Bronze Whaler
Dallas, Texas, United States
Music
Press
Denton four-piece Bronze Whaler lists a boggling range of influences, from folksy pop darling Feist to the strident Led Zeppelin to Bob Marley. Bronze Whaler will be at the Boiler Room on Saturday.
The group released its EP Rise With the Tide last August, and has performed in respected Dallas and Fort Worth venues. It’s back to Denton this weekend for a gig at 10 p.m. Saturday at the Boiler Room, 101 W. Hickory St.
Influences aside, Bronze Whaler makes shoe-gazer rock that rides the edge of hard, noisy rock. Whaler’s music strikes a symphonic balance between poppy rock and hard rock.
Bronze Whaler headlines after sets by March of the Bull, Denton punk-popsters Blunt Force and Layla. Details: Doors open at 8 p.m. Cover is $7 for ages 21 and older, $10 for those younger than 21. Sounds a little like: Incubus and Minus the Bear. Moody guitar waves ride out songs that sound mostly sad and meditative. Rise With the Tide goes well with long drives after sundown. - Denton Record-Chronicle
If I had to admit anything to an audience of music lovers, I would have to say that I've been having a hard time grasping this new-age rock scene that Denton seems to have accumulated. However, the music does appear to have grown on me. I now dream Denton rock, I live amidst Denton rock, and although it may smell of sweat and booze, I bathe in Denton rock. Amidst this thought I heard of a show happening Friday night at the Boiler Room and although I wasn't too fond of the headlining act, one band definitely caught my attention.
With the enthusiasm of horny school boys, Bronze Whaler rocked the house at their CD release show on Saturday night at The Boiler Room. All the members of the group are geniuses of their instruments. While lead man, Sean Bonacum speaks true to the band's name as a perfect pitch whaler and ripped at his guitar like an angry ex-girlfriend, Brady Kinkade followed up with dueling riffs that could match some our favorite Texas guitarists such as Todd Lewis and Clark Vogeler of the Toadies. These two, however, in no way overpowered the speedy hands of drummer Gabe Muzquiz and bassist Jacob Delott. Although in the background, Muzquiz let his presence be known with head-boppingly fast and upbeat sound. He carried the band musically and made our "pants vibrate," as one of the onlookers confessed. Other front man Jacob Delott danced and played his bass guitar like he'd been doing it from birth. Watching him play made playing the bass seem almost too easy.
With old and new songs, Bronze Whaler wowed the crowd with their cutting edge rock n' roll that sticks in your head like glue in your hair, yet much less irritating. As hard as it is for me to say, the band's cover of "Electric Feel" by MGMT could battle the original. They bridged the fine line of electronic and rock like it was a small creek, but still kept the originality that MGMT gave the song on its debut album, Oracular Spectacular. Their new self-titled album is now on sale, and I would highly recommend visiting their MySpace and checking the music out for yourself.
--Charlotte Golden
MyDentonMusic.com
October 26th, 2009 - Pegasus News
In Denton, where everyone is a music major, it's hard to stand out. Bronze Whaler has done exactly that with their debut EP. These guys have already landed some big gigs even though they've played less than a handful of shows. What immediately stands out is the Thursday/Circa Survive-esque dual guitar attack of Sean Bonacum and Brady Kinkade. Bonacum's soulful vocal delivery provides an earthy balance instead of coming off as pretentious, which is usually the case for newcomers to the genre. While the production on Rise With the Tide is top-notch for a self-release, the songs are more explosive when played live. Bronze Whaler has a btight future ahead of them. (D.J. Ivie) - Harder Beat Magazine, May 2009, Issue 180
Discography
Rise With the Tide EP (2008)
Bronze Whaler EP (2009)
Photos
Bio
SHORT BLURB
Simply put, Bronze Whaler’s singer is better than yours. Much better. The band plays lean art rock. Soaring vocals and adventurous arrangements make it a delight for dissecting, dancing or both.
BIO
Bronze Whaler’s mastery of mood has this adventurous art rock quartet riding high in Denton’s uber-competitive and highly-selective music scene. After being asked by spastic progressive favorites Fair to Midland to serve as their opener on a recent tour, Bronze Whaler caught the ear of dynamic producer Jason Cupp (Finch, The Elected, Rilo Kiley, Kill Hannah, Social Distortion). Like an impressionist painter, Bronze Whaler writes in moods. The result sounds a lot like Minus The Bear and latter-era Incubus in that the band has managed to create a lean art rock sound that’s as fun as it is impressive. On a recent Cupp-produced, self-titled EP, lead singer Sean Bonacum belts it out like Chris Cornell when he wants, but the patient, controlled element of his delivery is most disarming. He wields his vocals like Jeff Buckley did, effortlessly alternating between a breathy, haunting crispness and an ear-splitting howl. Bonacum writes songs about battling his brain. Anyone who’s played or worked with Bronze Whaler agrees that he’s one of the country’s most promising young singers. To back him up, the band crafts a decidedly modern psychedelic texture with dueling meticulous guitar parts drenched in bluesy, vintage tones that cut through the clever rhythm section’s tightly-constructed time signatures and arrangements.
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