Text and Interview: Alec Coiro
With a career that was already four albums and EPs deep, White Laces brings a more evolved version of their signature sound to their new album, “No Floor.” Evolved in the sense that they’ve incorporated new instrumentation into their music and left room to grow. The music itself, while a little more electronic, still retains a very raw feeling that you’d be familiar with from bands in the ‘80s who were incorporating synth drums, sequencers and other new wave wizardry as they revolutionized their sound.
We found in a little more about White Laces in a missive from Richmond the band sent us. Read on to find out how they record their albums, how their name connects to Swedish Vampire movies, and which bands to check out the next time you’re in North Carolina.
What’s the significance or origin of the name White Laces?
When I first started the band it was just a home recording project without a name. I had a friend that offered to put it out and I had to come up with a name in a pinch. One night I came home to the house I was living in at the time and all of my roommates were watching Let the Right One In, so to avoid spoiling the whole thing for myself I went into the kitchen and started flipping through a pile of magazines on the table and pulled the name out of an ad because I thought it was aesthetically concise.
How deeply involved are you guys in the Richmond music scene? How would you characterize the scene, and are there any other Richmond bands we should know?
I’d say we’re moderately active in the scene. We’re not constantly out at shows but we’ve been in the city for a while and there are loads of excellent performers and musicians around town. Some of my personal favorites are Ohbliv, Night Idea, Dazeases, Big Baby, Doll Baby, Bad Magic, Inter Arma but even those are a small slice of what goes on in the city.
What was behind your decision to update the instruments you use for No Floor?
Most of it was borne out of necessity. Jimmy and I started bringing in more complete demos and at a certain point we just decided that instead of trying to replicate them live we should just flesh out the demos into something less reliant on live instrumentation.
You’ve already released an impressive number of fully formed albums; how did recording this latest album differ from recording your first?
The difference is pretty drastic. Our first LP was recorded directly to tape (mostly) live and mixed in 5-6 days with the whole band in the room making decisions on the fly. No Floor was recorded piecemeal at home and at local studios over the course of a year before it was mixed. The whole band was never in the same room together during the entire process.
Can we look forward to a tour and/or videos to accompany the album?
We’ll be heading out on tour in a week and we’ve got a great fingerboarding video for “Cheese” premiering soon!
Tour Dates:
10.07 @ DC9 (Washington, DC)
10.08 @ Hardywood (Richmond, VA)
10.09 @ Golden Pony (Harrisonburg, VA)
10.10 @ Muchmores (NYC)
10.12 @ Auroura (Providence, RI)
10.13 @ The Thirteenth Floor (Easthampton, MA)
10.14 @ Trixie’s Palace (Allston, MA)
10.15 @ TBA (Philadelphia, PA)
11.11 @ Black Iris , RVA w/Big Baby
11.12 @ Sunnyvale (Brooklyn, NY)
