Whale House

If the name Whale House wasn’t enough to draw you in, the wanderlust of the guitar lines should do the trick. There is a sense of exploration and welcome experimentation wrapped in a twine of well-crafted songwriting that ties Whale House’s “Freeway” together. It’s a brilliant track and has me excited for more.

If you like what you hear, the threesome from Eau Claire, Wisconsin plans to release another single later this month. So stay glued to their SoundCloud for updates.

When you listen to “Freeway” (or any track on Milk Crater) we make a donation to charity. So if you feel like earning your superhero points for the day, give it a listen and tell all your friends that we are the coolest! - Milk Crater

A mighty spirited trio combining heavy melodic intensity with electrifying guitar passion. Fervent rollercoaster moods propelled by a thunderous blues engine. They remind me of the early, explosive Afghan Whigs spirit exploring grunge before Seattle invented it. Why? Here’s two reasons why. Alive and kicking… - Turn Up The Volume

As I’ve stated before on this blog, there is so much great rock music being made by so many talented artists and bands today, that I’m sometimes overwhelmed by it all. And every once in a while, I discover a band that stands out from the crowd by virtue of their incredible musicianship and sound. Whale House is such a band. Hailing from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, they describe their sound as ” a sublime blend of Noise & Melody.” More accurately, their dynamic sound has elements of experimental, grunge and psychedelic alternative rock.

Whale House was formed in 2009 by Clayton Brice and Caleb Price, both on vocals, guitar and bass. The duo released a 3-track EP From the Traps in 2011. Drummer Chris Dunn joined the band in 2013, and they subsequently released Stand Out. They followed up with their superb highly experimental 5-track EP The Negative Space in 2015, and dropped the excellent single “Freeway” earlier this year. Now they’ve released two new videos for their awesome songs “Red Sun” and “Think of Me.”

The electrifying videos were produced by SCOSH Films as Collaborate Forever Live Sessions filmed at Ambient Inks print shop in Eau Claire. Involved with production were videographer Scott Kunkel, photographer Kyle Lehman, sound engineer Steve Norwick and Bryan Hanna on mastering. The videos were filmed using movable walls and lots of fluorescent lighting, creating an otherworldly vibe. The guys all wearing sunglasses adds an edgy sense of mystery. I really like the videos for several reasons, one of which being that I enjoy seeing the band actually performing their songs, rather than act out some odd story line like in a lot of videos.

“Red Sun” starts off with a thumping bass line, then explodes with a barrage of shredded and swirling guitars and Dunn’s thunderous drums that instantly brought chills. Brice and Price coax scorching hot riffs from their guitars, their commanding, intertwining vocals in perfect harmony. This is one gorgeous rock song! - Eclectic Music Lover

Firstly, so that our readers can know a bit more about you, please introduce your band.

Hi! We’re a rock trio from Eau Claire, WI. Whale House is the name. Clayton and myself (Caleb) switch off doing guitar, bass, and vocals, and Chris handles the drums. It has been brought to our attention that we happen to all be Virgos… Do what you will with that! Some people have called our music grunge and there’s a strong 90’s alternative influence for sure, but I like to think that we give everything we do a pretty thorough twist, if you know what I mean.

One of the tracks featured in the videos, ‘Think Of Me’ was released earlier this year on a limited run of turntable CD’s (a CD which can be played on both a record player and in a CD player). I found this a rather unique way of releasing a track and was wondering where you got the idea to release the track in this manner?

Clayton took a drive through the desert to visit some friends in Tucson, AZ and happened to come across a small company there that made these hybrids. We’d never seen anything like it before. Seemed like something we had to try!

With the rapid drop in CD sales and the rise of the vinyl, do you think the hybrid of turntable CD’s will catch on?

I don’t know. It definitely seems like one of those “best of both worlds” products. It’s got the vinyl factor for the aficionados, plus you can rip MP3’s to your computer or listen to it in your car (for those of us that still have a CD player in their car of course). I’m a fan.

From the looks of things, you’ve been quite busy gig-wise this year. As a band, do you have any pre-gig/post-gig rituals?

The last gig we played, my “ritual” was getting my radiator replaced. I hit a raccoon driving through a heavily wooded area on my way to the venue and it did some major damage to the underside of my car. I felt really bad about it… But that’s the backwoods of Wisconsin for you. Usually though it’s much more pleasant: have a beer, chat about life. We show up, load in, get a feel for the venue and enjoy the scenery of wherever we are playing. We enjoy getting to know the local scene and having interactions with new musicians and the friendships that come out of a gig are priceless. To end the night we usually stay up too late talking about the awesomeness of the evening, while yelling because we can’t hear anything.

Finally, have you got anything to share regarding what you’ve got planned for the remainder of 2016/the beginning of 2017?

Yeah we’ve got a few more gigs around our home base (Eau Claire, Wisconsin/Minneapolis, Minnesota), and then we’re going to start working on a full-length record. We’ve got most of the songs mapped out already. We’re trying to be more concise with the writing than we have been in the past, and a little more straightforward; nothing over 4 minutes. We’re really excited to get started and have successfully secured a Producer & Visual Artist for the record, which we plan to announce sometime in 2017. Stay tuned! - Mix It All Up

Today’s turn around the dial is all about contrasts, music that combines discordant elements but in way that resolves the tension via a great hook. Whether channeling experimental rock or 1950s song structure or a revived beach fun ethos or dreamy vocal harmonies, its all about melody.

Let’s begin in Eau Claire, Wisconsin where Whale House are a band of many colours: proudly experimental on a number of tracks, languidly acoustic-strummy on others, and straight out rockers when the amp gets knocked up to eleven. It’s all there in their latest trio of songs, with “Red Sun” and “Think of Me” covering the experimental rock and “Freeway” focusing on melody. I love the cover shot for the latest single with its space cruiser speeding into some crossword time-space anomaly! Songwise, the obvious single to me is “Freeway.” The song kicks off with a super nice trippy guitar line that threads it way through the song, brought into contrast by a chorus that brings on a stronger attack from both guitars and piano, and vocals that have a nice, ever-so-slightly punky quality, hinting at alienation yet curiously endearing at the same time. Warning: repeated listening will imprint the guitar line on your brain like the Apple home screen on your TV (in this case, not a bad thing). Previous releases from Whale House are also worth exploring. Check out their 2013 single “Stand Out” or “Smoke Signals” and “Dark Rituals” from their 2014 EP The Negative Space (the latter track sounds like a spot on 1980s FM radio staple). - Poprock Record

EP produced by John Richardson (The Small Square) "Freeway" is popular among grunge generation, Wisconsin's Alternative / Grange Band Whale House . Following the acoustic session released the other day, live session video in the studio is released. The song was written in 2011, " Red Sun " which was rearranged and power up this time , " Think Of Me " of the latest EP recorded song . Both of the performance of the grunge generation direct hit. It is cool that the front 2 partners are changing parts. - Startrip Magazine

Their Music is Free of limitations, impressive and both firm structured tonal harmonies, yet ambient “waves” of a-tonal sounds, lyrics that hit hard and the rhythm is moving like a heartbeat, give a peek and check them out! - Indie Pulse Music

Eau Claire-based rockers Whale House have a couple of new tracks up their collective sleeve, and they’re gearing up to share them with the world. The band dropped a pair of singles digitally, one called “Freeway” (an acoustic strummer with a distinct ’90s-alt-rock flavor) and the other called “Think Of Me” (a full-on rock song with chugging guitars, tight energy, and a super catchy vocal hook). The two singles anchor the album, which the band will release on March 19 with a show/celebration at the House of Rock, joined by Minneapolis acts The Heavy Set and The Persian Lips. The new CD comes with a cool merch package, courtesy of local screen printing wizards Ambient Inks. It includes a handmade, lathe-cut turntable CD (you can play it in a CD player or with a vinyl record player), screen-printed posters, and album art by Minneapolis painter Lucas Gluesenkamp. Catch them at the aforementioned release show, or at The Raw Deal in Menomonie on April 23. - Volume One