And Speaking As We Were Last Week of Les Animaux Blancs…

So okay, today -- once again -- we're going to celebrate brand new music by one of the greatest roots rock/punk/powerpop bands you might never have heard of. (Well, as I keep saying, if you were a sentient college kid down South in the 80s, you heard of them. And also if you're a longtime reader.)

In any event, I refer to the aforementioned up top (aux francais) White Animals, seen here today in an absolutely fab new group photo.

I mean seriously -- those bastids have aged better than anybody in their line of work has any right to. Wow.

But okay, let's bring things further up to date.

The short version: I've been a fan of these guys since I first saw them in 1978 -- as an acoustic duo doing Sixties classics at some low dive in Nashville -- while I was interviewing the great Marshall Chapman for the Magazine Formerly Known as Stereo Review. Later, as a four-piece, they went on to pretty much rule the 80s college rock party circuit down South, and as I've mentioned on numerous occasions, they were a ferocious live act (any band that shared a stage with them did so at their peril -- me and The Floor Models gave it a go on our home NYC ground, so I know what I'm talking about!) and true musical visionaries, whose ahead of its time mix of garage-punk energy, British Invasion song structures, and dub reggae soundscapes by way of Lee Perry(!) still sounds utterly fresh and contemporary. I should add that they were the first indie band to get their videos on MTV, which was a hugely amazing accomplishment at the time. Here's one of the clips in question (which should give you an idea of both their coolness quotient and their songwriting and performing chops). I should also add that they had the single most enormous live sound of any band I've ever witnessed anywhere at any time period.

Okay, cut to the present: These guys, who have reunited on several occasions since their New Wave heyday, went into the studio recently, and they exited with an absolutely world class new album -- the appropriately titled Star Time -- that not only does justice to their legacy but actually breaks some new artistic ground.

Here are my two favorite tracks, with commentary by the band's frontman, Dr.(!) Kevin Gray. First, the hilarious "In a Post-Apocalyptic World (Would You Be My Girl?)"...

Sometimes I write songs when I’m not trying to write a song. When pandemic era real estate prices were at their zenith, my wife and I sold our Nashville home and bought our dream house in Thomasville, GA, with a big yard and a pool. I was working in the back, pulling vines out of the tall Japanese Cheesewood hedge. I had that “this is too good to be true feeling”, and in my head I’m singing, ‘Have you heard the news today? Troubles are here, and more is on the way’. I yanked at more vines. ‘In a post-apocalyptic world, would you be my girl?’. I tugged at a really tough vine, and my shoulder was starting to hurt. ‘Love will matter more than ever’. I went inside and put the song down.

...and then the drop dead amazing "Man of Constant Dread," which takes a venerable American folk song and gives it the dub treatment I referred to above. Wow.

I suspect, of course, it was [the band's brilliant bassist Steve Boyd] who pushed for us to do this traditional song live. Originally titled “Farewell Song” it is over 100 years old, and lent itself perfectly to our Dread Beat swirl of psychedelic swamp guts, pounding drums [courtesy of Ray Crabtree], angel harmonies, and guitars, guitars, guitars. In my mind, it is the Rich Parks [the bands' guitarist] dream showcase, as he laid down multiple tracks that display his incredible virtuosity and taste, including a tribute track to the late Andy Gill [axe man for Gang of Four], the greatest guitarist who people too often forget about. Steve and I spent hours layering his guitars and other elements of this track and it is simply the best musical creation I’ve ever been a direct part of… so far!

Okay, that's as much of a teaser as I'm gonna give you. You can find out a little more about the Animals history and the circumstances behind the genesis of the new album over HERE.

More important, you can listen to the rest of the record and purchase the thing itself -- and WTF are you poltroons waiting for? -- over at the official website HERE!!!

You're welcome very much!!!