Whimsical
is the Indiana-based duo of Neil Burkdoll and Krissy Vanderwoude. The project
first began in 1999 as a 5-piece, and drummed up a healthy amount of attention
after releasing their debut album, now a cult-classic, entitled Setting
Suns are Semi-Circles. The band started work on a follow up album, to
be called Sleep to
Dream, but internal and external forces resulted in a dissolution of
the band when the album was 90% complete. The near-finished record remained
unheard until 2015, when Burkdoll rediscovered it on an old hard drive.
Energized and excited by the recordings, Burkdoll and Vanderwoude decided to
complete the album. Sleep to Dream
came out in February 2017 via the highly lauded shoegaze label Saint Marie Records. It’s an impressive and
beautiful recording that has garnered much deserved praise since it's release and will no doubt top Best of 2017 lists across the board. Enjoy getting to know the very talented Neil and Krissy of
Whimsical...
How
and when was the band formed?
Neil:
Whimsical was officially formed in the summer of 1999, but there was an earlier
attempt by Krissy and I to form the band in the beginning of 1998. I had been
writing the songs that would become our album Setting Suns Are Semi-Circles since
1995, but I had no band. I had moved back to Northwest Indiana in July of ’99
and Krissy and I knew we would form the band this time around. Our original drummer, Tim Fogle, was an old
friend from high school that we asked to join right away. We had trouble
finding a bass player so we placed an ad locally. Joe Santelik joined on bass
after seeing our ad in a music store. Mark Milliron went to college in Florida
with me and decided to move by us after we both graduated. He quickly joined
the band on second guitar and was in the band by the time we played our second
show. This is the lineup that recorded the first album.
By the time we recorded most of Sleep to Dream, Tim had been replaced
with Andy Muntean and Joe had been replaced by Brian Booher. Both of these guys
had previously played in other bands with me and it was only natural that they
join. The band fell apart in early 2005 while we were recording our second
album Sleep to Dream. We were just
burnt out and life had sort of gotten in the way by this point. It wasn’t until
early 2015 that I discovered the old hard drive that had the mostly recorded Sleep to Dream album on it. It was at
this point that Krissy and I decided to finish the album, as well as start up the
band again as a two piece. Saint
Marie Records signed us soon after and here we are today.
Can
you tell us what the band has been working on and what you've got forthcoming
in the near future (any new releases, tour, etc.)?
Neil: Sleep to Dream was
released in Feb 2017 on Saint Marie Records. As a way to get our band name out
there while waiting for the album to come out, Krissy and I decided to record
an entirely different album consisting of covers and re-recordings of old songs
called Brought to Light. We have tried to release one song online
every 4-6 weeks over the course of 2016. This was a way for Krissy and I to
figure out how we can work on new songs while we live in different states. I have already begun working on song ideas
for around 12 songs so far, but it’s too early to tell how the next album will
sound. I’m sort of torn with the direction I want to go in musically for the
next album. I’m sure it will figure itself out somehow, but you can hear the
new song “Had I Known” on the Alternative
Facts compilation that DKFM just put out. There are no plans for
touring, as we aren’t a live band anymore, but there is talk of maybe a one-off
show in Chicago later this year.
̷acts: A Shoegaze Resistance Compilation by
DKFM Shoegaze
