ABOUT WHITE REAPER
For over a decade,
WHITE REAPER has been one of modern music’s most satisfying rock bands, reliably reminding listeners how truly rewarding cranked up amps and a good chorus can be. But achieving that kind of longevity is no small feat–it’s a path that’s often full of pitfalls and frustrations no matter how carefree the actual songs might sound.
WHITE REAPER have had more than their fair share of ups and downs in recent years and the Louisville, KY-based group’s new album,
Only Slightly Empty, finds them overcoming creative blocks, lineup changes, label upheaval, burnout, and more, to push their sound and create the most infectiously entertaining record of their career.
“I think we were on this kind of rocket trajectory for a while but we were also really burning out,” says keyboardist
Ryan Hater.
“With You Deserve Love [2019] we were riding this rollercoaster of what a major label wanted us to do and they were finding success with it. Then the pandemic hit and we were partially like ‘Thank god we can finally have some time off.’ But we had a hard time getting back in the swing of it.”WHITE REAPER’s signature swagger was harder to muster in the midst of lockdowns and uncertainty, and their next album,
Asking For A Ride, proved difficult to make. Upon its release in 2023, the band returned to a drastically changed music world where everything that had previously been working now seemed ineffective.
“I think we’d sort of found the band in a different place than we’d thought we’d be,” says vocalist/guitarist
Tony Esposito.
“Not even in terms of success per se, but more like how we’re perceived in the world. I just felt like we were having sort of an identity crisis as a band and I was internalising that.”The band regrouped in 2024, aiming to shake off the rust and start writing a new album, but there were still more hurdles in store. During the initial writing and recording process, they parted ways with their rhythm section and left their label in the midst of corporate restructuring–the kinds of shakeups that have stopped plenty of bands dead in their tracks. But sometimes the only way to regain control is to steer into the skid.
“I think all of these different tensions were affecting how I was writing,” says
Esposito.
“Like I was trying to avoid conflict even in the music. But at some point I snapped out of it and remembered it’s supposed to be fun, so let’s just write some great songs.”With turmoil finally in the rearview, the core group of Esposito, Hater, guitarist Hunter Thompson, and engineer Joey Oaxaca (Hunny, Mamalarky, Rocket, Twen) got back to work with a renewed creative energy.
The result finds WHITE REAPER at the top of their game and exploring new musical territory. Only Slightly Empty is packed with the crunchy power pop spirit of the band’s earlier work, but it’s augmented with a grungier wall of sound that’s at times the heaviest and darkest WHITE REAPER have ever sounded–all without ever sacrificing the instant earworm melodies that have always made the group tick.
