In Charlottesville, where I live, we used to have a great DIY house-show venue called Magnolia House. I had a lot of great nights out there. Magnolia House was in a rapidly-developing part of town, and it was already getting ready to shut down before the pandemic hit. Earlier this week, the house itself was demolished. That sucks! But the people who made Magnolia House special are still around, and they're continuing to do cool things.
Back in the day, a guy named Sam Roberts lived at Magnolia House, booked most of the shows, and played drums in the hardcore punk band Fried Egg. These days, Sam lives in Richmond, and he plays in the sick-ass metal punk band Private Hell; I just saw them play a great show there last week. Until recently, Sam was also one half of White Beast, a bass-and-drums duo that makes really cool and surprisingly hooky noise-rock.
White Beast's debut album Suffering Time came out in 2023, and they followed it with their Demons EP last year. Roberts isn't in White Beast anymore, and Destructo Disk's Molly Gordon now plays drums instead. Today, White Beast have a new one-off single called "Servant." It's big, bellowed vocals and even bigger riffage, and it rocks so majestically that you might have a hard time believing that this is just two guys. Check it out below.
