Living and working in the thriving Asbury Park music scene sometimes makes you forget about the rest of New Jersey. The North Jersey scene, with its epicenter in Jersey City, is thriving with a cadre of bands churning out really good music. One of the bands at the forefront of this Northern scene is Forget the Whale. This genre-defying band has made a name blending high-energy stage performance with a large musical range that has made them an in-demand band. Tonight they head to Asbury Park for Happy Mondays at Wonder Bar. We caught up with Dan Pieraccini of Forget the Whale to talk about the North, playing in New York, their wild sound, and more.
Forget the Whale is (Members of the Band & Instruments They Play): Alishia Taiping sings and sometimes plays bass, Dan Pieraccini plays bass and sometimes keys, Pete Durning plays guitar and sometimes harmonica and AJ Zienowicz plays drums and sometimes on time.
Year We Formed In: 2013
We’re Based Out of: Mainly Jersey City
Story Behind Our Name: Captain Ahab was obsessed with the White Whale, and look where that got him! We have a totally different philosophy, one with which Bob Dylan would agree– live in the now!
You’ve Seen Us in Other Bands Before Like: Alishia and Dan were founding members of the cover band The Dirty– but let’s be honest, you’ve probably never seen us before!
Famous/Cool Bands We’ve Shared the Stage With: We’ve gotten the pleasure of playing with “uncle” Eddie Brigati from the Young Rascals a few times. Also Maroon 5, Paramore, Taylor Swift, Halestorm … wait, you mean bands we’ve already shared the stage with? Darn … just the first one, then.
Our Sound Has to Be Compared To: “The Who, Fleetwood Mac, and sounds like something that could come wafting from Sirius’s ’90s channel… [they] unabashedly embrac[e] 60’s blues-rock.” That’s from Jim Testa of Jersey Beat.
You guys play New York and New Jersey regularly — can you talk about the difference between these two scenes?
New York has mastered the efficiency of the revolving door. We’ve played venues in NYC that get us and our fans in for the 45 minute set, and everyone is quickly ushered out as the new band and their crowd comes in. There’s no discovering the next cool new sound — it’s just getting your friends to show up so you look like you have a draw.
The scenes that we participate in–primarily Jersey City, South Orange/Maplewood, and Montclair– are real and veritable scenes. We support other artists, we get big crowds to come out and jam with us –people recognize us and they bring friends. The venues ask ‘When can you play next?’ and not ‘How many people can you draw?’< Any new music on the horizon?
Yes! We’re actually looking to bring in a horn section for some of the next few tunes — no, we’re not joking. A horn section. Stay tuned.
How would you describe your sound?
(laughs) That’s a popular question for us!
The answer is: no one knows. Scholars will debate this one until the world ends. People, ourselves included, argue over what we sound like all the time. We unabashedly vary all over the place in terms of style.
“Want to write a country song?”
“Yeah, sure, let’s try it! Man, I wish I had a banjo.”
“What about a rock ballad?”
“Yeah, all right! But only if we can have one of those epic guitar solos in the middle.”
“Guys, I think we should add xylophone to–”
“SHUT UP, DAN! NO MORE XYLOPHONE!
And that’s basically it — we definitely have songs that are hard rock, like “I Know Where You’ve Been,” “Suburban Outlaw,” or “Another Trick Up My Sleeve.” There’s some smoother, jazzier blues-influenced music, like “10 Days,” and a new song we’ll release soon called “Ghost.” There are tunes that would be considered pop-rock, like “Carry Your Own Weight,” or “The Little Robot.” We try hard not to let genre get in the way of our writing, and rather than keep a consistent sound, we want a listener to have a great experience listening to our albums or watching the live show. Attention spans are shrinking everywhere, so rather than listening to the same song ten times, you get a little world in each track.
What’s been one of the most important things you’ve learned as band since you first formed?
Be patient. Songs write themselves in their own time. People have lots of interests and other things going on in their lives. And as much as one might think music has become an overlooked commodity, there are still a ton of people who seek it out and love it.
If someone was checking the band out for the first time what song would you recommend they listen to fully understand what Forget the Whale is all about?
ONE song? Maybe “Giants?” “Giants” has a special place for us, and it’s stayed in our setlist from the beginning. We often close the show with it, and there’s a lot of emotion, epic highs and lows, and some really rocking moments. It’s the song that moves the most people, and it really came out of thin air–like one of those little music spirits poured it into one of our ears and it just needed to be realized.
What’s one of the wildest moments you’ve had as a band — one that’s indelibly marked on your souls forever?
Oh, man, I think this one is unanimous: when people started singing “You can’t leave me like this,” on their own, unprompted, during “Giants,” once at the Park Tavern in Jersey City, we were just blown away. That had to have been the best.
What is it about this band that you love?
The fact that everyone is still alive (when we should have killed each other by now!) and still have their significant others (who should have killed us by now). It’s a really organic group that works well together. There’s a lot of love and support among the members, and there’s always excitement and friendship among us.
What are you most excited for in 2019?
We’re going to get back into the studio to pump out another EP full of crazy music — again, the potential of adding the horn section. We’re playing the main stage at Make Music Day in Montclair and we’ll see what else is offered to us!
Forget the Whale performs with Tango Machina and The BarrBarians at Happy Mondays at Wonder Bar tonight. Must 21 be to enter. There is no cover.
Photos Credit: Seabury Zienowicz
