Whirlwind Heat
Whirlwind Heat is a three-piece band from the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Although they are avid genre-hoppers, they are often categorized as alternative rock.
History
The band was formed in 1996 by Moog synthesizer-player/vocalist David Swanson, bassist Steve Damstra, and drummer Brad Holland, all sixteen years old at the time. The band's name originates from the cover art done by Raymond Pettibon for Sonic Youth's 1990 release Goo. They played their first show on St. Patrick's Day 1997. In 1999 the group was joined by guitarist Jason Eberspeaker and released a 45, continuing to play gigs around Michigan.
One such gig was attended by Jack White of the White Stripes, who offered to record them. On June 20, 2000, the same day as the release of the White Stripes' album De Stijl, Whirlwind Heat recorded a handful of songs in White's attic studio. A single entitled "Glaxefusion" was released on Italy Records soon after, as well as a track on White's 2001 compilation Sympathetic Sounds of Detroit, released by Sympathy Records.
Eberspeaker soon left the band to follow a career in fine arts. In August of 2002, over a brief four-day period, the remaining trio recorded what would be the debut album not only for the band, but for White's label collaboration with V2 Records, Third Man Records. (White also produced the album.) The album, Do Rabbits Wonder?, was released on V2 Records on April 15, 2003, as well as later releasing a cover of the White Stripes song "You're Pretty Good Looking" for the soundtrack of The Hot Chick.
In 2004 the band released a short EP entitled Flamingo Honey, written and recorded in five hours. The EP features ten songs, all exactly one minute in length.
The band's second full-length album Types of Wood was released on April 24, 2006 in the UK by Brille and, like Do Rabbits Wonder?, features photos from noted fashion photographer Terry Richardson. Types of Wood has 11 tracks including the singles Reagan which also features on the Reagan EP. Along with the release of the album, the band filmed a video for each song, with the future release of the videos to be determined. The video for Reagan was directed by Matthew Gray Gubler who cast his younger brother in the video as a wannabe fourth member of the band.
Whirlwind Heat have recently been collaborating with Devonte Hynes (of the now defunct Test Icicles, now Lightspeed Champion) and call the project Lightspeed Heat. The three songs (How Do You Do? Diamond In The Rough, and My Dreams) will be released on the band's Uptight EP.
Discography
Albums
- Do Rabbits Wonder? (2003) V2/Third Man/XL Recordings
- Types of Wood (2006) Brille Records
EPs
- Flamingo Honey (2004) Dim Mak/XL Recordings
- Reagan EP (2006) Brille Records
- Air Miami EP (2006) Brille Records
Singles
- "Spyboys Experiment" - Offsite Records - 2000
- "Glaxefusion" - Italy Records - 2000
- 7" Split - "Stunning Evaseev" - New Beat Recordings - 2001
- "Purple" - Third Man/XL Recordings - 2003
- "Orange" - Third Man/XL Recordings - 2003
- "Pink" - Third Man/XL Recordings - 2004