An Interview with White Bleaches

By Jacob Pumphrey.

Meet our mates, White Bleaches. Hailing from the great coastal town of Torquay, they're a four-piece garage-psych band that has quickly become one of our favourites. I got to sit down with the band to talk all things #tourlife, recording and life back home. Hope you enjoy.

This is our first time catching up (shame on us I know) can you fill us in with who we’ve got in the band?

Haha all good nice to catch up with you guys! Well. there is Ant who sings and plays guitar, Ty plays lead, Hughey on bass and our newest addition Max on the skins!

Who am I talking to?

Ant.

You guys are based in Melbourne yeah? Are you all from that way?

We are actually based on the surf coast, Torquay / Jan Juc to be exact. I'm originally from Melbs but the band started in Jan.

Ah, Torquay what a beautiful spot, where are you right now?

Mate its gods country! We are just on the plane atm off to Byron for our show at the northern tonight. Weather is looking good! so keen to mack on the beach for a few hours and work on the basey!

Is it ice cold or 40 degrees down there?

I think today's 40, yesterday was a warm 10 degrees.

How’d you all meet / how’d the band come about?

All the guys knew each other from around town but we started playing music when I moved down about 9 years ago.. We had another band before this then recruited a new drummer and started White Bleaches. I met ty at work and he was super into metal at the time. Pretty sure he had flying V and everything. It was really hard at the start because we all wanted to play guitar so we had a band of 4 guitarists. When we finally got a gig we all switched instruments every song. It was weird.

You dropped us a couple of copies of the newest vinyl a few months back (cheers) - How long have you guys been working on this one?

No worries! From recording to release it was a year..but some of the songs on there are like 5 years old and some were written a few weeks before recording. Spit it out was the first time we played it as a band and recorded it in about 5 goes.

Where’d you guys record?

We record at my folks' place on the Mornington Peninsula. It's an epic little getaway spot we always record at because we are shut off from home and any distractions.

How long did it take in total?

We recorded the base layers in one weekend then spent time over about 6 months to add all the layers, we figured out this stuff takes a while when everyone's working full time so just did it at a leisurely pace ha. 

Who are your biggest influences at the moment/who influenced the album sound?

We used to have heaps of influences from all the garage bands in Aus mostly and especially bands from Austin and California. But these days it's just a mix of everything, anything that makes us amped to write and record again.

Has this changed much over the years? Is there anyone that stayed consistent?

Brian Jonestown will never change

It feels like a little while to us, but maybe we’re just impatient... Did it come out on time as planned or were there a few hiccups?

Yeah, fair call we just didn't realise how long it would actually take with all the planning and stuff and the time it takes to get the mixes right. Next album will be way quicker just need to find some songs somewhere.

Your body of work is starting to look nice and stacked - it had to feel nice to get a full length out?

Oh yeah, it was the biggest relief for us after sitting on these songs for so long.

Any wise words for any eager newcomers dreaming of getting a full length out?

Yeah, don't fool around with too many EPs or seven inches. People's attention span is dwindling these days. Just get the album out ASAP! Then do another one.

The tour kicks off tonight in Byron - you guys are playing with our mates The Violent Monks - do you know them?

Yeah, they're from Lorne absolute legends!

Have you guys played together before?

Nah we haven't! We planned on doing this show this time last year haha things just took a little longer than expected. Can't wait to share the stage tonight though its gonna be dooope!

I hope your livers are well trained - do you get pretty wild on tour or keep it PG?

Nah we have fun for sure, we don't get out that often these days soo..

How do you guys cope with the tour aftermath?

Tell the boss we had a quiet one and drink heaps of coffee.

What does home life look like for you? Have you guys got full-time work or uni etc?

Yeah, All full time working for the man it's sick.

Where are you on to from here?

Back to Melbs to play at the old bar. Our favourite venue in Melbourne. 

Any big plans for the summer music or otherwise?

Naaaah hopefully play a gig or two, but just cruising sounds good to me as well.

That's all, folks. Make sure to get to one of their last few gigs on tour, or get around their repeat-worthy music here: