Meet White Hills

As White Hills Ego Sensation & Dave W create fantastic sound landscapes with enough dark mystery to properly sync with my hours of black and white NYC street footage. I am not one hundred percent sure what that means but I really like this band and it is starting to cloud my brain functions. Heavy and hard-rocking White Hills is a staple of the NYC music community a guiding light for anyone looking for innovation in rock music these days. Get to know the two as we talk about lifting things, inspiration, and musical gear.

A fill in the blank with White Hills

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Would You Rather

be able to lift things a hundred times your weight, or have control over all of the ants in the world? Why?

DW: Definitely have control over ants. They are highly intelligent, organized and the entire colony works seamlessly together for the benefit of all. No slackers in the ant world. Plus ants can lift things hundreds of times their weight, so I could just get them to do that dirty anyway.

Ego: Oh the ants absolutely! In fact, thanks for the idea. When a genie gives me 3 wishes that's definitely going to be one of them. My video shoots would run way smoother with a crew of ants. Plus catering would be cheap!

Some Questions with White Hills

White Hills has been lauded as an NYC-institution. How have you navigated growth as a project while staying true to your roots?

DW: We just do what we do. We don't pay mind to trends. Our main concern is creating something that we would want to hear if we weren't the ones actually creating it. Both of us are very focused people. We set goals for the band and work towards achieving them. Maintaining a positive attitude helps as well.

"A Point in Time", is the third release as part of your Quarantine EP series. Can you elaborate on how this project came to be?

DW: The "Quarantine EP Series" came to be when Bandcamp started to waive their revenue share on the first Friday of the month towards the beginning of the pandemic. At the time we were digging through our archive so it just made sense to start releasing bits from it in the form of an EP. SInce starting the series the music on the EPs have branched out into songs composed and recorded during lockdown.

Using the word "time" in all of the titles in this series is about reflecting on what time is. Time is vast yet short. People are so focused on time, whether not having enough or too much of it. Fact is we all have more than enough time to do whatever it is we want to do. The question is, how do you use your time? Your answer is the key to what shapes your view of it.

What has been the greatest source of creative inspiration during the pandemic?

Ego: Meditation. Practicing patience and understanding that our place in the universe is small yet integral. Watching the cardinal birds feed their babies outside my window. And of course, coffee.

Your Bandcamp states that you are “proponents of transformation through sound.” What do you hope to achieve through this work?

Ego: We are both huge music lovers and have experienced the transformative and healing power of music all our lives. It's a sublime power that really defies explanation: it's that feeling you get when you listen to your favorite song and it completely transports you to an almost divine state- a bliss well beyond sex and drugs. We hope to pass some of that joy to other people through our music.

Who are your favorite bands active in NYC right now?

DW: Insect Ark, Weeping Icon, The Art Grey Noise Quintet, Parlor Walls and Human Impact.

Ego: Also Martin Bisi, Weird Owl, The Netherlands & Yvette

Do you have a piece of musical gear that you find yourself returning to often?

Ego: Yes! My fucked up Casio keyboard with a smashed speaker. It's great to pull out when composing. I don't think it's ever made it's way onto a record.

DW: My HBE UFO Octave Fuzz pedal. Nothing comes close to it.

If you live anywhere in the world for a year where would it be and why?

Ego: Paris because they make a damn good pastry! And since it's such a beautiful city to walk in, I can eat pastries all day, hoof it on the streets and stay svelte(ish)!

DW: Berlin. It's a dark city like my soul.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

Ego: Well if I must stand on my soapbox then here I go: please vote! And pass it on. Let's turn this nightmare around.

DW: Yes to voting! I'd also like to add to that, where a mask and get off of social media. The internet is not your friend. With that I will leave you with this quote from Noam Chomsky, "The key element of social control is the strategy of distraction, that is to divert the public attention from important issues and changes decided by political and economic elites through the technique of flood or flooding continuous distractions and insignificant information." Rethink, re-imagine, disengage from psychic poison.