The first time I saw The Whigs frontman Parker Gispert was last year prior to a gig at Spaceland. He looked very intense and little bit shy, but that all changed when he hit the stage. He was like a man possessed, jumping up and down, thrashing his guitar and growling out vocals reminiscent of Kurt Cobain and Paul Westerberg.
When I met him last month at Avalon Hollywood, he and his bandmates [Drummer Julian Dorio and bassist Tim Deaux] had been stuck in rush hour traffic on the I-10 and were late for soundcheck (recurring R&G theme). I was expecting a hurried, five-minute interview. To my surprise, it was the exact opposite. Parker was laid-back and generous with his time.
The Whigs are one of the hardest working bands out today. They play with such high-level energy and enthusiasm you would think they were playing either their first or last show, a style similar to the Avett Brothers. They open for the Kooks this Tuesday at The Palladium (Buy Tix), marking their their fourth visit to Los Angeles in less than a year.
R&G: It’s been well-documented that you guys recorded your first album in a fraternity house with equipment that you bought from eBay and then resold for a profit after the recording sessions were over. Tell me about the experience of self-producing your album “Give 'Em All a Big Fat Lip”.
Parker: I think it was the logical thing to do, considering it was our first record and we knew what we wanted the songs to sound like. It gave us the opportunity to create a record without interference from anybody. We actually thought that it was a pretty amazing thing that we could have a dream recording studio for free with any equipment we wanted and we weren’t on the clock.
R&G: Were there any industry people in Athens [Georgia] interested in signing you?
Parker: Not really. There wasn’t a ton of interest. We had a small run-in with a label that turned sour quickly and we were kind of reeling from that. To be honest with you, we weren’t looking.
R&G: You guys formed in 2002. Why did you wait until 2005 to record “Give ‘Em All A Big Fat Lip?”
Parker: Well, for starters we were in school. It was important for all of us to graduate. We didn’t want to put out a record and not tour behind it. We wanted to wait until we could give it the proper treatment. We looked at it as a blessing. It gave us more time to write songs. There easily could have been a couple albums in there.
R&G: In 2006 Rolling Stone magazine named The Whigs the best unsigned band in America. What was your reaction to the news?
Parker: I remember I was about to take a quiz and Josh, our manager, called me and told me about the article. You have to realize, at that time we had recorded and put the album out ourselves. To be in Rolling Stone was strange, but it felt good. It was a nice compliment from the writer. We didn’t let it go to our heads. It was just one article.
R&G: How did you get on their radar?
Parker: We were lucky. We were playing shows up in New York while we were in school. We had Tuesday/Thursday class, so we’d tour Thursday, Friday, and Saturday out of town. The New York shows we would do during the week – drive up and then drive back. During one of our trips there was a Rolling Stone journalist at the show and he was impressed.
R&G: It wasn’t long after the Rolling Stone piece that the labels came knocking on your door. Why did you choose ATO Records [Dave Matthews' Label]?
Parker: The guy who signed us was named Jonathan Eshak. He saw us play at Pianos in New York a couple of times and he liked our music. The other labels we met with were like “We love the band. The band’s great. So let’s re-record the album and change the songs around,” and that didn’t really make sense to us. ATO was the only label that came to us and was like, “Hey, we love what you’re doing, so we just want to re-release the first album and we like all the new songs you’re writing. Let’s talk about making another record.” That was exciting.
R&G: In January you released your second album “Mission Control.” Shortly after the release you guys played on the Letterman show. He loved your performance. He growled “Yeah” and then said, “Nice Going. God, that was cool. Good to see you. Thank you very much. Power trio, Paul?” And Paul responds, “Love it.” How did that make you feel?
Parker: It was awesome. We played in Athens on Saturday night and then had to load up our gear at 5 a.m. Monday. It’s just the three of us, so we got in the van, drove straight there, got in at 2 p.m., and slept for a couple hours. We headed over to the show to load in our gear at 5 p.m. It was all such a blur because we were so tired and you get on the stage and it’s freezing in there. I don’t know if you’ve heard, apparently it keeps the audience lively. Also, the stage was so close to Dave’s desk. I thought it was weird. The lights go down, you’re playing, and there’s a silhouette of a man six feet to your left. He’s sitting at the desk and its like, “Whoa, Dave Letterman is right next to me.” The guys in the band were really cool to us. They played “Gimme Shelter” by the Rolling Stones during the commercial break and that got us all excited.
R&G: Were you nervous before your performance?
Parker: I was scared because I didn’t know how it was going to come off. There are some –intangibles – the guy doing sound for the show, the lights; there’s any number of things that are outside of your control. We actually went back to our hotel to watch it and the cable didn’t work, which sucked, so we sprinted down the street and went into this bar and the guy turned it on for us, which was a little embarrassing. We watched it and we were like, “Oh wow! We did good!”
