ARTIST: Blanche
TITLE: What This Town Needs
LABEL: V2 Records
GENRE: Indie
BITRATE: 193kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 20m total
RELEASE DATE: 2006-10-24
RIP DATE: 2006-11-21
Track List
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1. What This Town Needs 3:20
2. Child Of The Moon 3:46
3. Scar Beneath The Skin 5:34
4. Never Again (Demo) 3:26
5. Someday... (Live) 4:01
Release Notes:
Tracks 1 & 2 from the forthcoming album "Little Amber Bottles" due Jan 07.
In the fair city of Detroit, nestled among the garage-rock nooks and country
crannies, lurks the music of Blanche. Husband and wife Dan and Tracee Miller
trade intense and haunting vocals over an uneasy sea of pedal steel, banjo, raw
guitar sounds, and sparse, driving drumming. The moods created in the songs seem
to define Blanche. Some songs are sad and pretty, while others have a powerful,
spooky feel. The melodies trick you into singing along with tales of
superstitions, garbage picking, fading trust, and feelings of lost hope. The
sound combines the intense desperation of the Gun Club, the sincere sadness of
the Carter Family, and the creepy playfulness of Lee Hazlewood.
Family Tree: The Millers are joined by Feeny, who provides the perfect balance
of eeriness and teariness to his pedal steel work; drummer Lisa jaybird Jannon,
who uses a combination of brushes and maracas to complement her pared-down
style, and banjo player/auto harpist Patch Boyle who, while on stage, sits in
his favorite chair plucking away in his own world
Blanche has come together from the well-preserved ashes of singer-guitarist Dan
John MillerÆs previous two bands. The seminal country-punk band Goober & the
Peas released two acclaimed albums while touring incessantly throughout the U.S.
and Europe, with artists such as Morphine and Uncle Tupelo.
Next, Miller shed the æGooberÆ moniker and teamed with Jack White (now of the
White Stripes) for the country-garage collaboration, Two Star Tabernacle. Along
with Tracee Miller on bass and Detroit CobrasÆ drummer Damian Lang, the band
made only one official recording, a 7 inch for Bloodshot Records, on which they
joined forces with R&B/garage legend Andre Williams.
In Blanche, the band resembles a dolled-up meeting of the Stepford Wives and a
Lawrence Welk gospel special. Live, the band kind of lulls the audience into
their dark, awkward world, and gradually builds intensity toward a frenetic
finish. Among others, the band has played with 16 Horsepower, the Handsome
Family, the White Stripes, Wilco, Loretta Lynn and Calexico.