“White Mystery dropping 420 live tracks give fans a lot to listen,” Block Club Chicago
Posted Sunday, April 5th, 2020 at 4:20 pm
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WEST RIDGE — Punk rockers White Mystery are dropping 420 live tracks on 4/20 to celebrate the weed holiday and give fans a lot to listen to amid the coronavirus stay at home order.
White Mystery is comprised of siblings Alex White and Francis Scott Key White. The West Ridge-based punk duo are releasing the new tracks under the title “Sonic Sepulcher.” They’ll include live performances from legendary clubs around the country.
“After having toured and played over 1,000 shows since 2008, we’ve accumulated all these CD bootlegs from fans and venues of our live performances. They were creating a big pile in my office,” Alex White said.
The band choose to announce the news April 1 because, while it’s 100 percent true, it’s also an “absurd thing” for the band to do, she said.
The raw, unmixed tracks are of White Mystery’s live performances in Chicago and across the U.S. over the past decade.
“We realized there was going to be a point where CD tech is going to be obsolete so we should archive it online. It seems like a good way to release these live tracks since we’ve done a release every 4/20 for a while now,” she said.
The band is making “Sonic Sepulcher” available to subscribers of their Bandcamp on April 20 at 4:20 p.m.
A sepulcher is another name for a tomb or monument. When “Sonic Sepulcher” is released later this month it’ll include recordings of the band’s performances at legendary clubs and venues that no longer exist.
“Places that are gone for good like Chicago’s The Double Door, Death by Audio in Brooklyn, The Hemlock in San Francisco,” she said. “So it’s a cool way to remember all those experiences at those places.”
The band started the archiving project six months ago. The 420 tracks are divided among 30 albums which also include art and short stories about the band’s memories from performing at those venues.
And because most everyone is at home looking for something to watch during the statewide stay home order to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the band also released their indie film “That Was Awesome” for free on YouTube.
“When we started this we did not realize the tracks would be released during a time when people are all going to be at home and staving for new content,” she said.
Until it was uploaded to YouTube March 22, the film had only been screened in theaters and cable access television.
“It ended up being very timely without us even having ever anticipated that,” Alex White said.
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