INTERVIEWS

FORT COLLINS, COLORADO | Bohemian Nights At NEW WEST FEST

AUGUST 13, 2017

Photographer & Writer: Mowgli Miles

I met up with Nate Valdez & Eric Riley of the punk duo band In The Whale briefly after their New West Fest set in Downtown Fort Collins for an interview. We spoke of their travels, racism, Donald Trump, & what makes a show great.

In The Whale is beyond a humbling example of how punk is not dead nor will it ever be. With bands like this around, there will ALWAYS be a die hard fan base who will support - hence how punk can never be killed. There will always be people worshiping it. The main reason for this is due to how punk, metal, rock, and other high energized shows make people feel. If people will remember anything about you when they're older it will be how you made them feel. People will forget how cool you were in high school and irrelevant stuff that doesn't matter. But people will remember vibes, and the vibes put out by In The Whale is magnetically sensational. A true band like this who stays true to their roots will always keep a scene like this alive. They also brought a six year old girl on stage and had the crowd sing happy birthday to her. That little girl will remember that moment for the rest of her life. They also gave the crowd a day they wouldn't soon forget. Reminding me why I cover events; they got people of all ages and all walks of life moving together. At one point they asked everyone to crouch down and wait till the count of 4 - then proceed to lose it.

I also want to point out they opened up their set with a cover of "Nazi Punks Fuckk Off" by The Dead Kennedys. This is beyond relevant with current events in the best way possible and I love that song. That's when I knew I had to try and score an interview with this band. I made a previous attempt when they opened for Descendents at The Fillmore Auditorium earlier this year, but was unsuccessful. However this time around, after their set I was lucky enough to catch them before they headed out for their next show and was able to secure an interview on the spot.

Guys, thank you so much for doing this interview right after your set, I really appreciate it. My name is Mowgli Miles of Interracial Friends, the brand is about ending racism to the best of our abilities. 

Could you please state your name and your occupation for the people who don't know you?

Nate: Yeah hey, I'm Nate Valdez and I play guitar in the band In The Whale.

Eric: My name's Eric Riley, I play drums for the band In The Whale.

Excellent. Guys I want to dive right into it. You guys are interracial friends - yes?

[They both jokingly laugh]

Nate: Friends? Haha, yeah I guess you could say that.

Eric: Haha yes.

[I laugh jokingly]

Yeah people hear that name and they don't know what to think sometimes. It kind of sounds like a porno name almost maybe.

Eric & Nate: Oooooooouuuuu!

[I join the oooouuuing, we all laugh joinkly]

Eric: I like that.

Yeah, right? So what's the motivation behind getting the people involved at shows?

 Eric: Dude honestly, we grew up listening to punk, and metal, and uhh hard rock. And I mean honestly when we started the band we just decided we wanted to put on a show that we wanted to see. And that's all we saw - was like  people getting the crowd riled up, mosh pits, crowd surfing. And it's not necessarily punk, or metal, or whatever... but, that's just what we want to see. The kind of show we want to put on, so that's what we do.

Nate: Yeah, 100%

I like that, I like that. So can we end racism? Is it possible?

Nate: Ooouu.... I don't know. With all the stuff going on in Virginia like a day or 2 ago. I mean... you want to believe, -and we've traveled out all the U.S.,  all of Canada, and all of Europe actually... and there are many places where that is still really alive and that really sucks.

Eric: Yea... I really didn't know there was this many fricking nazis.

Nate: Yeah that dude just came out of the woodwork, I was like what the hell?!

Eric: Honestly, it's going to take many, many years... many decades. You know, I think there's so many interracial relationships going on now a days - the more people that procreate and have more mixed race kids you know - the more this is going to stop I think.

Nate: I mean yeah, it's just at time game really.

Eric: It's going to be many generations though I think... I think we got a long way to go - more than we thought we do. You gotta face the facts man, we're not as progressive as we think we are as a country. Look who's in the fucking White House...

It's the truth. Okay well that's great, I know you guys hate Trump so I can go there now... [They both laugh] How has Trump affected this country since he's been in office?

Nate: He's said he's going to change a lot of stuff, and there's a tab where you can look up what he's actually changed and it's minimal, if anything. And I have friends and family who actually voted for him - and it's just like man...

Eric: I think to me, it's really testament to what we hold valuable in this country-

Nate: And as a country we're still hurting...

Eric: Yeah yeah, and we all want to be someone secretly like Donald Trump who just doesn't give a shit, and like if you criticize him you're jealous, and he's rich, and he didn't' do any work to get rich. You know? And he just does whatever he wants and gets away with it - I mean, so many people idolize that and want to be that and that's kinda sad.

Nate: He had the audacity to go," Yeah I just got a loan of a million dollars from my dad..." Like my dad doesn't give me loans, in fact he made me pay to live at the house.

Eric: I don't know, I think we deserve this as a country.

We did let this happen. Now we're living with it. So you came from Canada to play this show, correct? Why'd you do that? Cause you guys suck as you know...

Nate: [Laughs] We do. We love this town, and we were asked to play it kind of I guess a couple months ago, and we just kinda worked everything else around coming here cause we love Fort Collins.

Eric: This is our favorite festival to play. This is our 4th year.

You guys are from Greeley and your locals. Would you say Colorado is your favorite place to play in the world?

Nate: I mean there's some really scenic places to play throughout the U.S.A. and even in Canada - like Vancouver's gorgeous, it's a beautiful place. 

Eric: I really love Atlanta.

Nate: Atlanta's kinda fun!

Eric: Love Nashville, love Austin, the south is really good to us. Portland and Seattle are really good to us too. I mean wee obviously  draw the biggest crowds in Colorado though so that's really awesome. 

Nate: I really love it here just because it's something we've worked on for so long... like we've been playing this scene in particular for 5 years and it wasn't until maybe 2 years ago people really took notice and were like "we're going to In The Whale, we're going to do this!" For us it's just like, you work hard and it paid off - and this one in regard it really paid of like aghhh, good support! Good support!!!

Eric: Hoping it can happen in more cities! It's slowly, slowly, slowly happening...

Well gentleman, I really do think it will happen for you, and that's why I had to try and get this interview in today while you were in town. Thank you so much for your time!

Eric and Nate are a perfect example of a band that lives life by their own rules. This was confirmed for me when Eric said, "Alright, I'm gonna go get our check, then we'll do this interview, then we'll push off  Nate." What artist picks up their own check? The artist who are not signed and work their asses off. This band falls in that category. Before the interview I waited by their van as they carried their own merchandise and music equipment out loading their own van. I loved that. They don't have a manager, they are currently not signed, and they manage themselves and do it all. As someone who runs their own brand alone, I beyond appreciate these guys.

Follow In The Whale on Instagram and Twitter, like them on Facebook. Give them a listen on SoundCloud. You can also see their website by clicking

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