White Lightning

There are at least six artists with the name White Lightning. 1) Canadian Modern Rock Band formed in 2007. They are actively writing, touring and have currently have a 7 song Ep titled "Hold On", and a 4 song Ep "Lock It Up". White Lightning's sound has been compared to the music of Muse, Foo Fighters, Rage Against the Machine and The Strokes. 2) Another is an Irish hard rock band formed in 2003. 3) American psychedelic rock band from 1968 through 1971. Read more on Last.fm …read full bio

There are at least six artists with the name White Lightning. 1) Canadian Modern Rock Band formed in 2007. They are actively writing, touring and have currently have a 7 song Ep titled "Hold On", and a 4 song Ep "Lock It Up". White Lightning's sound has been compared to the music of Muse, Foo Fighters, Rage Against the Machine and The Strokes. 2) Another is an Irish hard rock band formed in 2003. 3) American psychedelic rock band from 1968 through 1971. It was founded by guitarist Zippy Caplan and bassist Woody Woodrich. The band was very popular in Minnesota, mostly due to Caplan's fame playing with The Litter. The manager of radio station KDWB mistook the single Of Paupers and Poets for a song by Cream, giving valuable early airtime to the band. White Lightning was formed in Minneapolis, MN in 1968 by guitarist Tom “Zippy” Caplan and bassist Woody Woodrich after leaving garage psych band The Litter (themselves popular standouts from the Nuggets and Pebbles series of garage rock rarities.) Originally a power trio, the band later expanded to a 5-piece in 1969 while shortening its name to Lightning. The quintet‘s brilliant and rare 1970 self-titled album on Pickwick International‘s P.I.P. imprint provides 6 of the 10 tracks on Thunderbolts of Fuzz. The original White Lightning trio only released one 45-rpm single “Of Paupers and Poets” during their existence (on local Hexagon label in 1968, later reissued by major label ATCO Records in 1969.) A long out-of-print posthumous album released in 1995 gathered unreleased recordings, 3 of which are found here. This rounds out this collection of recorded highlights from the band‘s rocky history. Taking their name from a particularly potent type of LSD, White Lightning laid out from the start that it was not cute and cuddly 70s rock. In fact, the band‘s aggressive tempos are like punk rock way before punk. However, their dirty blues groove and musical prowess shows the band was more than unrefined ne‘er-do-wells, they had true versatility. Drummer/lead vocalist Mick Stanhope later relinquished his drum throne to take center stage as lead singer of the expanded lineup. Throughout its initial 1968-1974 run, the band had 10 different lineups, with Caplan, Woodrich and Stanhope the most consistent members — though the band points out that no one member has played in all 11 incarnations of the group. For more facts and information visit thelitter-lightning.com. Album opener “Prelude to Opus IV” is a wailing rocker with blazing double-kick drum, sizzling melodic riffs and Jim Dandy howls jam packed into an epic 4 minutes that serves enough testament to the band‘s greatness, nothing more need be heard or said. However, the would-be hits keep coming as the Led Zeppelin meets Black Oak Arkansas thwack of “Hideaway” and “Born Too Rich” come screaming out of the speakers. “When A Man Could Be Free” shows the band could also reign in the fury, at least a little bit, for a warm Southern rock style ballad. “Borrowed and Blue” echoes the stately poetry of Electric Ladyland-era Hendrix with a dash of The Who‘s rollicking psychedelia. “1930” is, quite simply, insane. Searing twin guitars with incredible fuzz-drenched tone, a warm and buzzing bass line bounce atop drummer Bernie Pershey‘s unrelenting bass drum triplets while Stanhope ravages his lungs with soulful abandon The album closes with the aptly titled “Before My Time” a barnstorming boogie rock instrumental the proves the band vanished long before receiving their due. Eventually, the band broke up due to musical differences, especially between Woodrich and Caplan. Members Tom "Zippy" Caplan (Guitar) Woody Woodrich (Bass) Garr Johnson (Drums) Mick Stanhope (Drums) Ronn Roberts (Guitar) Russ Paul (Guitar) Ron Merchant (Bass, Keyboard) Dan Burniece (Drums) Discography Of Paupers and Poets (1968) Lightning (1970) (Under the Screaming Double) Eagle (1995) The Lost Studio Album 1969 (1995) White Lightning Strikes Twice (1997) 4) NWOBHM band from 1983. 5) British/Australian RAC band. 6) Anti-PC country band from USA Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

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…shrink me down again