Freelance Whales was an American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band which formed in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States, in 2008. The band consists of frontman Judah Dadone and bandmates Chuck Criss, Jacob Hyman and Kevin Read.

History

2008–2011: Formation and debut album ''Weathervanes''

Freelance Whales was founded during 2008, after connecting through Craigslist and friends of friends.
The band's debut album, ''Weathervanes'', was largely composed by frontman Judah Dadone, the lyrics based on a combination of childhood memories and dream journaling. Because they're from New York, the band's name derives from that freelance atmosphere that the city has. Judah Dadone, once said: 'Everybody in New York is a freelancer of something, and we used to be too when we played in the subways'. Multi-instrumentalist Chuck Criss was the brother of actor and singer

Darren Criss Darren Everett Criss (born February 5, 1987) is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He rose to fame starring on the television series ''Glee'' (2010–2015) and received Emmy and Golden Globe acting awards for his leading role as spree ...

. The band began to gain traction in October 2009 as they honed their sound on subway platforms around New York City. Toward the latter part of 2009, they self-released '' Weathervanes'', and on April 27, 2010 the album was re-released under the band's record labels, Frenchkiss and Mom + Pop. To promote their record, the band toured regularly from early 2010 thorough Spring 2011. In September 2010,

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

selected Freelance Whales' music as the background for a video introducing a major rework of the service's user experience. The same song, entitled "Generator ^ First Floor", was also used by the NBC show ''

Chuck Chuck is a masculine given name or a nickname for Charles or Charlie. It may refer to: People Arts and entertainment * Chuck Alaimo, American saxophonist, leader of the Chuck Alaimo Quartet * Chuck Barris (1929–2017), American TV producer * C ...

'' in its 4th season premiere episode ("Chuck vs. the Anniversary"), which premiered September 20, 2010, as well as by

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

in advertisements for the 2011

Chevy Volt The Chevrolet Volt is a plug-in hybrid manufactured by General Motors, also marketed in rebadged variants as the Holden Volt in Australia and New Zealand and the Buick Velite 5 in China, and with a different fascia as the Vauxhall Ampera in th ...

. On October 12, 2010, the song "Broken Horse" appeared in an episode of ''

One Tree Hill One Tree Hill may refer to: * "One Tree Hill" (song), a 1987 song by U2 referencing One Tree Hill, New Zealand volcanic peak * ''One Tree Hill'' (TV series), a 2003–2012 American drama series named for the U2 song ** ''One Tree Hill'' (soundtr ...

'' ("Nobody Taught Us to Quit"). Their song "The Great Estates" was also featured in an episode of the USA show ''Covert Affairs'' Season 1. Their song "Generator ^ Second Floor" was used on season 5, episode 1 of the British show '' Skins'' while "Location" was featured in episode 4. Their song "Starring" was used in season 2 ''My Life as Liz'' on MTV. "Starring" was also featured in an episode of ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into se ...

'' in Season 7. A 2011 Starbucks commercial also used "Generator ^ First Floor" as background music, as did the David Cornfield Melanoma Fund for their "Dear 16-year-old Me" melanoma awareness campaign. Their song "Hannah" was also used in the Australian television show ''Offspring''. Their song "Location" from the ''Weathervanes'' album was featured in ''

LOL LOL, or lol, is an initialism for laughing out loud and a popular element of Internet slang. It was first used almost exclusively on Usenet, but has since become widespread in other forms of computer-mediated communication and even face-to ...

'', starring Miley Cyrus and Demi Moore.

2011–2014: ''Diluvia'' and subsequent releases

The band released their sophomore album, '' Diluvia'', on October 9, 2012, to generally positive reviews. The band embarked on a supporting North American tour which concluded in January 2013. On April 17, 2013, the band announced on Facebook that Doris Cellar would be leaving the band. In November 2013, the band contributed a cover of

The Bobby Fuller Four The Bobby Fuller Four (sometimes stylized as Bobby Fuller 4) was a popular mid-1960s American rock & roll band started by Bobby Fuller. First formed in 1962 in Fuller's hometown of El Paso, Texas, the group went on to produce some of its most m ...

song "

Let Her Dance "Let Her Dance" is a song by The Bobby Fuller Four. It was the group's fourth single under Del-Fi Records, and the first to achieve national attention. "Let Her Dance" is a modified version of an earlier Bobby Fuller song, "Keep on Dancing". The ...

" to the album ''I Saved Latin!: A Tribute to

Wes Anderson Wesley Wales Anderson (born May 1, 1969) is an American filmmaker. His films are known for their eccentricity and unique visual and narrative styles. They often contain themes of grief, loss of innocence, and dysfunctional families. Cited by so ...

''. On August 15, 2014, two new songs by the band, titled "Hyde" and "Will I See You?", were posted to The Wild Honey Pie's YouTube channel. Studio versions of the song were not released. Outside of a cover of

Lucius Lucius ( el, Λούκιος ''Loukios''; ett, Luvcie) is a male given name derived from ''Lucius'' (abbreviated ''L.''), one of the small group of common Latin forenames (''praenomina'') found in the culture of ancient Rome. Lucius derives from L ...

' "Don't Just Sit There" for the 2018 compilation album ''10 Years of Mom + Pop'', the band has been inactive with band members working on their own projects. At least of July 19, 2022, th
official website
is no longer a standalone website and refers to the band's Facebook page, which has not been updated since January 26, 2020.

Performing

The band's first performance was at Staten Island's abandoned Farm Colony in January 2009. Throughout 2009, the Whales continued to busk around New York City, playing subway platforms and more traditional stages. In November and December 2009, Freelance Whales took on their first U.S./Canada tour, opening for London-based indie pop band,

Fanfarlo Fanfarlo are a London-based indie/alternative band formed in 2006 by Swedish musician Simon Balthazar. They fuse elements of folk, indie rock and post-punk using eclectic instrumentation including trumpet, violin, mandolin, musical saw, clari ...

. They continued to tour nationally over the course of 2010, as the first band of three on tour with Brooklyn-based rock band,

Bear in Heaven Bear in Heaven was an American indie rock band from New York City, formed by Jon Philpot in 2003. The sound of the band incorporates influences from psychedelic music, electronic music and krautrock. History Philpot has previously released ...

, and indie-rock band,

Cymbals Eat Guitars Cymbals Eat Guitars were an indie rock band from Staten Island, New York,Shout Out Louds Shout Out Louds is a Swedish indie pop band from Stockholm. History Formed in Stockholm by childhood friends Adam Olenius (vocals), Ted Malmros (bass), and Carl von Arbin (guitars), Shout Out Louds found an international audience during the e ...

. They also began to dabble into the world of international touring, playing shows in England and releasing their first international single in the U.K. in February 2010. Freelance Whales have since toured the U.S. and Canada with Canadian indie rock band

Tokyo Police Club Tokyo Police Club is an indie rock band from Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2005, it consists of vocalist and bassist Dave Monks, keyboardist Graham Wright, guitarist Josh Hook, and drummer Greg Alsop. The band found early success with the ...

, and as well as English indie rock band

Foals A foal is an equine up to one year old; this term is used mainly for horses, but can be used for donkeys. More specific terms are colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. When the foal is ...

and alternative New Zealand band,

The Naked and Famous The Naked and Famous are a New Zealand indie electronic band from Auckland, formed in 2007. The band currently consists of Alisa Xayalith (vocals, keyboards) and Thom Powers (vocals, guitars). The band has released four studio albums: ''Passiv ...

. The band has received critical acclaim from a number of respected sources. In advance of their performances at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

, ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' magazine called them one of their 50 "Must Hear Bands at SXSW," and a live performance for

All Songs Considered ''All Songs Considered'' is a weekly online multimedia program started in January 2000 by NPR's ''All Things Considered'' director Bob Boilen. At first, the show featured information and streaming audio about the songs used as bumper music on '' ...

led NPR to refer to them as "a band to watch this year."

Members

;Current members * Judah Dadone –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

, bass (2008–present) * Jacob Hyman –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

(2008–present) * Kevin Read –

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The glo ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

(2008–present) ;Former members * Doris Cellar – bass,

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. T ...

(2008-2013) * Hayley Jane Batt * Timothy Cronin * Chuck Criss –

, bass,

(2008–2022; died 2022 )

Discography

According to

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, Freelance Whales' debut LP ''Weathervanes'' was received with generally favorable reviews, ranging from a 91/100 from ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' to a 4.2/10 from

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

. According to EW, the 13-track album, released April 27, 2010, is "the best electronic indie-pop debut since

Ben Gibbard Benjamin Gibbard (born August 11, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie, with whom he has recorded ten studio albums, and as a membe ...

last tuned his laptop." Many liken Dadone's vocals to those of Ben Gibbard of the electronic indie pop band

The Postal Service The Postal Service are an American indie pop supergroup from Seattle, Washington, consisting of singer Ben Gibbard, producer Jimmy Tamborello, and Jenny Lewis on background vocals. The band released their only album, '' Give Up'', in 2003 on S ...

or of American singer-songwriter

Sufjan Stevens Sufjan Stevens ( ; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released nine solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nomi ...

Albums

*'' Weathervanes'' (April 13, 2010) *'' Diluvia'' (October 9, 2012)

EPs

*''The Benefit for Japan EP'' (May, 2011)

Singles

*"Hannah" (April 27, 2010) *"Enzymes" (October 2010) *"Day Off" *"Generator ^ First Floor" (March 2011) * "Spitting Image" (October 2012)

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Freelance Whales Indie rock musical groups from New York (state) Musical groups from Queens, New York Musical groups established in 2008 American indie folk groups 2008 establishments in New York City Frenchkiss Records artists Mom + Pop Music artists