When XFM uploaded favourites and 2008 ‘band-to-watch’ WHITE LIGHT PARADE appeared in Manchester last weekend, I jumped at the chance to speak to them about the nature of the music business, the idiosyncratic nature of the distribution process and their worn with pride, heart-on-sleeve influences. Their debut single and rallying call ‘Wait for the Weekend’ is finally out on London indie label Split Records, and the way is clear for this brilliant and infectious Leeds/Bradford quartet to take the pop world by storm.
I located them in Odd bar’s tiny downstairs area, round the corner from Dry, but steered them to more traditional (and much quieter) surroundings in the form of the Millstone, a JW Lees boozer with a dartboard and a real fire.
I’m still scratching my head. A brilliant, powerhouse anthem like ‘Wait For The Weekend’. How come it took so long to be released?
Lead guitarist and front man Danny Yates put it thus:
“Basically, it’s cos we’ve been playing around for too long really. Trying to get loads of interest, we got loads of labels coming up. Then all of a sudden these two indie labels in London just turned round and heard the track and thought ‘nice one’, and come to watch us. That were in April last year. So it’s taken a year for ‘em just to get the single out..But we’re glad of it really. Y’know, we’ve been playing the song for a while, but a good song’s a good song. So that’s why it’s stuck really.
Brother/guitarist Johnno Yates adds: “We were pushing for an album deal, and Sony were backing off a bit, so we thought ‘Balls to it, we’ll just do a single deal then’. So that’s why it took so long as well”
And that led to unfavourable comparisons with you allegedly ripping off The Enemy?
“We ripped off The Sex Pistols, not The Enemy” states Johnno
And the single’s out on Split records?
Johnno: “A little indie label in London, yeh”
Danny: “It were about August/September time when we signed with them, but it’s just taken so long to come out, which is unfortunate really. We wanted it out before Christmas, but then all the Christmas singles came out, so….just gotta wait for the right time. I’m glad we have – we got some decent interviews, in the Guardian and such, and XFM in London and Manchester. Clint Boon’s backed us, and had us on his show – XFM in London named us as their band for 2008.
How far do White Light Parade embrace Mod sensibilities, and the Mod way of thinking?
Johnno: “It’s very important to me, cos I’m influenced by The Who – to me, they were a punk band of their generation, y’know…the sixties
Danny: “It’s about standing out from everyone else, having your own little scene, which is what both mods and punks believed in. Standing up for your own generation
Waiting for the weekend?
“Yeah, waiting for the weekend” Danny laughs
So really, you see yourselves as part of a strong tradition?
“Yeah” agrees Danny: “To me it’s about having an opinion – and getting your opinion across in your music. I think that bands like The Who and The Kinks sang about the British way of life, and I think that’s what we do – I think we’ve got a classic British sound. I wouldn’t say we were mods – I wouldn’t say we were punks, but we just happened to be influenced by them bands – what they believed in, what they stood up for, and what they wrote about”.
‘Wait For The Weekend’ is all but sold out here in Manchester.
Danny “Yeah, we went in and they said they’re at the back of the room, so we went to the new releases for the vinyl, and they’d all gone. They said they’d had a load of CD’s, but they only had 3 left…so, it looks like we’re selling really well in Manchester”.
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“We’re from Bradford and Leeds” Johnno adds: “…and they haven’t bothered putting them in the shops there…They’ve sent it to Perth in Scotland, but it’s not in Bradford where we’re from…it’s like ‘what yer doin’”?
The Enemy comparison came about when both bands toured together. According to Danny, they “sounded completely different” then, but was quick to.....
Drummer Nici Todd is diplomatic: “Well they sing about the same things we sing about, y’know, not living in a very nice place”.
Danny: “I think it’s a generation-type thing, I think everyone’s feeling pissed off with the Government and stuff…”
Johnno: “The government tend to sweep things under the carpet and stuff, and in the real world it’s not really like that. That’s what people who live and work in this background are singing about….real life, y’know what I mean…”
Danny: “I mean, some of us tunes, that we put on us Myspace…and people in New York were getting it – y’know…. ‘I wanna get away from my town’
2008 promises to be a hectic year for the band, with numerous live appearances planned and an album in the pipeline:
“We’ve got a second single out on the 4th May – ‘Turning All the Lights Down’ and there’s interest from labels in America, a label in Japan. So we’re gonna get the second single out on Split, and we’re hoping that that will end there. We’re hoping to get a bit of a support tour with a signed band, and between now and then, we’re hoping to sign an album deal, with recording over the summer. There are a bunch of labels interested”.
“We’ve got a few Manchester things coming up” adds Nici “The NQ (Northern Quarter) festival, Strummercamp – there are also a few scooter rallies coming up, up and down the country”.
Dry is it’s usual chaotic Friday self, with bands on in both rooms. I just managed to catch the end of an impressive set from Liverpool’s MAJOR MAJOR before WLP took to the upstairs bar.
Attracting punters to the area immediately in front of the stage like a magnet, the angry young 4-piece proceeded to tear it up with a storming rendition of forthcoming single ‘Turning All The Lights Down’, which set the scene for a momentous set.
As anthem after anthem rocked the venue to its foundations, the deliciously melodic ‘Surrender’ was followed by the thunderous ‘Losing Control’. A considerable following from across the Pennines was joined by the local studes and the Dry regulars who took the band at their word by spinning and reeling with manic abandon to the cranked up, powerful rallying calls that came unstoppably and in ultra-quick succession.
‘Shotgun’ came next, and almost literally, with a rapid-fire delivery following the clenched-fist intro., whilst ‘Young Believers’ was another that saw the spirit of youth culture embodied. Ignore this short sharp shock of a outfit at your peril!
Their debut single still traditionally bringing their set to a close, WHITE LIGHT PARADE ended triumphantly with the blistering ‘Wait For The Weekend’. Watch this space very carefully!
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