When the Whigs play a club with their fuzzy feedback jacked up and the kick drum thumping, the hard rocking Athens, GA, trio pleasantly pummel any audience they encounter. But as we discovered on their recent visit to SPIN’s NYC office, the Whigs have a softer side, too — and it’s just as enthralling as their full-bore live show.
Touring in support of their March release, In the Dark, singer-guitarist Parker Gispert, bassist-guitarist Tim Deaux, and drummer Julian Dorio made an afternoon stop at SPIN, but left the eardrum-crushing equipment on the tour bus. Instead, the band turned taut, swift moving tracks “So Lonely” and “Kill Me Carolyne” into moody torch songs that almost suited Gispert’s lovelorn lyrics better than the studio arrangements.
Also impressive was their somber take on In the Dark‘s “I Am for Real,” where guitar work from Gispert and Deaux took the song to a haunting place, and Gispert’s twangy snarl acquired a striking Neil Young/Harvest-era timbre.
Watch the trio play those three songs, plus “Like a Vibration,” off 2008’s Mission Control, in the player below!
