In our 70th instalment of “Stumbled Upon”, we meet Black Whales from Seattle, and chat about the simplicity of 1960’s Californian rock ‘n’ roll, finding their label via Twitter and get a sneak peak at their latest record, Through The Prism, Gently.
Band Name:
Black Whales
Website / Social Media:
blackwhales.com
Facebook / Soundcloud / Twitter / Instagram / Bandcamp
Genre:
Pysch-Pop / Rock
Members & their roles:
Alex Robert – Lead Vocals / Guitar / Songwriter
Ryan Middleton – Bass
Mica Crisp – Guitar
Dave Martin – Keys / Synths / Backup Vocals
Adam Fream – Drums
What music or artists inspired you?
The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, Flaming Lips, BJTM, Kurt Vile, The Kinks, The Magnetic Fields, Phil Spector, The Beatles
I’m really heavily influenced by the music of 1960’s California. On the songwriting side, I really like the simplicity of that era. On the production end of things, I can never get enough delay, phase and reverb on things. I wanna drown everything in it. I love Brian Wilson’s productions. I’ll sit and listen to any of those tracks over and over again, trying to deconstruct his arrangements and figure out all the production stuff.
On the other side of the spectrum, I think we also really love bands like Suicide and 13th Floor Elevators. I like the dark and minimal songwriting…soaked in fuzz
How did the band get started?
We all met at different times, playing in bands around Seattle. A band I was in had split up and it had been a bit since I had played in a group, so I started getting a few song ideas together. The other band we shared a rehearsal space with had just broken up and none of the remaining few of us wanted to call it quits. So a few phone calls later, we had a band together. We wrote five or so songs, made a little recording of them and started getting that out in Seattle to get shows.
How would you best describe your live show:
Big/Fuzzy/Echo-y/Energetic/Sometimes falling over.
What shows do you have coming up?
SAT 8/22 – Neumos – Seattle, WA.
w/ The Weather (Record Release Party)
FRI 9/25 – Lofi – Seattle, WA.
w/ Sweet Jesus (Record Release Party)
Keep an eye on Facebook for more dates.
Tell us about your latest release:
Our newest record is called Through The Prism, Gently. We released it on Sunless Sea Records out of Boise, Idaho. The label had contacted us via Twitter, completely out of the blue. We’d more or less finished the record and were looking around for someone who might be interested in releasing it. We were at the point of a likely self-release, when they emailed us and asked if we’d like to meet and discuss working together.
Where can I get your music?
We put out Through The Prism, Gently on limited edition white, ‘moon-marbled’ vinyl. It’s really beautiful. We only pressed 500 copies and they can still be ordered from Sunless Sea Records online
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