Whale and the Wolf Point A “Sharp Knife” At The Vices That Consume Us
The Edmonton hard-pop band, Whale and the Wolf, recently teamed up with producer Brian Moncarz (Our Lady Peace, The Tea Party, The Trews) to solidify their impending rise to the top of the rock game.
Their song “Sharp Knife” focuses on harmful temptations such as certain relationships, substances, pop culture, and social media. Things that seem harmless at first may end up changing over time and become controlling or damaging.
The main item that the band drew inspiration from was cell phones. We rarely allow ourselves to be more than an arm’s reach away from a dopamine hit in the form of a notification icon that keeps us coming back for more. In other words, it’s an unlimited gas that fuels the flame of jealousy, vanity, and desire.
Listen to “Sharp Knife” below and learn more about Whale and the Wolf via our Five Questions With segment.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
Hey ya’ll! We are Whale and the Wolf, an independent Canadian band based out of Edmonton, Alberta.
Tell us a bit about your most recent release.
Our most recent release is a song called “Sharp Knife.” Lyrically it considers the danger and damage our cell phones and social media can cause when we let them consume and control us. Sonically it’s us trying to capture our live performance in a studio setting, with the clear intention of not sounding over-producing. We simplified the arrangement, honing in on what happens when we all play in a room together. It’s a high-energy rock tune with some eerie overtones, a sound we’ve embraced over our past couple of releases.
Where do you tend to pull inspiration from when writing?
We’re a diverse crew in terms of our musical inspirations, anything from Queens of the Stone Age and Nothing But Thieves, to The 1975 and The Tragically Hip is fair game. Lyrically our singer Ryan draws from his ponderings on the current state of the world and anything else that grips his imagination.
Do you have any upcoming shows you’d like to tell us about?
We’re super excited to be playing Pigeon Lake Music Festival on August 5th alongside some wonderful Canadian artists such as Bif Naked, The Trews, Born Ruffians, and Kim Mitchell. We are also currently booking an extensive fall tour that we’re excited to share in the coming weeks.
What’s your goal for 2023?
Mums the word but we have a full-length album scheduled for release this fall. We’ll be hitting the road across the country to promote it and our goal is just to share the new music with as many people as possible.