The Whipsaws
Ten Day Bender
© 2006 The Whipsaws (837101115933)
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The Whipsaws play a blend of alt-country/southern rock, with a heavy dose of twang and lap steel that makes you want to stomp your boots on the floor. This is straight up Alaskan Rock N' Roll.
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Ten Day Bender is the debut album from Alaskan rockers, The Whipsaws.
"...whether it be a quasi-heavy metal avalanche of sludgy guitars or the delicate interplay between traditional instruments like fiddle and lap steel, the band sounds searingly ‘live’ either way."
-American UK, April 2006
"Amazingly diverse and accomplished for a debut. If they were from anywhere but Alaska, they'd be huge."
-American UK, April 2006
"This is modern-day Americana/roadhouse jukebox material at its finest, and The Whipsaws deliver it like a precious newborn baby into the uncertain arms of a needful America. There isn’t a song on this album that isn’t pure, true, straight-up and from the gut..."
-PULSE of the Twin Cities, June 2006
"Anchorage, Alaska`s answer to the Drive-By Truckers."
-Robinson, Miles Of Music
The Whipsaws: Ten Day Bender (****)
The trappings of "Ten Day Bender" resemble a book. The case image is a scan of stained canvas, the work is labeled as "by the Whipsaws" and songs are listed in chapters, not tracks. The CD booklet proclaims the 10 compositions "a novel."
A novel? I was excited to see those words. When the infrequent concept album comes along, it is rarely so cohesive as to compare to an entire work of fiction. I expected to follow the lives of a few characters, people I'd know well by the album's end.
So it's too bad that I listened to the whole thing with that expectation in mind. Because this is a wonderful, interesting work -- no doubt built along unified themes and images -- but it's no novel.
I could happily settle, though, for a collection of short stories, told alt.country-style. Stories heavy on roots, heavy on liquor, heavy on screwing up and heavy on learning lessons. Stories speckled by the jewels of Alaska place names: Nelchina, Jim Creek, the Butte. Stories of love lost.
The songwriting on "Ten Day Bender" honors the narrative form only country music can: A young man escapes a troubled family but perishes working on a crab boat, his final thought resting on the teary face of the girl he left; a boy befriends the wrong crowd, skips school, does time, plunges into addiction but surfaces later; a drug dealer boasts about a transaction that will make him rich, or so he hopes.
The soul of the CD, though, lies in the music itself, a spirited latticework of bass and drums and all manner of strings. Every song is a grouping of parts not so much woven together as layered on top of one another in a perfectly synchronized fashion that begs the listener to hear each expressive instrument separately: the doleful fiddle on "Hole In My Heart," the singing lap steel on "Shotgun Wedding."
With some imagination, really, the musical parts, articulate as they are, can almost seem like characters in a novel themselves.
- Lillie Dremeaux, Anchorage Daily News
The Whipsaws - Evan Phillips on guitar, harmonica and vocals, Aaron Benolkin on guitar, lap steel and vocals, Wade Collins on bass and vocals and James Dommek, Jr. on drums and vocals - play music they like to call “hillbilly rock.” It's full of twang and vocals that, though often sung by lifelong Alaskans, have a southern accent. “This last year, we listened to the Drive-By Truckers a shitload,” said Phillips. “So naturally, our album has that influence in there.” The Drive-By Truckers are a southern band that sing a lot about the “dirty south.” Phillips says The Whipsaws sing a lot about what happens, or could happen, in the “big, cold north.”
The album, Ten Day Bender, is 10 songs that the guys spent three weeks recording this summer. The album includes pieces such as “Petersville,” a truly Alaska outlaw song about miners and murders, and “Shotgun Wedding.” With a title like that, you know The Whipsaws are sticking to that same ol' Americana stuff they're known for.
- Monica Bradbury, Anchorage Press
"Sounds like: Neil Young rides shotgun with the Drive By Truckers."
-Josh Niva
Anchorage Daily News
reviews
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an awesome record
author: Dietmar (Big D)"Petersville" - What a great start!!! "Hillybilly Heroine" - fantastic! "Shotgun Wedding", "Codeine", "Sweet Marie" - The Whipsaws tell great stories, Evan Philips has an awesome voice, this CD rocks and is one of my 2007 favourites.
Uncle Tupelo Whipsaw
author: Wander8Good album. They sound A LOT like Uncle Tupelo which is fine because I miss UT.
File Under Keepers
author: Brown Bear seatcoverGreat C.D. that gives just a taste of what the Whipsaws are about. Don't pass up a chance to see them live.
One of my new favorites....
author: Heather JThis CD is by far one of the favorites I've purchased in the last 6 months, and I buy A LOT of CD's. The songwriting is superb and the music rocks... you can tell these guys enjoy what they do. Very alt country rock with a little bluegrass thrown in for good measure. Can't wait to see these guys again live... please come to TEXAS!! ;)
Good stuff, yes!
author: AK FanI agree with the Drive By Truckers influence, but this is not a copycat CD by any means. Great stories played out in fine alt-country/americana fashion. Stand outs on the CD for me right now are Sweet Marie, Ass Grass Revival, Petersville and Shotgun Wedding. Geez, that's almost half the album. Hell, its all good. Enjoy with your favorite beverage.
Good Stuff
author: LedZepthis is a great one. Indeed, reminds me a lot of the Drive-By Truckers Next Time they should rely a little more on their dark side and give it a tad more dirt (have a look at DBT - Live at 40 watt)
Entertaining!
author: HLTEnsembles of country rock with a bluegrass vibe, these stories emanate the ambiance of rugged Alaska with a modern twang.
looks pretty good
author: Jason Doddits kicks ass