Meet White Williams

Electronics meet art pop with White Williams, the opener for the upcoming Nine Inch Nails show. White Williams doesn’t only have a unique and interesting sound, but they are only opening for Nine Inch Nails for a single show in Lexington, KY. Want to know more? Hit the jump to read a biography about them and and interview.

Biography of White Williams on allmusic.com

As White Williams, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and graphic designer Joe Williams makes playful, fractured art pop that borrows from glam rock’s strutting cool and electronic mischief-making. In 1999, Williams was a drummer in an Cleveland, OH-based noise band who also played gigs with Black Dice and the Rapture; eventually, Williams wanted to take his music in a more electronic direction. In 2001, he formed So Red, a project that became part of a scene of artists that included Girl Talk’s Gregg Gillis and Drop the Lime’s Luca Venezia. As Williams toured with Girl Talk, his music evolved again, moving toward pop structures; more vocals; and an emphasis on drums, keyboard, and guitar. While working on his music, Williams also pursued an M.F.A. in graphic design, and he moved between Cleveland, Cincinnati, New York, and San Francisco over the course of the two years he spent recording his debut album, Smoke, which Tigerbeat6 released in late 2007. (Heather Phares, allmusic)

Interview with Joe “White” Williams on L.A. Record

Are you the one that dropped the glass of water on the head of Lloyd Banks in Girl Talks dressing room during the MTV awards?
Oh man, did Frank and Greg (Hearts of Darkness’s) tell you that? I don’t know who it was, it was definitely not me because I wasn’t even there, they dropped some water on 50 Cent or something and they got kicked out right? I’m surprised to hear that’s all that happened to them.

What’s your favorite show to watch late at night?
Um, probably, the most watched is Late Night at the Apollo. Growing up I watched that one lot, it was on after Saturday Night Live, amateur night or hour or whatever it was. They had all these weird rituals like rub a tree stump, or tree trunk-weird mixture. The crowd control is what was fun to watch, like everyone going nuts if someone was about to get kicked off.

I was expecting you to say The Drew Carey Show since you rep Cleveland so much.
Yeah, well I think I watched it to try and see if there were references to Cleveland but they got boring and repetitive. It is sort of weird to see someone rep their city so hard, that’s kind of unique, its kind of like rap. Like, Drew Carey raps for Cleveland. That’s cool.

He yells it out at the end: Ohio! So is it weird that I’m interviewing you?
Yeah, it’s pretty weird, yeah. I think all press is sort of surreal to me still though. I think its still sort of, were starting to understand it a little more I think.

What’s been the best part of being on tour so far?
It’s been awesome. Certain shows have been really great, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, that was a great turnout. The band were touring with Ecstatic Sunshine, is really great, it’s less business when you’re on tour with a band you like and can hang out with. The relationship with the band you’re playing with is usually like, okay here’s your hour, and you just get to say hi and bye, but um, we’ve been hanging with Ecstatic Sunshine and so that’s been really fun.

How many people have compared you to Brian Eno?
Oh man. Some people, I get the most random things, hip hop was the most recent and we did some hip hop shows in Chicago and people started asking me what I thought of being described as hip hop, and I’m like, hip hop? Have you listened to the music? Marc Bolan, comparisons are crazy. There’s not a lot of modern music, and actually a lot of times the music I am influenced by never comes up. I was just reading an interview with David Byrne in Wire and he talks about how Thom York made a comment that the first person who gets to write about you says a bunch of stuff and sort of sets the record for what other people are going to say. That that sort of sticks with you like telephone, and I’ve seen things written about me where they like switch David Bowie’s name with Mark Bolan’s, but its like the same thing. But I know different people read it, so, I guess its okay.

Okay, then use this opportunity to set the record straight. Who are some musicians that you’re influenced by?
John Cale and Iggy Pop, Lou Reed. Before that I was kind of listening to Kevin Ayres and English stuff like Soft Machine. There’s been a lot of solo artist stuff that I like, and also a lot of modern music, Warp Records, I like all that stuff. Modern rap music, stuff that I hear on the radio.

Whoever people say you’re influenced by it’s always these seventies electronic solo artists, I mean, with obvious reason. Why does your stuff sound so much older than the music your peers are making?
I definitely pay attention to production quality of all music, it doesn’t matter if I like it or not I pay attention to how it’s recorded. I definitely have affection for music from the 70s or 80s in protest to modern rock. Like the drums sound almost like they’re in a cave, not enhanced. All the production today is sort made to make the artist sound more huge than they are, it’s a level of execution that has made modern rock music sound real stale, its so bright sounding I cant explain it, I like drums that sound like you can hear them in the room, not so, bright and blended, I hate that.

Did you know that Rolling Stone was going to be at the Halloween show you played with Telepathe and Hearts of Darkness’s?
It was kind of like a few days before it actually happened, they came to Webster Hall, it was kind of a surprise to know they were interested because the record, I mean I didn’t have any expectations good or bad for it. But yeah, I found out a couple days before hand that they would be there, so I had to show up and be on time and all that stuff.

What are some of the reactions you get from people when you come offstage? Because half of your audience at shows has probably never seen or heard of you before, they’re there to see someone else and see you too.
Definitely. Um, I’m still impressed with, a lot of time people say they liked it, a lot of people request songs from the record, that’s kind of strange because I’m not expecting people to know it, it hasn’t been out that long. A lot people recently have been complaining that I’m not playing long enough, but I hate being on the other side of that when a band plays too long, like when you go to a fest or a big arena rock show. Plus the record isn’t that long; there aren’t that many songs on it. I mean, I only have one record.

Okay, what’s your favorite breakfast cereal?
I like Kashi Good, Heart to Heart cereal. I know that’s not the best cereal answer, Trader Joe’s food too. That s the kind of food I like.

Organic mom food?
Yeah, well Lucky Charms as a child.

Favorite board game?
I played Life a lot as a kid, I think before that I was really fascinated by Mousetrap, but I wasn’t that interested in the game I was more interested in setting up the trap and I guess, Guess Who.
(Nikki Darling, L.A. Record)