White Williams
Encyclopedia
White Williams is the music project of Cleveland
-based musician Joe Williams.
. Williams's music career began in 1999 as a fifteen-year-old drummer for Ohio area bands Oblongata (Cleveland), Machete (Cincinnati), Mr Mad Man (Cincinnati) and USA Crypt (Cincinnati). During this time in Cleveland, his band opened for the likes of Melt-Banana
, Sightings
, Pink and Brown
, Lightning Bolt, Black Dice
and The Rapture
. William's later gravitated towards an electronic and pop sound after touring in 2002 and 2003 under the name So Red with Gregg Gillis's project Girl Talk
.
Williams spent the next two years recording Smoke while traveling between Cincinnati, New York
, Cleveland, and San Francisco.
Utilizing guitars and synthesizers, Smoke was primarily recorded on William's laptop in various sublet apartments. Williams's record label describes the album's sound as "unapologetic pop that flirts with the vacuous nostalgia of the American dream; engaging ambiguous and schizophrenic instruments with impressionistic lyrics, driven by a casually heterosexual backbeat."
Smokes cover art, featuring transsexual night life celebrity Sophia Lamar, was inspired by a story Williams heard about a girl from Cincinnati. The girl was upset and bawling over her relationship with her boyfriend. As she described in agonizing detail her predicament, she smoked a marijuana water pipe.
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
-based musician Joe Williams.
Background
Williams was born in Cleveland, OhioCleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
. Williams's music career began in 1999 as a fifteen-year-old drummer for Ohio area bands Oblongata (Cleveland), Machete (Cincinnati), Mr Mad Man (Cincinnati) and USA Crypt (Cincinnati). During this time in Cleveland, his band opened for the likes of Melt-Banana
Melt-Banana
Melt-Banana is a Japanese punk band that is known for playing extremely fast noise music mixed with experimental electronica and pop-based song structures. They have worked with artists as diverse as Merzbow, John Zorn, Mike Patton, and Discordance Axis...
, Sightings
Sightings
Sightings was an American paranormal documentary and news television series that originally aired from April 17, 1992 to August 1, 1997 on Fox. The program began as a special titled The UFO Report: Sightings on October 18, 1991...
, Pink and Brown
Pink and Brown
Pink and Brown were a noise rock/punk rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1997 when the members moved west from their old home of Providence, RI. The band consisted of two members: Pink and Brown . Pink played guitar and sang while Brown played drums...
, Lightning Bolt, Black Dice
Black Dice
Black Dice is an experimental electronic music group currently based in Brooklyn, New York, USA.-Early years:Black Dice formed in spring 1997 soon after guitarist Bjorn Copeland met drummer Hisham Bharoocha and bassist Sebastian Blanck when they were students at the Rhode Island School of Design...
and The Rapture
The Rapture (band)
The Rapture is an Indie rock band based in New York City. The band mixes influences from many genres including post-punk, acid house, disco, electronica and rock, pioneering the post-punk revival genre...
. William's later gravitated towards an electronic and pop sound after touring in 2002 and 2003 under the name So Red with Gregg Gillis's project Girl Talk
Girl Talk (musician)
Gregg Michael Gillis , better known by his stage name Girl Talk, is an American musician specializing in mashups and digital sampling. Gillis has released five LPs on the record label Illegal Art and EPs on 333 and 12 Apostles....
.
Williams spent the next two years recording Smoke while traveling between Cincinnati, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Cleveland, and San Francisco.
Utilizing guitars and synthesizers, Smoke was primarily recorded on William's laptop in various sublet apartments. Williams's record label describes the album's sound as "unapologetic pop that flirts with the vacuous nostalgia of the American dream; engaging ambiguous and schizophrenic instruments with impressionistic lyrics, driven by a casually heterosexual backbeat."
Smokes cover art, featuring transsexual night life celebrity Sophia Lamar, was inspired by a story Williams heard about a girl from Cincinnati. The girl was upset and bawling over her relationship with her boyfriend. As she described in agonizing detail her predicament, she smoked a marijuana water pipe.
Members
- Joseph Williams - vocals, melodica, synth, laptop
- Hayes Shanesy - guitar, vocals
- Tyler - bass guitar
- Cale Parks - drums
- Andriu Strasser - art
- Matthew Papich- guitar
Discography
- New Violence EPNew Violence EPNew Violence EP is an EP by White Williams, released by Tigerbeat6.-Track listing:#New Violence#New Violence #Violator#Satisfaction#Smoke...
(September 25, 2007) - SmokeSmoke (White Williams album)Smoke is an album by White Williams, released on November 6, 2007 by Tigerbeat6. The album was independently recorded in multiple living spaces over two years in Cleveland, Cincinnati, New York, and San Francisco.-Track listing:# "Headlines"...
(November 6, 2007)
External links
- Tigerbeat6 Official website.
- Dazed Digital – Interview With White Williams
- January 2008 Interview with L.A. RecordL.A. RecordL.A. Record is an independent music magazine originally published weekly as a broadsheet poster. The poster usually depicts a local Los Angeles musicians and according to the magazine editors is meant to recreate an iconic album cover. In March 2008, it began publishing as a monthly magazine with a...