CHRVNS and Tim Mechling sit down with Whalien and discuss the down and dirty side of being a jam band, how to be a multi-genre band while also having a clear identity, does being a drummer who writes lyrics make you a piece of shit?, getting punched by my middle schoolers, from Singapore with love, literally how every band from Bellingham was started, and are you team Splish, or team Splash?!

Whalien was born in a rush, winning the 2018 Summer Meltdown Showdown after playing together for only a few months. The win allowed them to perform alongside artists like Lettuce, Greensky Bluegrass, and Big Gigantic at Washington State’s Summer Meltdown Festival. Since that time the band has played relentlessly around the west coast. They’ve developed a reputation for high-energy live shows featuring surprise trombone solos, energetic disco breakbeats, honky-tonk shuffles and ska suites about cryptids. Since 2018, Whalien has played more than 200 shows and released two studio albums, ‘For Realien’ in 2022 and ‘Whale Tales’ in December 2023. In 2024 the band hosted their own festival, ‘Splish Splash’, which highlighted local and nationally renowned artists from around the west coast.