MUSIC

WHEAT “WHITE INK, BLACK INK” Summer 2009 (THE REBEL GROUP) "changes is... the better part of me... boom! boom! i'm getting out of here" While experiencing life's highs and lows both professionally and personally, the Taunton, MA duo have strived to do just this with their most straightforward and hard-hitting album to date, “White Ink, Black Ink” (The Rebel Group), which is set for release on July 21, 2009. “White Ink, Black Ink” was the quickest, most fun record we've ever made,” says Brendan Harney. “We wanted to focus on keeping the simple human sentiment as pure as possible.” Following the critical success of their first albums, “Medeiros” (1998) and “Hope and Adams,” (1999) Wheat released the major label record “Per Second, Per Second, Per Second…Every Second” (2003, Aware/Columbia) in 2003 to critical acclaim. The album’s single, “I Met A Girl”, was a minor radio hit and Wheat toured more than ever before, but the album failed to connect enough to keep both Columbia and the bands interest. After a period of reflection; or "band, not band" wheat quietly released "everyday i said a prayer for kathy and made a one inch square" (2006) "we were able to re-connect with the actual process of musical experimentation and improvisation... just 3 guys in a basement... kind of like the old days. by us, for us." says Scott Levesque. “White Ink, Black Ink” finds the band creating songs not just for themselves, but for the listener as well. “Now, even the live show is much more about the clarity and sincerity of the communication,” says Harney. "the new songs have a much bigger than us sort of feel and scope," adds Levesque "in feb. 08 my dad died. it was my first real meeting with that kind of physical absolute. most of us are a sum of our total, not a total of our some. it's not really who we were, but how and by whom we are survived." In “Living 2 Die vs. dying 2 live” and “I Want Less” the band profess a more basic, humanistic approach to life without all of the trivial extra stuff that cloud happiness. "el sincero" was one of the first real sparks for the concept of [white ink, black ink] one day i saw a line of graffiti painted on an aluminum garage door it simply read "I HAVE MORALS"...i imagined this sort of super hero, mexican wrestler, love vigilante... armed only with, honesty, sincerity, and earnestness. like a personal jesus; way human, way attainable, daily even." “White Ink, Black Ink” finds Wheat exploring the very rudiments of life and human existance. and as levesque adds, "we still believe in the wild-flower. in faith and hope and science and the meek, little voice of music, and thinking about the sun in awe again. because it does have a beginning and an end, but whose counting, we're too busy surviving it's greatness."