Is White Reaper Actually the World’s Best American Band?

Now, if you're sitting there, scratching your head, wondering, "I've never even heard of them. How could they be better than Aerosmith, Steely Dan, or ZZ Top?" Well, you've just asked yourself a very good question. Semi-credible website Ranker, which offers "opinion-based, crowdsourced rankings of everything," has taken the public's general consensus and awarded the Eagles "greatest American rock band" status. Two problems with that title: 1. The Eagles finally showed mercy on us and retired last year after the passing of co-founder/co-singer Glenn Frey (RIP). So they are no longer active. And 2. That distinction Ranker gave them was for "greatest American rock band" and not "world's best American band," which is what White Reaper claims to be.

Up until now, Louisville's White Reaper has been a buzz-worthy garage band that released a self-titled EP in 2014, followed by their debut album, White Reaper Does It Again, the following year. Signed to Polyvinyl, a label that helped break other acts like the world's best Canadian band, Japandroids, and the world's best reunited emo band, American Football, White Reaper seems to have made a colossal leap from feel-good rockers to the world's best in America in a matter of only two years.

Frontman Tony Esposito, who is not the Stanley Cup-winning former goaltender for the Chicago Blackhawks, humbly admits that White Reaper haven't always been the best. "We weren't the best back when we released [White Reaper Does It Again]," he admits. "But we're the best now."

How does such a thing happen overnight? And how does a band learn they are the best American band in the world? Apparently it was pretty simple. "I think we just wanted to be better," he says in a tone devoid of any smartassery. "So we decided that we would. That's kind of how it happened. The music became better. I think we were working a lot harder and thinking more about the music. We spent a lot more time writing this record."

The World's Best American Band is undoubtedly a better record than its predecessor. Lead single "Judy French" is almost even powerful enough to make me wanna air guitar in public like an oblivious idiot. (Let it be known that I am nowhere near the world's best Canadian air guitarist.) They've cleaned up all of the muck that made them sound like Jay Reatard, learned how to write stronger hooks, and developed a more straightforward style of rock and roll, with thumping rhythms, appropriately timed howls, and killer solos. Y'know, the kind of music that the best bands play.

For Esposito and his bandmates, White Reaper is all about playing the music they want to hear. To paraphrase the world's best money-grubbing band KISS, White Reaper wanted to hear the best, so they became the best.

"I think there are a lot of reasons to make music, and for us we just want to make the music that we want to listen to. A lot of bands do that," Esposito says, admitting they listen to their own music on tour. "I think that's the entry-level reason. When you're 14 and you start a band with your friends, you make music that you think is cool. But then there's also people that want to challenge themselves and that's cool too. I don't think we're quite there yet though."

Unchallenging music isn't often considered the best kind of rock and roll—unless you're the world's best experimental rock band. But it isn't unrealistic to think that White Reaper could become a band that some fans believe are the world's best American band. And this new album is a lot of fun. It's loud, hot-blooded, and full of the chunky riffs and layered vocals that helped everyone from Blue Öyster Cult to Molly Hatchet sell out arenas back in the 70s.

Previously, White Reaper was largely considered one of the world's best new American garage bands, but The World's Best American Band reveals there's more to them than meets the eye. Yeah, at times they still sound like a glossier take on the late great Jay Reatard—who was the world's best American garage rock dude before he passed away in 2010—but there are some legit classic rock-isms creeping into the music. Tunes like "Crystal Pistol" and "The Stack" sound like unrecorded hits from 40 years ago, dusted off just for them. And well, I mentioned the effect "Judy French" has on me—it's basically the best song never written by world's best Irish riff rock band, Thin Lizzy. Digging into the classic rock canon seems like the right thing for them to do, too—it made Alabama Shakes and Kings of Leon two of the world's biggest American bands. So why wouldn't it work for them?

For the time being, though, they are an arena rock band trapped in the body of a garage band playing modest-sized gigs at the Frequency in Madison, Wisconsin, and the Basement in Columbus, Ohio. But Esposito is already shooting for those 20,000-capacity venues. He doesn't seem to be joking when he says the band can get even better than, uh, the best. "Absolutely," he says. "I think we can get better at our instruments. There is always room for improvement." And so that means White Reaper is already working on becoming the world's best band, period. "You have to walk before you can run," Esposito says without any giggles. "There is a difference there between the world's best American band and the world's best band. We're not crazy. But I think it can happen, yes. We're still young. I'm only 23. Maybe by the time we're 25 or 26. When we release our next record."

To be honest, during our interview, I begin to have my doubts. I'm not 100-percent convinced that White Reaper is the world's best American band. Since music is subjective, I've always reserved that title for the Replacements (who Ranker has at #81, by the way). So I politely ask Esposito the all-important question: Are you guys for real? Or is this whole album title, credo, and discussion some satirical bullshit?

And then the truth hits like a bomb. "I think we just didn't want to name our record something artsy and vague. Like Daydream Nation, or something like that," he says, letting his guard down. "We didn't want to be taken too seriously. We wanted to make a bold statement that would catch people's eyes and make them laugh."

Okay, so White Reaper might not sway the world to accept them as its best American band, but the album title certainly will catch eyes and cause laughter. But Esposito and his bandmates feel the only way for White Reaper to ever be considered the world's best American band by others is, to quote Muhammad Ali, to say it out loud for people to believe it.

"Because," Esposito says, "if you don't think your band is the best then what are you doing in that band?"

Cam Lindsay is Canada's best American writer. Follow him on Twitter.