whitehills While “protest record” and “space rock” don’t traditionally go together, New York City-based White Hills’ newest full-length on Thrill Jockey, Hp-1, is just that: a statement against the apathetic condition into which so many people have allowed themselves to fall—where owning the latest technology or product has become more important than focusing on the slow erosion of a once-thriving nation.

“People don’t give a shit, ultimately,” says White Hills’ Dave W. “In America, people have comfortable lives and don’t want to think about all the things that are wrong. People have been sold a concept that we live in a democracy, but they really aren’t free.”

Aside from the agitation with government and the corporations which seemingly control it, in Hp-1 the band—which also features Ego Sensation on bass and Lee Hinshaw on drums—pushes its space rock sound to new limits, informed as much by Hawkwind and Pink Floyd as by Thrill Jockey label mates such as Trans Am.

Dave W. says the band’s concept for the new record came from rediscovering abstract expressionist art.

“Throughout White Hills’ history, there has always been a statement being made about society as a whole and politics, specifically,” he says. “We wanted to make a record that is a protest to what is going on, but not be so literal. Abstract art is confrontational in a way. There is lots of pain in abstract art, but viewers only ever take away what they see in it.”

While the band believes that peoples’ focus on technologies, such as the latest iPhone, is a microcosm of the larger issue of accepting what corporations force-feed us on a daily basis, Dave W. says White Hills collectively acknowledges what a large part technology has played in the band’s success. Yet he cautions that the continual downloading of music for free will only lead music fans to a darker place.

“Our statement is not against technology, but more against how technology blinds people from seeing how things are really going,” he says. “We wouldn’t exist without the Internet, but I do have qualms against downloading my art. If people continue to take music from artists for free, then that limits our ability to make a living and continue to create. If that happens, then we’ll all just be left with the same homogenized mainstream bullshit that corporations sell.”

WHITE HILLS, RTX (FEATURING JEN HERREMA OF ROYAL TRUX/DRAG CITY), HEAVY CREAM & GUEST, ALEX’S BAR •  2913 E ANAHEIM ST • LONG BEACH 90804 • 562.434.8292 ALEXSBAR.COM • TONIGHT 8PM • $8