Whirlwind Heat was a three-piece band from the city of

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. Although they are avid genre-hoppers, they are often categorized as

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

History

The band was formed in 1996 by

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

-player/

vocalist Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

David James Swanson,

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

Steve Damstra, and

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

Brad Holland, all sixteen years old at the time. The band's name originates from the cover art done by

Raymond Pettibon Raymond Pettibon (born Raymond Ginn, June 16, 1957) is an American artist who lives and works in New York City. Pettibon came to prominence in the early 1980s in the southern California punk rock scene, creating posters and album art mainly for g ...

for

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

's 1990 release '' Goo''. They played their first show on March 17, 1997. In 1999 the group was joined by guitarist Jason Eberspeaker and released a 45, continuing to play gigs around Michigan. One such gig was attended by

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician who achieved international fame as the guitarist and lead singer of the rock duo the White Stripes. As the White Stripes disbanded, he sought success with his solo career, subse ...

The White Stripes The White Stripes were an American Rock music, rock duo formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White (guitar, keyboards, piano, vocals) and Meg White (drums, percussion, vocals). They were a leading group of 2000s indi ...

, who offered to record them. On June 20, 2000, the same day as the release of the White Stripes' album ''

De Stijl De Stijl (, ; 'The Style') was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 by a group of artists and architects based in Leiden (Theo van Doesburg, Jacobus Oud, J.J.P. Oud), Voorburg (Vilmos Huszár, Jan Wils) and Laren, North Holland, Laren (Piet Mo ...

'', Whirlwind Heat recorded a handful of songs in White's attic studio. A single entitled "Glaxefusion" was released on Italy Records soon after, as well as a track on White's 2001 compilation, Sympathetic Sounds of Detroit released by Sympathy Records. Eberspeaker soon left the band to follow a career in fine arts. In August 2002, over a brief four-day period, the remaining trio recorded what would be the debut album not only for the band, but for White's label collaboration with V2 Records, Third Man Records. (White also produced the album.) The album, ''Do Rabbits Wonder?'', was released on Third Man Records with distribution by V2 Records and XL Recordings on April 15, 2003, as well as later releasing a cover of the White Stripes song "You're Pretty Good Looking" for the soundtrack of ''

The Hot Chick ''The Hot Chick'' is a 2002 American fantasy comedy film directed by Tom Brady (in his directorial debut), from a screenplay by Brady and Rob Schneider, and starring Schneider, Anna Faris, Matthew Lawrence, Eric Christian Olsen, and Rachel ...

''. The music video for the single "Purple" was shot by fashion/celebrity photographer

Terry Richardson Terrence Richardson (born August 14, 1965) is an American former fashion and portrait photographer. He has shot advertising campaigns for Marc Jacobs, Aldo, Supreme, Sisley, Tom Ford, and Yves Saint Laurent among others, and also done work ...

in New Paltz, NY. The video featured models Susan Eldridge and Kemp Muhl. In 2004 the band released a short EP entitled ''Flamingo Honey'', written and recorded in five hours. The EP features ten songs, all approximately one minute in length. The band's second full-length album ''Types of Wood'' was released on April 24, 2006, in the UK by Brille Records. The album photos of model Susan Eldridge were shot by

. ''Types of Wood'' has 11 tracks including the singles Reagan which also features on the ''Reagan EP''. Along with the release of the album, the band filmed a video for each song. The video for Reagan was directed by

Matthew Gray Gubler Matthew Gray Gubler (, ; born March 9, 1980) is an American actor, best known for his role as criminal profiler Dr. Spencer Reid in the CBS television show ''Criminal Minds'', for which he also directed several episodes. Gubler has appeared in ...

who cast his younger brother in the video as a fourth member of the band. Whirlwind Heat's last live performance was at

Summer Sonic Festival is an annual music festival held on one weekend in August simultaneously in both Chiba and Osaka, Japan. The festival features revolving lineups performing one day in Osaka then performing the next day in Chiba and vice-versa. The lineup often ...

in Tokyo, Japan on August 13, 2006. In 2007 Whirlwind Heat collaborated with

Devonte Hynes Devonté Hynes (born David Joseph Michael Hynes, 23 December 1985), also known as Blood Orange and formerly Lightspeed Champion, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, composer and director based in New York City. From 2004 to 2006, ...

(of the now defunct

Test Icicles Test Icicles were a short-lived rock band that formed in England in 2004, primarily influenced by post-hardcore, dance-punk and indie rock but containing musical elements from a variety of genres (notably dance, hip hop, crossover thrash, and p ...

Lightspeed Champion Devonté Hynes (born David Joseph Michael Hynes, 23 December 1985), also known as Blood Orange and formerly Lightspeed Champion, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, composer and director based in New York City. From 2004 to 2006, ...

, and currently

Blood Orange The blood orange is a variety of orange (fruit), orange with crimson, near blood-colored flesh. It is one of the sweet orange varieties (Citrus × sinensis, ''Citrus'' × ''sinensis''). It is also known as the raspberry orange. The dark flesh ...

) and called the project '' Lightspeed Heat''. The band self-released Self Titled or Scoop Du Jour on July 4, 2008, under their own record label imprint Heat Enterprises. The artwork was screen-printed in black ink on a sticker and applied to a blank white LP sleeve. The ice cream in the design was then colored green with a marker. The model on the cover is

Erin Wasson Erin Elizabeth Wasson (born January 20, 1982) is an American fashion model, actress, fashion designer, and stylist. Early life Erin Elizabeth Wasson was born in Irving, Texas on January 20, 1982. Career Wasson's modeling career began after wi ...

and was photographed by

. Illustrations of the band members and art were done by actor/director/artist

. On April 19, 2014

Record Store Day Record Store Day is a semi-annual event established in 2008 to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". Held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November, the day brings together f ...

, Whirlwind Heat performed in the blue room at

Third Man Records Third Man Records is an eclectic, vinyl-focused independent record label founded and owned by Jack White, Ben Blackwell, and Ben Swank. The company operates out of three locations—Nashville, Detroit, and Soho in London—with multiple entitie ...

in Nashville, TN. The first time on stage since playing in 2006 at

in Tokyo, Japan. It was likely their last performance. Their debut album, Do Rabbits Wonder? was reissued, in a variety of colored vinyl. Jack White performed at 10am this day, creating the world's fastest record. Whirlwind Heat performed at 2pm.

Discography

Albums

*'' Do Rabbits Wonder?'' (2003) V2/Third Man/

XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been run and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. It releases an average of six albums a year. T ...

*'' Types of Wood'' (2006)

Brille Records Brille Records is an independent record label based in the UK, which has released work from bands including Whirlwind Heat, Good Shoes, Envelopes, Operator Please, The Bridge Gang, The Golden Filter, Gwilym Gold, Amateur Best, Casimer&Ca ...

*'' I Fucked Up Types of Wood'' (2006)

*'' Self Titled or Scoop Du Jour'' (2008)

EPs

*'' Flamingo Honey'' (2004)

Dim Mak The touch of death (or death-point striking) is any martial arts technique reputed to kill using seemingly less than lethal force targeted at specific areas of the body. The concept known as ''dim mak'' (), alternatively () traces its history ...

/XL Recordings *''

Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party and became an important figure in ...

'' (2006) Brille Records *''Air Miami'' (2006) Brille Records

Singles

*"Spyboys Experiment" - Offsite Records - 2000 *"Glaxefusion" - Italy Records - 2000 *7" Split - "Stunning Evaseev" - New Beat Recordings - 2001 *"Purple" - Third Man/XL Recordings - 2003 *"Orange" - Third Man/XL Recordings - 2003 *"Pink" - Third Man/XL Recordings - 2004

Soundtracks

Soundtrack" Cover of

"You're Pretty Good Looking" - Hollywood Records - 2002

Notes

External links

Official Whirlwind Heat websiteWhirlwind Heat MySpaceWhirlwind Heat message boards

References

*Marissa R. Moss, Rolling Stones Magazine, April 21, 2014 {{Authority control American indie rock groups Musical groups from Grand Rapids, Michigan Third Man Records artists V2 Records artists Sympathy for the Record Industry artists Dim Mak Records artists XL Recordings artists 1996 establishments in Michigan