HOUSE OF FREAKS
House of Freaks was a two-man band formed in Richmond, Virginia in the mid-1980’s. Bryan Harvey played guitar and sang, and Johnny Hott played percussion. The band managed to achieve a remarkably full sound, mostly because of Hott’s inventive drumming and Harvey’s confident vocals and knack of playing bass lines on his guitar (cribbed from his many years as a bass player) while simultaneously playing a melody. The Freaks’ sound was a combination of folk and rock, and drew heavily from the blues and primitive Americana music. (More from Wikipedia)
The White Stripes’ third album, White Blood Cells, featured hit songs like “Fell in Love with a Girl” (the video for this song that used animated Legos is one of the most amazing that I have ever seen) and “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground”. Besides having a definite retro attitude in his music, Jack White also used vintage microphones, instruments and amplifiers in recording his music. While there had been a few two-person rock bands over the years – such as House of Freaks, a band from Richmond, Virginia that formed in 1986 – the power trio of guitar, bass and drums is about as small as most rock bands were previously willing to go. Being able to successfully pull off a rock duo requires an adept drummer; but Meg White, for one, is more than equal to the task.
(January 2013)
