A Kansas native who these days calls Bloomsburg home, Jonah Whale’s musical journey began at age 12 when he joined his first band as a lead singer. Inspired by rock music icons such as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Who and Pink Floyd, he soon started learning to play instruments starting with drums, and took on guitar and keyboards as well. Soon after, he was writing and recording his own music on his father’s old reel-to-reel analog tape deck.
Starting with his 1993 debut album “Dangerous Games,” Jonah explored different flavors including classic and arena-styled hard rock, progressive rock, acoustic rock and more as he started to generate his musical identity. It was his 2017 album, “Mobius,” where he realized that identity. According to Jonah, “The fifth album, called ‘Mobius,’ was the one where I thought I had a style of my own, I was comfortable and I was doing what I wanted to do.” He continued to hone his style with radio airplay in mind on his sixth album, the appropriately-titled “VI,” in 2020.
Released in October of last year, Jonah’s seventh album, “American Made,” distills qualities from his previous discography into a crisp, hard-hitting set. Sharp, infectious riffs, compelling melodies, gunshot drumbeats, rumbling bass, and Jonah’s hearty and soaring voice converge into a potent 12-song package. The album features clear and concise rockers such as “Ride,” the title track “American Made,” “Dark Side of Love,” “Walk on the Water” and “Straight From the Heart”; as well as milder numbers such as the first single “Rain” and the ethereal “I Can Fly,” and the slower blues-geared song “Can Not Walk Away.” As with all of his albums, “American Made” was self-written, performed, recorded, mixed, mastered and produced in his home studio. The album is available on all streaming platforms, as well as the website www.jonahwhale.com.
Jonah doesn’t mince words about his objective with this latest album. “This new album…I want airplay honestly, that’s my goal. I want to be able to sell tickets, I want to be able to be nationally recognized. So what I do now these days, I’m looking at airplay.” He adds, “I like what I love and what I want to do, but you can still make that commercially accessible.”
Although it wasn’t an idea he was considering early on, Jonah assembled a band to perform his song creations live. He explained, “I put a band together a couple of years ago. For the first few albums I didn’t have a band and I really never thought about it…I think it was the fourth album where some musicians I used to play with in a cover band, they told me, ‘We’re gonna get a band together; we’re gonna play some of your songs, we really like this album’…That kind of got it started.”
Jonah’s self-named band features himself on lead vocals, guitar, keyboards and percussion; along with Charlie Angel on bass and vocals, Matt Kilmer on guitar and vocals, and Mark Ficken on drums and percussion. The group strives to make each performance a memorable concert experience for the audience. They encourage audience participation and engagement by performing their more anthemic song material such as “Raise Your Hands” and “Pump It Up,” and providing extra musical moments that audiences won’t hear on the records, such as special intros, bridges and endings to the live show. The group recently added high-end, pro-caliber lasers to the show.
Jonah Whale also believes in the visual experience of a show, and dressing the part. “People never say, ‘I’m going to hear a band,’” says Jonah. “They say, ‘I’m going to see a band.’” So the group believes in looking good on the stage, and dressing like they belong on the stage. According to Jonah, “Give them something to look at.”
For his creative process, Jonah has a disciplined approach to generating new music. He states, “I only write when I’m inspired, I don’t just sit down and write.” His process includes developing a collection of written song pieces, and records his rough song ideas onto cassette tapes. Once Jonah has reached 50 song ideas, he then filters and whittles those ideas down to 12 songs that will make his next album. He believes in the slow evolution of songs, and works on songs a little bit at a time until they feel complete.
For Jonah, each song creation and live show is a learning process, and he will continue to hone his creativity. More songs are in the works. And his goal remains clear: “I won’t be happy until I have a song that’s recognized nationally; that’s my target, that is my goal.”
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