Talkhouse Weekend Playlist: White Denim’s Tour Van Favorites

Ahead of their new record, White Denim's bassist selects some of his rock & roll tour van favorites.

We’re kicking off the weekend here at Talkhouse with another weekend playlist provided by White Denim bassist, Steve Terebecki. You can find White Denim’s upcoming new album, Performance, out later this month on City Slang Records. For this playlist, Steve picked some of his favorite rock & roll gems that the band has played in the van while on tour. Check it out below.
—Keenan Kush, Talkhouse Operations Manager

Here is a cross section of the rock & roll that was played in the van so far this year. Enjoy! —Steve Terebecki

Caetano Veloso — “De Cara/Eu Quero Essa Mulher”
This is my all-time favorite Veloso record and it gets a regular spin in the van from front to back. This song, especially in context with the rest of the record, is bonkers. So raw.

Thin Lizzy — “Look What The Wind Blew In”
A great song to roll the windows down and go 25 over. We don’t travel with a trailer, so that’s especially easy. This has one of my favorite guitar solos in rock & roll. All the tiny mistakes that they kept in the recording make it so much more real.

Grand Funk Railroad — “Please Don’t Worry”
This is one of the first ones that we put on to test the low end response in whatever vehicle we are renting. In fact, I’ve listened to this song against every single one of our records to see if it’s competitive.

Bubble Puppy — “Thinkin’ About Thinkin'”
Austin pride! Love all the different feels and sections in this song. A Gathering of Promises is another record we often play front to back in the van.

Jobriath — “Earthling”
I always have to throw in a song or two that sounds vaguely like something else that no one can put their finger on. Someone asks, “Who is this?” “Oh, it’s Jobriath”.

Maxophone — “Fase”
A nice chunk of time is always spent exploring bizarro prog bands. It’s real hit and miss. These guys released one record in 1975 and it’s amazing.

Kraan —”Andy Nogger”
We are huge suckers for European bands from the ’70s playing rednecky guitar hooks. Great driving tempo.

10cc — “The Worst Band in the World”
A long time van time favorite. I think at one point there is a completely different feel and hook every eight bars.

Cheap Trick — “He’s a Whore”
A great, short and sweet rock & roll track from front to back. Played every tour.

The Soft Boys — “The Pigworker”
We are all big Robyn Hitchcock fans but the Soft Boys first record slipped through our cracks for at least the last 10 years or so. Just recently discovered it and it sounds great!

Minutemen — “Joe Mccarthy’s Ghost”
Cuz Mike Watt is the shit.

Stark Reality — “Shooting Stars”
We listen to all of the new releases that come out for better or worse. Recently, Kanye West put out a song called “Lift Yourself.” In it, he samples an amazing song called “Liberty” from a group called Amnesty. After listening to all the Amnesty stuff (which was great), I noticed this band in the related artists. Hoagy Carmichael was tasked with making a children’s album for Boston’s WBGH and he enlisted John Abercrombie and a few other Berklee badasses. What came of it was Stark Reality, some of the coolest shit I’ve heard in years. Thanks Kanye!

(Photo Credit: Pooneh Ghana)