Miss Alex White is the stage name for Alexandra Brooks White, a musician from Chicago, Illinois, and founder of Missile X Records born April 30, 1985. Her projects have included Miss Alex White and Chris Playboy (a collaboration with Chris Saathoff), the Hot Machines, Miss Alex White and the Red Orchestra, and White Mystery, a collaboration with her younger brother, drummer Francis Scott Key White.
Although I was still a bit under the weather, I made a stop at Park Slope, Brooklyn’s Rock Shop to catch Shark? and White Mystery at Rock Shop…White Mystery played more of an old school straightforward garage rock informed by the Chicago blues. In its simplicity and raw power, it draws comparisons to Howlin’ Wolf and the other great bluesmen but the major difference to me is that as primal as Alex and Francis White’s music is, they deliver it with a manic, childlike glee (more…)
“We are White Mystery.” The only mystery is why these two talented redheads don’t already have a huge distribution deal. It’s definitely not their sound because as soon as Alex has a guitar around her neck or Francis has a stick (or two, occasionally) in his hand, it’s absolutely clear that they fucking rock. And White Mystery is exactly how rock and roll should be enjoyed: with leopard print, huge hair, sunglasses and whiplash-enducing headbanging. [Sidebar: Francis’ neck should be studied for science because there’s no reasonable explanation how someone can headbang that hard, for that long, without serious injury to himself and people around him.]
White Mystery: “Anything can happen day” came from Mickey Mouse Club fame, but what of a day that offers the sonic whiplash of Natalie Cole and White Mystery? Crazy. So you have the remarkable garage rock of Alex White and her brother Francis to start things off. It’s drums, guitar and a mountain of red hair. It’s also primal drumming, simple lyrics and an energy that remind you of what it must have been like at the beginning of rock ‘n’ roll. It’s also too cool for words.
