ABOUT WHITE SHAG
You could say it’s like something out of a movie -but it was more like out of a video store. That’s where, four years ago out in Ann Arbor, MI (the birthplace of proto-punkers The MC5) Cortez and Mendoza encountered each other, revealing their similar upbringings and accommodating tastes in music. It only took Cortez one look and barely a minute of conversation to know that Mendoza had something - inviting her, on the spot, to come jam with his band (formerly The Brothers Cortez). Her accented pronouncement of his last name bent Cortez’ ear and, the pair of them both runts of large families presided by Chilean and Paraguayan parents respectively, started speaking in fluent Spanish about the possibilities of maybe busking the streets sometime soon (a date they’d make later that year).
Mendoza joined the original Bros. Cortez line-up in 2010, rechristened as White Shag. The line-up shifted through 2010, settling soon after with drummer Joe Leone. Their new batch of songs came quickly, girded by Jorge’s experienced sensibilities for fast, catchy riffs, ebullient soloing flourish and tasteful deployment of dazzling pedal-effects as well as Mendoza, a musical instructor at a metro Detroit School of Rock, being keen on improvisatory adaptability and training in arrangement. Cortez brought the riffs, Mendoza brought the words and melodies, they both brought the attitude. Once fellow-music instructor and lifelong musician Joe Leone joined on drums—the band was complete. (Good thing, too, since Leone joined just 5 days before the pair planned on recording their debut EP – released in Fall 2012).
JPR RELEASES
'White Shag' LP (JPR-037)
