Next Wave #667: WHITE

Glamorous Glaswegian indie disco...

WHITE’s debut single ‘Future Pleasures’ has already made a big impression on the music press, despite the band only forming less than a year ago – something singer Leo Condie says doesn’t bother them: “All you can do is write more songs, and hope people will like those too. You can’t really control it.”

Bonding over their mutual love of 80s bands such as Roxy Music, David Bowie, and The Associates, as well as post-punk, guitarist Hamish Fingland wanted to make “something like The Fall, but with a New Romantic-y, over-the-top singer, and then Leo came along. Things were quite flamboyant and fun back then, and we quite enjoyed being like that.” They are, however, wary of sounding retro – something Leo says is “a bad path to go down. We don’t want to sound like a tribute band.”

Inspired by Arcade Fire perform ‘Reflektor’ at Glasgow’s ABC, after which “we decided we wanted to be in a band like that, it gave us a little boost musically,” the band signed to RCA just six months after putting their first song on SoundCloud, earning them critical acclaim and attracting huge attention from labels: “They liked the songs, they liked the band, and we kind of strung them along a little bit, which they seem to like,” Leo says.

Despite being signed to a major label, the band have retained all creative control: writing all the scripts for their videos, producing their own music, and designing all their own artwork. “We’ve all been in bands for years, and knew what we didn’t want to do, so from day one we made this band for us. It’s been my main ethos with this band – I wanted to be totally comfortable with everything we do,” Hamish explains.

The band name WHITE signifies the fresh start this project has given them, and the newness that the band still carries. “We wanted to be really colourful,” Leo explains. “We’re quite brave and camp, and the name doesn’t really suggest that – it sounds like a pharmaceutical brand,” to which Hamish adds, “white is all the colours put together.”

Words: Megan White

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