Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.
Clayton Brice – Guitar/Bass/Vocals
Caleb Price – Guitar/Bass/Vocals
Christopher Dunn – Drums/Percussion
For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Whale House? How long has the band been around?
We’ve been in and out of bands since before we could drive, but none before Whale House that made any kind of splash.
Clayton and I started Whale House as a two-piece in college. After playing low-key ambient stuff for a while we decided we wanted to ratchet up the energy, so we started looking for drummers. We cycled through 3 or 4 (great dudes one and all) before we found Chris on craigslist (I shit you not). We hit it off right away and that’s been the group for going on 3 years now.
What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?
“Whale House” is what some Native American Tribes of the Northwest Pacific call the ocean. We thought the name had an ancient, vaguely mysterious gravitas to it.
Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?
Clayton and I (Caleb) will usually write the outline of a song and then take it to the band to be fleshed out into a full-arrangement. The themes are usually personal and emotionally raw (love, death, existential dread, etc), but we write about them in a very subjective, stream-of-consciousness sort of way. We try to express ourselves in a way that goes deeper than everyday language. Hopefully we’re sometimes successful.
What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
The three of us are children of the 90’s, so that’s always going to be part of our sound. There was something about the “grunge” explosion that we all found extremely compelling. The fact that music that raw and earnest was mainstream for even a few years still blows my mind. For newer stuff we’ve been listing to Ty Segall, St. Vincent, Low, stuff like that.
Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?
I don’t know if there was any one musical experience that inspired us. Before we officially decided to call ourselves a band Clayton and I would just play covers, and the first cover we ever played was “For the Benefit of Mr. Kite” off Sgt. Peppers. We might’ve known then we were musically compatible.
What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, ect …
No prescribed activities, aside from drinking as much water as I can.
What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?
We got to open for one of our heroes, Alan Sparhawk (most famously of Low), when he toured with the equally awesome Retribution Gospel Choir. Talking to him backstage was quite a trip.
If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
Someone classic, like the Velvet Underground or Led Zeppelin or the Stooges. Someone with a real mythos built up around them. They all huge personas and a reputation for getting mixed up in wild stuff, it’d be cool to be a fly on the wall for some of that. Except for the maybe the Shark episode with Led Zeppelin. That might be too much. (Wikipedia).
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Our newest single is titled 'Freeway' which was released March 19th, 2016. The song is about freedom, and the wild abandon of youth. Like getting into a car and driving with no specific destination... It’s just you, the open road and your imagination.