At the end of 2010, Vancouver's White Lung topped Exclaim!'s year-end punk list with their full-length debut It's the Evil, a relentless, uneasy assault of multi-generational musical and cultural influences, from '90s DIY ethos to '70s darkness and '80s underground aggression. Reflecting on the album now, singer Mish Way says that, while they had previously released multiple singles, It's the Evil marked the beginning of the real White Lung.
"When we wrote the first record, Kenny [McCorkell, guitarist] was relatively new, and now we're like a real band," she tells Exclaim!
After touring the album all throughout 2010 and 2011, White Lung got to work writing their second album Sorry, out today (May 29) via Deranged and currently streaming here on Exclaim.ca. They again recorded with Jesse Gander at Vancouver-area studio the Hive, and worked under strict self-imposed deadlines and provisions set up to enforce completion -- something that no doubt lent to the band's heady, tense energy.
"Splitting up the writing sessions worked well for us, but it also kind of made this false sigh of relief every time after we recorded, like 'okay, it's done,' but then in two weeks we'd have to go do four more songs we hadn't even written yet," explains Way. "The last session, the night before we were writing [album track] "Those Girls," and we were like 'okay, good enough! Let's go tomorrow and see what happens!'"
Sorry meets the band's requirements of no filler this time around, spanning just 19 minutes in ten tight, hyper, hooky tracks.
"All the songs are so fast. We don't really know how to write slow," Way says. "Even when we have a song that the tempo is slower, we always end up speeding it up. Kenny stands there and will literally say, 'Faster. Faster. No, faster.' It gets to the point where no one can hear it, I'm out of breath. If I can't say the allotted amount of words, that means we're doing it too fast."
As previously reported, White Lung are heading out on tour in support of Sorry, and you can check out their tour dates here.
"When we wrote the first record, Kenny [McCorkell, guitarist] was relatively new, and now we're like a real band," she tells Exclaim!
After touring the album all throughout 2010 and 2011, White Lung got to work writing their second album Sorry, out today (May 29) via Deranged and currently streaming here on Exclaim.ca. They again recorded with Jesse Gander at Vancouver-area studio the Hive, and worked under strict self-imposed deadlines and provisions set up to enforce completion -- something that no doubt lent to the band's heady, tense energy.
"Splitting up the writing sessions worked well for us, but it also kind of made this false sigh of relief every time after we recorded, like 'okay, it's done,' but then in two weeks we'd have to go do four more songs we hadn't even written yet," explains Way. "The last session, the night before we were writing [album track] "Those Girls," and we were like 'okay, good enough! Let's go tomorrow and see what happens!'"
Sorry meets the band's requirements of no filler this time around, spanning just 19 minutes in ten tight, hyper, hooky tracks.
"All the songs are so fast. We don't really know how to write slow," Way says. "Even when we have a song that the tempo is slower, we always end up speeding it up. Kenny stands there and will literally say, 'Faster. Faster. No, faster.' It gets to the point where no one can hear it, I'm out of breath. If I can't say the allotted amount of words, that means we're doing it too fast."
As previously reported, White Lung are heading out on tour in support of Sorry, and you can check out their tour dates here.