For a band that has only had one release to date, doesn't play out often and has never really toured, White Drugs is nonetheless a relevant name you hear tossed around from time to time in Denton. Assuming people aren't talking about actual white drugs when dropping their name, the band has earned the respect of many in Denton's music scene—and without the whole to-do that most bands need to reach that point.
Three and a half years after Harlem, their first and only release on guitarist/singer Chris Breight's own Kunst Waffe label, White Drugs has come out with a sophomore effort on Amphetamine Reptile. The album, called Gold Magic, is available only on vinyl, and in a limited pressing of 300. Recorded at the Echo Lab with Matthew Barnhart, the album is different in sound quality from Harlem, but still recorded using only analog equipment.
"Our first record was recorded on a four-track cassette machine," explains Breight. "With this one, we went to a two-inch, 24-track tape machine. So it doesn't sound clean—just a little more polished."
As to whether or not the band has been "signed" to Am Rep?
"It's not really an official contract, per se," Breight says. "Am Rep is a semi-retired label, and we haven't really discussed anything beyond these releases."
By "these releases," Breight is referring not only to Gold Magic, but also to a pair of other compilations White Drugs is featured on that are soon to be put out by the Washington state-based label.
One of these is a double 7-inch compilation that's Volume 12 in a series of Am Rep comps called Dope, Guns and Fucking in the Streets. The other release is a 7-inch split with H•O•F (Halo of Flies) called 35 Power, in which both bands collaborated.
"We sang on the H•O•F track and he played synth on our track," says Breight.
Because of this sudden spate of action, the band has decided to go on a mini-tour that will kick off with "an obligatory LP release show" at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios on August 19. The show will also feature Kaboom and Puffy Areolas.
