White Animals
When asked what inspired long-running Nashville rock band White Animals to record their first album of new material in more than two decades, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Kevin Gray quips, “Retirement.”
It’s true: Gray retired just over a year ago from his day job in neuropsychiatry in the Veterans Affairs North Texas Healthcare System. But if their new album Star Time is any indication, he and his bandmates — co-lead vocalist and bassist Steve Boyd, lead guitarist Rich Parks and drummer Ray Crabtree — are a long way from retiring when it comes to making music. Arguably the best of their career, Star Time has all the ingredients that fueled the band in their 1980s heyday. There’s a unique blend of first-wave British Invasion power pop, rockabilly, Everly Brothers harmonies and dub reggae, all drenched in reverb to give it a psychedelic sheen.
The importance of the White Animals in Nashville rock history cannot be overstated. In the late ’70s, they jump-started the rock scene at Phrank ’n’ Steins Rathskeller, which was ground zero for Nashville’s punks and indie rockers until it closed at the end of November 1980. They also were DIY pioneers, forming their own label — Dread Beat Records — to release their debut EP Nashville Babylon in 1981. The following year they released their first full-length album Lost Weekend; then came their breakthrough record Ecstasy in 1984. Music videos for two songs from that album — “Don’t Care” and “This Girl of Mine” — appeared on MTV, making the White Animals not only the first Nashville band to appear on the network, but also the first indie rockers to be in rotation.
They built a large following throughout the South and beyond — performing 300 shows a year, mostly on college campuses — but they also headlined 3,000-seat theaters and opened concerts for Talking Heads, The Kinks, Duran Duran and other stars. They got positive press in major outlets, including The Village Voice, Creem, the Los Angeles Times, Stereo Review and The Hollywood Reporter. But even with all they accomplished, the White Animals never scored a major label contract, although they came close a couple of times, especially after the success of Ecstasy, which sold 40,000 copies.
“We had so many nibbles, so many near misses,” Gray says.
When the White Animals called it quits in summer 1987, they left behind a larger recording legacy than most of their Nashville ’80s rock peers — one EP, four studio albums, one live album and numerous singles. And unlike so many, they owned their masters and their publishing.
The band reunited in 1999 and released a 17-song, career-spanning compilation called 3,000 Nights in Babylon. Two years later, they released a self-titled record, which is sometimes called Monster Mash Message in reference to the liner notes printed on the back cover. That was their last album of new music prior to Star Time, which hits all the major digital platforms on Friday.
Since reuniting, the White Animals have played several dates a year. At a show near the end of 2022, they performed a new song Gray had brought to the band, “On the Shelf,” which opens Star Time. Boyd recalls that song inspired him to write again, and within a few days “Back Around” was penned. The band had two new songs, but they didn’t start seriously thinking about making another record until fall 2023.
“By that time I had written ‘In a Post-Apocalyptic World,’ and I had written ‘Ready to Go,’” Boyd says. “So I had three and Kevin had a couple, but Kevin also had three or four in his head.”
The new album was mostly recorded earlier this year at Boyd’s home studio in Thomasville, Ga. Unlike with past albums, the band was able to take their time and make the record they wanted to make.
“We would always say, ‘We just want to make a record that sounds like us live,’ and we kind of felt like we never did that,” Boyd says. “That’s kind of what we were working for. ‘Let’s just make it raw, be direct with it, not try to go overdub crazy,’ which we didn’t.”
Star Time includes 11 Boyd-Gray originals and one cover they have been performing live for more than a decade. “Man of Constant Dread” is their take on the traditional “Man of Constant Sorrow.”
“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, angel harmonies and guitars, guitars, guitars,” Gray says of the song. “In my mind, it is the Rich Parks dream showcase, as he laid down multiple tracks that display his incredible virtuosity and taste.”
Lead guitarist Parks shines throughout the album. Whether he’s supplying heavy riffage on a rocker like “Ready to Go” or tastier licks on the bluesy “Gone” or the rockabilly-inflected “Unlucky In Love,” Parks reminds us he is one of the best rock guitarists in Nashville history.
“Rich deserves a lot more credit than he gets,” Boyd says.
