about
"Lying, Cheating, Stealing" is not your traditional Rock 'n’ Roll EP. Then again, Whitman is not your traditional Rock 'n’ Roll band.
You might consider it a collection of B-sides from Whitman’s 2012 highly acclaimed release "Weekends." If you did that, you’d be 40% correct. While it is true that these songs were recorded during the Weekends’ sessions, much of this material was never meant to appear on "Weekends". A more accurate description of "Lying, Cheating, Stealing" would be a rare glimpse into how Whitman writes songs. A concept that lets the listener explore a simple premise: That a well written song stands on its own, no matter how it’s arranged or performed.
While both “Ballad of a Seventeen Year Old Boy” and “The Misfit” are correctly labeled as stripped-down demo versions of “Teenage Daydream” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” respectively, they are also an example of the same treatment main songwriter Ram Vela and his collaborators gave every prospective track that appeared on "Weekends".
Whitman has always been inspired by the songwriters: Bob Dylan (listen to Ballad of a Seventeen Year Old Boy), Townes Van Zandt, John Lennon, Paul Simon, & Kris Kristofferson just to name a few. Like all musicians who strive to craft their own thoughts and lyrical sketches into a signature sound, the band must stop and ask themselves, "Are these actually good songs?"
Can these same songs be appreciated if they are re-arranged completely? Are they as powerful of an experience as they are when laid bare with a single room mic, an acoustic guitar, and the occasional snare drum? Is covering a Descendents song with an acoustic guitar an utterly absurd idea? Does a good song survive if removed from the shell in which its creator intended?
"Lying, Cheating, Stealing" seeks to answer these questions.
credits
released April 20, 2013
Recorded By: Whitman
Mixed & Mastered by: David Dreesen
Produced By: David Dreeesen
Recorded At: Jacket Weather Stuidos Austin, TX
Published By: Whitmannoise (ASCAP)
license
Some rights reserved. Please refer to individual track pages for license info.