In the Whale seeks concert vibe on new EP
Eric Riley and Nate Valdez are nearly two months into their tour — and it’s going well.
Fans are showing up and loving the music.
The pair make up the Denverbased rock outfit Into the Whale, which is touring in support of the EP “Dopamine.”
Valdez says the pair took off nine months after the last album to write material for the EP.
The duo hooked up with producer Steve Evetts, who has produced for Every Time I Die, Glassjaw and The Cure.
“Steve came out to a show while we were in Long Beach,” Valdez says. “He really liked our old records and told us that we needed to capture our live energy. During that nine months, we hashed out the plan.”
The band recorded “Dopamine” at the Foo Fighters’ famous Studio 606, and it was performed almost entirely live to 2-inch tape.
“Recording at Studio 606 and working with Steve Evetts honestly felt like a dream come true,” Riley says. “The studio is a rock musicians’ playground, with anything and everything we could possibly want. We are very excited to share this with our fans.”
Riley says when the pair went into the studio, the goal was to capture the live aspect to In the Whale’s music.
This meant that both Riley and Valdez had to be on point when the recording was taking place.
“It was like playing a 12-hour show,”Riley says. “The energy was able to translate, but we were tired.”
Valdez says there were plenty of stops and starts during the two-day recording session.
“We had to start over a lot,” Valdez says with a laugh. “It was humbling to see how bad we were on each take. We’d get halfway through a song and forget a part. We had to stop and start all over again. We practiced a lot before the recording. When we messed up, it was disheartening, but we knew it was for our own good.”