4 To Watch: The Whigs

Hometown: Athens, Ga.
Members [L-R]: Parker Gispert, Tim Deaux, Julian Dorio
Fun fact: To record their first album, The Whigs bought all of the recording equipment off of eBay, and then sold it all back once they’d finished.
For fans of: The Replacements, The Strokes, My Morning Jacket

"Rock is probably as unpopular as it’s ever been right now—I can’t really see a small band like us really getting involved in any roller-coaster ride, but ya never know.” Modest talk from Parker Gispert, lead singer of one of the more hotly touted bands of the moment, The Whigs. Since releasing their self-recorded debut Give ’Em All A Big Fat Lip in 2005, the trio has toured incessantly and garnered the kind of kudos most bands dream of. Specializing in a blend of brash garage rock with a heartfelt Southern charm, the band has earned comparisons to everyone from Guided By Voices and Elvis Costello to alt-rock underdogs The Replacements. Flattered but unfazed, Gispert doesn’t take the comparisons seriously. “We’d never listened to The Replacements,” he says.

Barely into their mid 20s, Gispert and his bandmates all took to music at an early age. “I started playing guitar early in high school,” Gispert says, “and I took piano when I was super young. We all just like to play things, and if there’s an instrument sitting around, you kinda find yourself sitting down and trying to figure out how to make a specific noise. We can all pick up stuff and play it.” As such, the band’s high-decibel bluster is somewhat deceptive. Beneath the chunky riffs and Gispert’s endearingly unpolished vocals are lushly produced tunes with complex arrangements. So complex, in fact, that drummer Julian Dorio was cited as “Drummer of The Year” by Esquire. “They’re going to do a thing on him in Drum magazine,” Gispert laughs, “which we find pretty hilarious. It’s not like we’re Rush.”

Released on Dave Matthews’ ATO label, The Whigs’ sophomore album, Mission Control, finds the band upping the rock ante and cranking the volume. Their future looks promising. “Who knows what’ll happen?” Gispert muses. “I’m young and in a band. We get to play every night, and as long as I can keep that lifestyle going, it seems like a much more fun idea than working a desk job.”

MP3: The Whigs - "Right Hand on My Heart"