The Head and the Heart

Willis Thompson and Thao Nguyen met in a re-enactment in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. We found Adam Thompson one summer at a Richmond delicatessen, gingerly slicing. We got in a van together and stopped every night in different places. We got out, played music (often for real live people) and then got back in and rambled to the next town.

We recorded one album, drove around and flew to and fro, and then we recorded another. Both albums document the musical collaboration of many friends and colleagues and the efforts of one Thao to understand human interaction at all, ever.

When the band is on tour we stop at rivers and skip stones competitively. On days off, Adam bakes bread and prepares dinner while Willis builds percussive instruments using only bottle caps and intuition, and Thao awkwardly lifts the one 10-pound weight she has brought along to stay in shape for shows. Everyone watches the Food Network and the Discovery Channel together for dessert. The three of us share many hopes; most center around getting co-starring roles in a Mentos commercial and sleeping in separate beds while traveling.

We are very grateful for our musical lots in life and will always try our best to act accordingly. We thank you, very sincerely, for your ears, and your time, and your penchant for showing up and dancing.

"Anyone who has heard the music of Brinton Jones will agree that his songs are literature of the heart. Like a book bound by melody, harmony, and honesty, they unfold before you. Paragraphs become verses and chapters become choruses, leaving room for interpretation & relation. Brinton is an author as much as he is a songwriter. After you've heard his music and shut the book, you feel close to something that, before, felt so far away. You long to hear it again."

The Devil Whale have shared the stage with lots and lots of bands. Some of their favorites have been: The Cold War Kids, Damien Jurado, the Autumn Defense, Richard Swift, Langhorne Slim, Jeremy Enigk, Joshua James, Leslie & the Badgers, J. Tillman, the Notorious BOA, Cameron McGill & What Army, Talkdemonic, Matt Hopper & the Roman Candles.

They are currently touring in support of their new full-length record,Teeth, to be released on Northplatte Records on May 10, 2011.

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"I am going to sing for you, a little off key perhaps, but I will sing. I will sing while you croak, I will dance over your dirty corpse......To sing you must first open your mouth. You must have a pair of lungs, and a little knowledge of music. It is not necessary to have an accordion, or a guitar. The essential thing is to ..want.. to sing. This then is a song. I am singing." -H.M



THE DEVIL WHALE IS
Brinton Jones, Jake Fish, Cameron Runyan, Josh McCafferty, Jamie Timm