From Tony Esposito: “We went all over the country and grew our hair out a little bit,” says guitarist/singer about the past year spent on the road with the likes of Deerhoof, Young Widows, Priests, and more.

After signing to Polyvinyl in early 2014 and releasing a self-titled EP that blasts through six tracks in a breakneck 15 minutes, the Reapers – Esposito, keyboardist Ryan Hater, bassist Sam Wilkerson, and drummer Nick Wilkerson – soon began working on new material to fill out their set.

Enter White Reaper Does It Again: a raucous debut full-length from a bunch of barely 20-somethings who have more fun on a Tuesday night than you do on a Saturday. Recorded in White Reaper’s hometown of Louisville, KY, with engineer Kevin Ratterman (Young Widows, Coliseum).

Opening track/lead single “Make Me Wanna Die” counts off to detonation before quickly ensnaring the listener in a melodic force field of fuzz and distortion, highlighted by Hater’s bright keyboard tones sending out signal flares through the haze.Esposito’s punk snarl takes center stage on “I Don’t Think She Cares,” a two-minute ripper that romps and stomps like a certain girl on a certain guy’s heart.

As with their previous material, before entering the studio Esposito put together demos of all the tracks before sending them to his bandmates to flesh out their parts.The band then held reign over Ratterman’s La La Land space for a little over a week, arriving at noon and staying late into the night – a schedule that left everyone as giddily exhausted as the crowd at, well, a White Reaper show.

White Reaper
White Reaper Does It Again
(Polyvinyl)
Street Date: July 17, 2015

1. Make Me Wanna Die
2. I Don’t Think She Cares
3. Pills
4. On Your Mind
5. Last 4th of July
6. Alone Tonight
7. Candy
8. Sheila
9. Friday the 13th
10. Wolf Trap Hotel
11. Don’t You Think I Know
12. B.T.K.