White Hills

It´s always a pleasure to hear from the White Hills camp and this time Dave took the time to answer some questions from ICIT Webzine. Here´s what he had to say about music, art and life:

 

 

First of all, greetings from Sweden. Thank you for the interview. How are you doing? What have you been up to lately?

 

DW: All good here on a rainy summer day in NYC. 

 

Upon returning from the Drop Out Tour, we played a couple of shows locally and are getting on with writing new music for what will be the next album. 

 

Been reading a bit lately, digesting as much art and music as I can. 

 

 

If we start with the present...by now you are probably back home in NYC from a tour in Europe this spring. How was it to be back in Europe this time?

 

DW:  It’s alway great to get back to Europe.  The tour was a blast. People have been asking us for quite some time when we would get on the road with Gnod to perform Drop Out.  Was great to finally do it. The crowds were enthusiastic and as excited as we were to be performing Drop Out. 

 

 

Among all places you visited, you played a wonderful concert together with the lads of Gnod, here in Stockholm. It was a brilliant concert with a special surprise cover of ”Träd, Gräs & Stenar” and the track ”Punkrocker” or ”Punkrockaren” as we say in Swedish. What do you remember from that particular concert?

 

DW: It’s been a while since White Hills has been in Sweden so it was nice for us to get back there. 

 

Stockholm was the first night we played Punkrockaren. Somehow we started talking about the song  in the van the day of the show.  Pretty sure Paddy brought it up but just how we got on the subject is a bit hazy now.  He didn’t realize that Trad Gras och Stenar covered the song. So I played everyone the Teddybears version.   

 

We worked out a version at the sound check that night. Was good fun to do it in Stockholm first. Seems fitting.  After that night it became a staple of our set for the rest of the tour. 

 

 

 

You have been going on for over two decades now. If you compare from when you first started until right now, what goes trough your mind?

 

DW: So much…where to start?  Everything surrounding what being a musician is has changed quite drastically. 

 

One of the biggest changes is the market going from physical media (Vinyl/CDs) to streaming platforms.  That has caused everything from  how you promote yourself, to the avenues you can make money from and more to be quite different from when we started.  

 

I’m grateful that we’re still here and have the ability to do what we do and that there is an audience for our art. 

 

In general I wish that the consumers of music would see how streaming is making it harder and harder for the artists they love to make a living.  Streaming de-personalizes music in my opinion.  It’s important for an audience to have a personal connection with an artist….streaming is impersonal and the fan is not invested in the music the same they would be if they physically paid for an artists product. The way the majority of people consume music today cuts that out of the equation. 

 

Streaming platforms and the playlists that are pushed on these platforms are nothing more than glorified musak…something listened to in the background and a way for the platform to maximize profits for themselves. Just wait till these platforms start generating and only including their own homogenized AI music into their playlist scheme.  

 

At this point it seems that the streaming public has a disconnect from the work involved in the artist creating the song they love and that that work is worthy of buying in the same way that someone would buy clothes.  

 

 

We have followed you almost since the start of the band and it has always seemed like you have gone your own way...never started to chase any ”latest musical trends” or so...is that how it feels for you as well?

 

DW: When we started there weren’t many bands making the type of music we make.  No one wanted to call themselves a “psychedelic”, “motorik” or “space rock” band. We used those terms because no one else was. It was a way to make us stick out in the crowd.  

 

In the beginning I was looking to mix cosmic/psych music with art-rock, punk, glam and krautrock elements. Our music has always blurred the lines of many genres, that’s why you always see people describing us in many different ways. It’s how we sound to them…within their realm of what genre(s) they like.  

 

At heart I’ve always felt we are an art-punk band messing with the norms of the greater music community in the tradition of artists like Hawkwind, Cosmic Jokers, PiL, and the Stooges…to name a few. 

 

 

Obviously there´s a great distress and depression around the whole world right now...wars, conflicts and social unrest. In Sweden we have lots of criminal gangs making life hard for the citizens and in USA there´s been some riots lately. Are we close to the end of time or what are your reflections when you see and witness all of this?

 

DW: Riots in the US…? Where? I see groups of people here expressing their right to free speech and protest, but I don’t see riots. If that’s what you’re seeing in Sweden I’d question your news sources.  Take what’s going on in downtown Los Angeles right now. People protesting federal immigration forces from illegally rounding up and deporting citizens just because of the color of their skin.  

 

Do you realize how small downtown LA is? If you look at a map of LA county, downtown LA where the national guard and marines have been deployed is the size of a pinhead compared to the greater area LA encompasses. The demonstrations there have been peaceful on the protestors side. There is no need for the military to be there. It’s just all show from a political party that is trying to create a narrative that the immigrants are looting, control the illegal drug trade and are taking jobs away from “white” males  in order to divide the public and subvert the population of a massive country into accepting autocracy.  It just one step in their playbook to call for Marshall law, suspend elections and cement their autocratic rule over the population. 

 

The stress and depression you speak of is manufactured by a small group of individuals who are trying to keep the masses down. The only way to achieve their agenda is to have people distracted from their greed to own and control everything.  If people are stressed and depressed they have no time to see the looting that is taking place before all of our eyes by the top 1% of the population. 

 

Each of us has free will. You can choose to use it or not. Everyone needs to get out of their algorithmic bubble on the internet and social media in order to see how these entities are manipulating you to think a certain way which is ultimately not in your best interest. 

 

Are we close to the end of time…I don’t think so. Time is a human construct. Time is not linear, it’s fluid. The earth, universe and consciousness all existed before humans, and will exist long after humans are gone. 

 

If you are asking me if we close to the end of humanity…?  Who knows. There sure are enough idiots in the world who are in power right now with enough tools of destruction to put an end to humanity, that’s for sure. 

 

 

 

On a brighter note...there´s so much great new music being released at the moment. Swans has released a wonderful new LP and our favorite alternative punkers of Massgrav has also released their new LP just to mention two examples. Can it be that hopeless times brings the best out of the musicians? If so, why?

 

DW: Gira/Swans have always been hopeless so not sure that what’s going on today brings out his best.  Gira is a survivor and an underdog. I think people tend to root for the underdog and now that he has made it this far people revere his art more now than in years past.  Lucky for him it is happening while he is still alive. Others were not able to benefit in the same way. 

 

There is always something for a musician to rail on about socially if they so choose, whether the moment socially is considered good or bad.  

 

There is also always something beautiful and uplifting to write about.  Greed, hatred, social injustice, war and the like all exist whether the public feels the moment is hopeless or not.  

 

At this point I find a lot of the music being created as insipid, middle of the road and beige. I think it’s reflective of a society that is over stimulated and its population looking for an escape.  

 

Not sure what it’s like in Sweden but here so many people are medicated. They are on Aderal, Prozac or some other inhibitor to escape their thoughts. Always looking for a quick fix. Instead of really looking at the source of the problem to fix it.   

 

I don’t see the majority of musicians railing about the injustices at this time…maybe it’s because they too are part of this over medicated population. 

 

 

Speaking about humanity...you are from NYC...is it really a city full of egoism and cynicism, or is that only a cliché? What makes people great and what makes them less so?

 

DW: NYC is one of the most unique cities on the planet. I feel the city gets a bad rap from people who don’t understand the flow of it. It’s a place that can chew you up and spit you out. It’s also a place of extreme beauty and compassionate humanity.  Everything you can imagine piled up upon itself on this little island. I find it invigorating. 

 

 

You have collaborated with the English lads of Gnod for example...but is there any other legends that you would love to jam with? If so, who would you pick?

 

DW: Sure there are many! Brian Case from the band FACS, Caspar Brotzman, Michael Rother (of Neu!), the Berlin based band Gewalt, Lenny Kaye…for starters. 

 

 

Last question for this time...do you have any last thoughts or reflections that you would like to share with your readers?

 

DW: Sure….here’s some food for thought from the immortal words of Prince these words are from a speech he gave in 1999 at an awards ceremony, “Don’t be fooled by the internet. It’s cool to get on the computer but don’t let the computer get on you. It’s cool to use the computer but don’t let the computer use you…there’s a war going on, the battlefield is in the mind and the prize is the soul…so be careful.”

 

So, get off your computer and your phone.  Allow yourself to be silent.  For within silence you can find inner peace.  Step outside and see the beauty that surrounds you. Understand that you are connected to it all. 

 

Out side of that, thanks for the interview and see you on the road and in your ears!

 

Thank you very much for the interview Dave!