HANNI EL KHATIB 2013-14
Already announced to play Falls & Southbound Festivals, this January Californian singer-songwriter Hanni El Khatib returns with his brand of fiery garage soul to Sydney and Melbourne clubs.
Joining HEK are very special guests, eclectic Austin TX 4-piece White Denim, who’ll be playing their first ever Australian shows celebrating the release of their new album, Corsicana Lemonade.
Hanni El Khatib grew up in San Franscisco and became obsessed with classic Americana and pop culture of the 50s & 60s. Influenced by pioneers of early rock and R&B, the former creative director for HUF and avid skater created a musical aesthetic to match his vision that is part blues, part garage rock, part soul, part folk and part doo wop.
While on tour after his acclaimed debut record Will The Guns Come Out, El Khatib met Dan Auerbach (Black Keys) in a bar in Paris and after some whiskey got involved, they decided to partner up in Auerbach’s studio in Nashville. The idea was to erase everything he’d become comfortable with and to make an album out of only raw instinct and inspiration. The result is Head In The Dirt, produced by Auerbach, in which HEK takes eleven tracks and reflects an entire history of rebel music, from the cut-to-the-bone rhythm ‘n’ blues ‘Save Me’ and overcranked Stooges-style stomper ‘Family’ to ‘Penny’ his stuck-in-your-head pop hit.
“Hanni El-Khatib is one of the most talented acts in L.A. right now…(Khatib) brings with him the rawness of Phil Spector, Jack White, the Shangri-Las, and the Black Keys.” LA Weekly
“This guy’s the real deal” Tonedeaf
“HEK’s second album is an engine-revving dose of filthy, leather-clad blues…a sexy but grotty treat” NME
White Denim’s mix of crunchy punk energy, scorched psychedelia, Southern rock and knotty funk, are all evident on Corsicana Lemonade, the groupʼs fifth studio album. It naturally covers so many bases that it plays like the greatest lost mixtape you could find on your dashboard during a hot summer afternoon.
Set to be released locally Nov 1, Corsicana Lemonade puts White Denimʼs freewheeling stage ethos to wax and cements their position as a quintessential, unique American rock band. Featuring production on two songs and a full mix from Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, itʼs a revelation, merging the group’s manic live virtuosity into a rollicking ten-song mission statement. “It has taken five records to make one that sounds the way we do onstage,” says frontman James Petralli.
Currently touring the USA with home grown favorites Tame Impala, White Denim have fully arrived with a record to claim their own spot in America’s great rock lineage.
Opening the night at the Corner Hotel will be Melbourne’s rock savants, Money For Rope and at the Annandale, local blues-rockers Greta Mob, who FBI 94.5 recently named ‘Unsigned Artist Of The Month’.
Catch Hanni El Khatib and White Denim sweat it up in Sydney and Melbourne clubs this January, in what’s set to be a seriously great night of real rock ‘n’ roll.
TOUR DATES
30/12/13
Lorne, VIC
Falls Festival
31/12/13
Marion Bay, TAS
Falls Festival
02/01/14
Byron Bay, NSW
Falls Festival
04/01/14
Bussleton, WA
Southbound Festival
05/01/14
Melbourne, VIC
The Corner Hotel
07/01/14
Marrickville, NSW
Factory Floor