Gubler
who cast his younger brother in the video as a fourth member of the band.
Whirlwind Heat's last live performance was at Summer Sonic Festival
in Tokyo, Japan on August 13th, 2006.
In 2007 Whirlwind Heat collaborated with Devonte Hynes (of the now defunct Test Icicles
, Lightspeed Champion
, and currently Blood Orange
) and called the project Lightspeed Heat
.
The band self-released Self Titled or Scoop Du Jour
on July 4th, 2008, under their own record label imprint Heat Enterprises.
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. Although they are avid genre-hoppers, they are often categorized as alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
.
History
The band was formed in 1996 by synthesizerSynthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
-player/vocalist David Swanson, bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Steve Damstra, and drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Brad Holland, all sixteen years old at the time. The band's name originates from the cover art done by Raymond Pettibon
Raymond Pettibon
Raymond Pettibon is an American artist who currently lives and works in Venice Beach, California.-Early life:...
for Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...
's 1990 release Goo
Goo (album)
Goo is the sixth album by the American alternative rock band Sonic Youth, released on June 26, 1990. Goo was the first album released after the band signed to major label Geffen Records.-Background and recording:...
. They played their first show on March 17, 1997. In 1999 the group was joined by guitarist Jason Eberspeaker and released a 45, continuing to play gigs around Michigan.
One such gig was attended by Jack White
Jack White (musician)
Jack White , often credited as Jack White III, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and occasional actor...
of The White Stripes
The White Stripes
The White Stripes was an American rock band, formed in 1997 in Detroit, Michigan. The group consisted of the songwriter Jack White and drummer Meg White . Jack and Meg White were previously married to each other, but are now divorced...
, who offered to record them. On June 20, 2000, the same day as the release of the White Stripes' album De Stijl
De Stijl (album)
De Stijl is the second studio album by the American garage rock band The White Stripes, released on June 20, 2000 on Sympathy for the Record Industry. The album reached number thirty-eight on Billboards Independent Albums chart in 2002, when The White Stripes' popularity began to grow...
, Whirlwind Heat recorded a handful of songs in White's attic studio. A single entitled "Glaxefusion" was released on Italy Records soon after, as well as a track on White's 2001 compilation, Sympathetic Sounds of Detroit
Sympathetic Sounds of Detroit
Sympathetic Sounds of Detroit was a compilation album of American garage rock and punk bands from Detroit, released in 2001. Put together by Jack White of The White Stripes, it featured bands such as The Von Bondies, The Dirtbombs, and The Detroit Cobras...
released by Sympathy Records
Sympathy for the Record Industry
Sympathy for the Record Industry is a mainly independent garage rock and punk label formed in 1988 by record industry anti-mogul Long Gone John...
.
Eberspeaker soon left the band to follow a career in fine arts. In August 2002, over a brief four-day period, the remaining trio recorded what would be the debut album not only for the band, but for White's label collaboration with V2 Records, Third Man Records. (White also produced the album.) The album, Do Rabbits Wonder?, was released on Third Man Records with distribution by V2 Records and XL Recordings on April 15, 2003, as well as later releasing a cover of the White Stripes song "You're Pretty Good Looking" for the soundtrack of The Hot Chick
The Hot Chick
The Hot Chick is a 2002 American comedy film about a teenage girl whose body is magically swapped with that of a 30-year-old criminal. It was directed by Tom Brady and produced by Guy Riedel for Happy Madison and Touchstone Pictures, from a screenplay by Tom Brady and Rob Schneider...
. The music video for the single "Purple" was shot by fashion/celebrity photographer Terry Richardson
Terry Richardson
Terrence "Terry" Richardson is an American fashion photographer.-Early life:Richardson was born in New York City, the son of Bob Richardson, a fashion photographer who struggled with schizophrenia and drug abuse...
in New Paltz, NY. The video featured models, Susan Eldridge
Susan Eldridge
Susan Eldridge is an American model.-Career:After attending the Model Search America Contest in Seattle Washington, Eldridge moved to New York City and signed with Elite Model Management...
and Kemp Muhl
Kemp Muhl
Charlotte Kemp Muhl is an American model, actress, singer, and musician from suburban Atlanta, Georgia. Modeling since the age of 13, Muhl, at sixteen years old, became the youngest model to appear on the cover of Britain’s Harper’s and Queen magazine.-Career:Muhl has been featured in campaigns...
.
In 2004 the band released a short EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
entitled Flamingo Honey, written and recorded in five hours. The EP features ten songs, all approximately one minute in length.
The band's second full-length album Types of Wood was released on April 24, 2006 in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
by Brille Records. The album photos of model Susan Eldridge
Susan Eldridge
Susan Eldridge is an American model.-Career:After attending the Model Search America Contest in Seattle Washington, Eldridge moved to New York City and signed with Elite Model Management...
were shot by Terry Richardson
Terry Richardson
Terrence "Terry" Richardson is an American fashion photographer.-Early life:Richardson was born in New York City, the son of Bob Richardson, a fashion photographer who struggled with schizophrenia and drug abuse...
. Types of Wood has 11 tracks including the singles Reagan which also features on the Reagan EP. Along with the release of the album, the band filmed a video for each song. The video for Reagan was directed by Matthew Gray Gubler
Matthew Gray Gubler
Matthew Gray Gubler is an American actor, film director, sketch artist, and former fashion model. He is best known for his role as the young genius Dr. Spencer Reid in the CBS television show Criminal Minds, of which he has also directed two episodes...
who cast his younger brother in the video as a fourth member of the band.
Whirlwind Heat's last live performance was at Summer Sonic Festival
Summer Sonic Festival
The Summer Sonic Festival is an annual two or three-days rock festival held at the same time in Osaka and Chiba. The majority of the bands playing in Osaka the first day go to Chiba the following day and vice versa....
in Tokyo, Japan on August 13th, 2006.
In 2007 Whirlwind Heat collaborated with Devonte Hynes (of the now defunct Test Icicles
Test Icicles
Test Icicles were a short-lived dance punk band that formed in England, primarily influenced by indie rock but containing musical elements from a variety of genres . The band was formed in 2004 by Rory Attwell and Sam Mehran, who were later joined by Devonte Hynes...
, Lightspeed Champion
Lightspeed Champion
Devonté Hynes , better known as Lightspeed Champion or Blood Orange, is a British composer, songwriter, producer and author, who has written for artists such as Florence and the Machine, Diana Vickers and The Chemical Brothers on their 2007 Grammy award winning album We Are The Night...
, and currently Blood Orange
Blood orange
The blood orange is a variety of orange with crimson, blood-colored flesh. The fruit is smaller than an average orange; its skin is usually pitted, but can be smooth. The distinctive dark flesh color is due to the presence of anthocyanins, a family of pigments common to many flowers and fruit, but...
) and called the project Lightspeed Heat
Lightspeed Heat
Lightspeed Heat is a collaboration between Dev Hynes , also known as Lightspeed Champion, and Chicago three piece Whirlwind Heat.On 26 October 2007 they released a 7" EP consisting of A side "How Do You Do", and B side "In My Dreams"....
.
The band self-released Self Titled or Scoop Du Jour
Self Titled Or Scoop Du Jour
Self Titled or Scoop Du Jour is the third full length album released by the American three piece band Whirlwind Heat.- Track listing :# "Emulators" – 4:18# "I Know You Know You Know I Know" – 3:28# "Card Catalog" – 3:02# "A Mans Dirty Hand" – 3:20...
on July 4th, 2008, under their own record label imprint Heat Enterprises.
Albums
- Do Rabbits Wonder?Do Rabbits Wonder?Do Rabbits Wonder? is the first full-length album released by Whirlwind Heat, recorded and produced by Jack White of The White Stripes as the debut album of his imprint label on V2 Records, Third Man Records.- Track listing :# "Orange" - 2:28# "Black" - 3:07...
(2003) V2V2 RecordsV2 Records is a record label that is owned by Universal Music Group as of October 2007. The label was founded in 1996 by Richard Branson, five years after he sold Virgin Records to EMI....
/Third Man/XL RecordingsXL RecordingsXL Recordings is a British independent record label owned by Richard Russell. It originated as a 1989 offshoot of Beggars Banquet Records.Though only releasing an average of six albums a year, XL Recordings has worked with The Prodigy, Radiohead, The White Stripes, Dizzee Rascal, M.I.A., Vampire... - Types of WoodTypes of WoodTypes of Wood is the second full length album released by the American three piece band Whirlwind Heat. It featured model Susan Eldridge on the cover.- Track listing :# "Air Miami" – 2:33# "Reagan" – 2:42...
(2006) Brille RecordsBrille RecordsBrille Records is an independent record label based in the UK, which has released work from bands including Whirlwind Heat, Good Shoes, Envelopes, Operator Please, The Bridge Gang and The Knife. It was in partnership with EMI Records UK from August 2005 until February 2008. It was started in 2004... - I Fucked Up Types of Wood (2006) Brille RecordsBrille RecordsBrille Records is an independent record label based in the UK, which has released work from bands including Whirlwind Heat, Good Shoes, Envelopes, Operator Please, The Bridge Gang and The Knife. It was in partnership with EMI Records UK from August 2005 until February 2008. It was started in 2004...
- Self Titled or Scoop Du JourSelf Titled Or Scoop Du JourSelf Titled or Scoop Du Jour is the third full length album released by the American three piece band Whirlwind Heat.- Track listing :# "Emulators" – 4:18# "I Know You Know You Know I Know" – 3:28# "Card Catalog" – 3:02# "A Mans Dirty Hand" – 3:20...
(2008)
EPs
- Flamingo HoneyFlamingo HoneyFlamingo Honey is an EP by Whirlwind Heat, released on August 24, 2004 by Dim Mak records. It consists of ten 1-minute songs, and was produced by Brendan Benson.- Track listing :# The Bone# The Meat Packers# No Gums# H is O# A Worms Coat# Muffler...
(2004) Dim Mak/XL Recordings - ReaganReagan EPReagan EP is a single by Whirlwind Heat, released on April 10, 2006 by Brille.-Track listing:# Reagan# Memory# Macho Man# I Fucked Up Reagan...
(2006) Brille Records - Air Miami (2006) Brille Records
Singles
- "Spyboys Experiment" - Offsite Records - 2000
- "Glaxefusion" - Italy RecordsItaly RecordsItaly Records is an independent record label founded in Detroit, Michigan in 1997, by self-confessed "record geek" Dave Buick....
- 2000 - 7" Split - "Stunning Evaseev" - New Beat Recordings - 2001
- "Purple" - Third Man/XL Recordings - 2003
- "Orange" - Third Man/XL Recordings - 2003
- "Pink" - Third Man/XL Recordings - 2004