Last week, Tim Deaux from The Whigs took time to chat with ENS ahead of their upcoming tour which includes a stop in Covington at The Mad Hatter on November 2. Tim called us from Nashville, TN where The Whigs are putting the finishing touches on their new album.

ENS – Thanks for talking to us

Tim – Thank you for taking the time to chat with me as well.

ENS – You guys are getting ready to head out for a few months. What do you to get ready?

Tim – Well, we pack clean underwear, make sure the gear is loaded, and fill the van up. Seriously, we are putting the finishing touches on our new album and will be working on it pretty much until the moment we hit the road. We will be heading out until mid-December with only a Thanksgiving break doing about a lap and a half of the US. We are looking forward to it!

ENS – You mentioned the new album. Tell us a little bit about it.

Tim – It’s going to be called “In the Dark” and it should be out early 2010. We recorded it in Athens with (among others) producer Ben Allen who is a long time friend of the band. We haven’t settled on the final track list but it will be 10-12 songs.

ENS – Ben Allen produced the Animal Collective’s “Merriweather Post Pavilion”… what did he lend to the process?

Tim – Well, the three of us have been on the road so much and working out the new songs, it’s just great to get a fresh set of well respected ears and have him lend his opinion and challenge us in ways we wouldn’t challenge ourselves.

ENS – So, can we expect to hear some of the new songs at The Mad Hatter?

Tim – Absolutely! We are excited to get out and play the new stuff for people and see what they think of it. We will play a mix of old and new songs, but we are really looking forward to playing the new stuff live. It will be our first headlining tour in a while, so we can’t wait to get out and play a full set.

ENS – Yeah, I saw you opened for Kings of Leon and the Drive-By Truckers recently. What did you learn from those guys?

Tim – It was a privilege to go out with both those bands. It’s great to see them do what they do because they’ve been at it so long and are real professionals. I guess you just pick stuff up along the way… from songwriting, to performing, to production and really anything else. It was also great to get The Whigs music out to people that might not otherwise know who we are.

ENS – So, what else should we expect at The Mad Hatter?

Tim – I think we bring a lot of energy to our shows! We like to bounce and jump around; we like to have a lot of fun! Oh, and it’ll be really loud too! We are also looking forward to playing some smaller rooms on this tour after playing arenas ahead of Kings of Leon. It will be nice to get back to our roots.

ENS – One last question. Who was cooler, Letterman or Kimmel?

Tim – We had such a great time at the Letterman show. We had to drive through the night to get there and load our stuff in at 530am. You know, then you are on stage and there’s Paul Schaeffer… it was really surreal.

ENS – Okay, one more… was it as cold as everyone says it is?

Tim – Cold?! We were bundled up and wearing gloves before we went on stage. Then they called us out and we played “Right Hand on My Heart” and that was it. It flew by! We were watching it later that night and realized that our drummer Julian forgot to take his hoodie off. It was hilarious because we’d never seen Julian play in anything other than a t-shirt and jeans.

ENS – Too funny! Well Tim, thanks for the time tonight. We are looking forward to seeing you at the Mad Hatter on November 2.

- Interview by Dave Rolfes

Check out the title track from The Whigs forthcoming album.

And don’t forget, we have tickets to give away to the Whigs show, and will be drawing a winner soon!