Whitney is returning to their roots.
After nearly a decade of experimenting with fuzzy, Sunday morning, indie dream pop, members Max Kakacek and Julien Ehrlich are reimagining their breakout sound with the new album, Small Talk, releasing November 7.
For Small Talk, Max and Julien brought the sound back to the start, and based on the singles, it’s working. Unlike 2022’s SPARK, which lit a new sonic era for the group, the upcoming LP will evoke the feeling of the debut, with elevated production placing them in their most confident form yet.
Since the beginning of summer, Whitney has been on the road either supporting Caamp or headlining clubs around North America. On Sunday, August 10, the band stops by The Stone Pony, their first visit to Asbury in eight years. If you love Real Estate, or the indie melodies that laid the groundwork for bedroom pop, the Pony is the place to spend your Sunday night.
Before playing a gig in South Burlington, Vermont, Max spoke with me ahead of the Asbury show to talk touring, the DIY Chicago music scene, and punk rock.
You’ve been on tour all summer, with two weeks left on the headline tour. How has the tour been going, and are you ready for a break?
We’ve been doing this for so long and have learned that too much time on the road makes you want to return to the studio. On the other hand, when you’re deep in writing mode, it always feels like the time to tour. However, this tour has been an outlier from that mindset, in the sense that I don’t even feel tired from the tour at all right now.
It’s been a while since we’ve been on the road in this way, playing shows non-stop. The last album cycle, touring was more like two weeks on, two weeks off, which is arguably a healthier lifestyle. But it feels good to be back in the headspace of learning to live out of a suitcase and playing every night.
The current leg of shows is mostly smaller markets. Do you enjoy playing the smaller scenes compared to the big stages you played while opening for Caamp?
Absolutely. Compared to the headline slot, the opening slot has its own benefits and downsides, but I think the smaller headline shows can be almost spiritual. Headline sets are especially refreshing after opening a tour because you get to interact with your fans.
I love playing bigger venues and getting more people exposed to the music. But there’s something special about playing for people familiar with your music in a small space. You can talk to them from the stage; it feels intimate and personal, whereas the opening shows are more about exposing people to our music.
On August 10, you play The Stone Pony. It’s your first time playing in Asbury since 2017. Do you have any memories of your first performance by the shore?
One of our dear friends is from New Jersey. His name is Frank, and he lives in LA now, but he was our Lighting Designer for a while. His family still lived in NJ, so on the day of the show, we went to his childhood home, and his dad grilled for us, which was awesome. Then, in the morning, we got…[pauses]…What’s the famous breakfast sandwich on the boardwalk?
Pork Roll?
Yes! We all got pork rolls before leaving. It was very unhealthy, but I loved it. Anyways, our keyboardist, Malcolm [Brown], is a huge Springsteen fan, so I think he’s very excited to be back in Jersey.
Small Talk, the new Whitney album, is coming out later this year. You’ve been playing a few songs off the album so far on tour. How have they been transitioning from the studio to the stage?
Honestly, pretty seamlessly. Our previous album, SPARK, was more about experimenting with synthetic textures, and fitting those songs into the set was challenging. The new album felt like we were coming back to the ideas that started the band, and the songs can exist in the Whitney ethos. Luckily, we have a very talented band, so slotting these new songs into the setlist is very simple.
Small Talk is the first new Whitney album in three years. What songs, albums, and artists have inspired you in that period?
A band that played a role in making the album is Big Star. I have always connected to their specific DIY mentality and the charming, naive nature of their recordings. Something about it feels intimate between the musician and the listener.
We recorded Small Talk by doing it ourselves, allowing mistakes and accidents to shine through. A lot of the new album attempts to feel more human, even though the production is kind of large, with strings and horns.
That’s awesome. The singles do have that OG Whitney feel.
For sure. We’ve always been inspired by the ideas we initially started the band with, and have been practicing them again. I think we now have a certain confidence in presenting these sounds in a way that allows us to be a little more interesting and present.
I read that growing up, you heard a lot of Ramones and Buzzcocks around the house.
Oh, yeah!
Whitney may not be a punk rock band, but I think there’s punk rock in everything. What are the punk aspects of Whitney?
The Buzzcocks and The Clash, and a little bit of the Ramones, could meld genres with attitude so easily, and that always impressed me. The guitar-weaving nature of the Buzzcocks, specifically, is so fascinating. I love how they’re fast but subtle, which I relate to most. Our music is much slower-paced and a little prettier, even though that may not be the right word. Finding a way to bring a punk ethos into the Whitney attitude is a little tough; however, finding inspiration from punk music, when it’s melodic, is something that we’re all interested in.
Buzzcocks are a great example of melodic and lyric-driven punk.
Exactly.
Whitney is based out of Chicago, so what are your favorite Chicago acts?
Well, right now, our bass player and a very good friend of ours, Chet Zenor, is playing with us for the summer, and he has a project called Lucky Clouds that’s really awesome. There’s another band that I really like, too, called Free Range.
No way. I saw them open for Horsegirl, and they’re great.
Horsegirl is awesome too. The power pop, Buzzcocks-like, Sharp Pins, and Alga scene happening right now is incredible. They’re all killing it.
My previous band, Smith Westerns, started in Chicago when we were 18 or 19, and we were obsessed with power pop. Since then, I’ve moved on to different things, but it’s so sick to see a younger generation of Chicagoans fully going into the power pop kind of thing. I love it.
Kai Slater (Sharp Pins’ lead singer) is a stud.
I’ve met Kai a couple of times, and he’s a really, really smart dude.
He knows how to write a song.
For sure. There was a moment where everyone in Chicago was talking about his Turtle Rock record. As you get older and watch a scene develop, there’s this sense of dread that some types of music will get lost within the development of an era. I think everyone heard Turtle Rock and was like, “Fuck yes! Someone is making what nobody makes, and there’s still a strong affinity for it.”
Speaking of these newer bands, Folk Bitch Trio is opening for you guys. What can you say about them?
We haven’t had a show with them yet, but they’re opening for us tonight, so I’m psyched to get to know them. The music they make is unbelievably beautiful, harmonic, and low-key. We used to cover “Hammond Song” by The Roaches, and I think we’re going to ask them at some point to sing it with us, because it’s a very dense and harmonic song. It’s a tough one to play and is probably the time when our punk sensibilities come out. It stretches out a lot more than our usual stuff, and it’s a special moment on stage for us.
Awesome. I hope to hear it at the Asbury show. Thanks for taking the time, man.
Of course, I’ll see you there. Thank you!
