He talked about finally catching his breath and taking a break over the last year
No normal producers can say they've been in the game since age 8, let alone that their first tour was at the age of 12 years old. But there's nothing normal about WHALES (AKA Tal Rochman) — he's the man sitting on more than 400 unreleased songs as an internationally recognized, multi-faceted artist.
Only three months in to 2021, WHALES has already dropped three tracks, in addition to a Hebrew dubstep song with Dudu Faruk. He talked about how he's been on a non-stop roll producing all sorts of songs — from pop to melodic. His latest release is Too Weird with Kini Solana on Subsidia Records. We are anticipating more to come from him and Subsidia in the very near future.
We cracked up when he mentioned that he had seen one of our previous podcast episodes — the one with Marauda. He and Hamish go way back, Tal has known him since he was 12 or 11 years old (2013 or 2014) when they both were known as Elephant Man and Sex Whales.
At just 21 years old, WHALES has been in the game for more than a decade. He started doing music at 8 years old and started touring at 12 years old.
When he first started touring, it was incredible to have a job that allowed him to get out of his small country and see everything.
Since then, he's had a crazy decade and has toured in too many countries to count. He immediately started spitting wisdom.
"We are all young, time is not real," he said. "I will never stop myself from doing something because I don't have the time for that. Anyone can do anything and time is not something that can stop you from doing anything."
He used to be a teacher in a college and has given lectures at Israeli universities. He mentioned how he had no choice but to get a job at a young age — there was only music, no other options. He had no choice but to succeed.
One year in my life is like five years in every other life. There are so many ups and downs, places, lights and shows," he said. "Everything just happens so fast. Last year was the first year I had time and felt the time moving and it was not just pressure."
He had his first serious tour canceled, with 30-40 shows taken off the books. A feeling of helplessness that so many other artists experienced in 2020. He was in great spirits when we jumped on the line with him.
"Before COVID, I was WHALES more than I was myself."
He said all the action was great for his career, but for himself as Tal it was pretty bad. He's grateful that he had a chance to catch his breath.
"I can't say what, but I did get booked for my biggest show ever. It's a festival."
We immediately pressured where and when.
"It's in the states and it's this year. You might actually be there," he said.
"Lost Lands?!?" we asked.
He wouldn't leak anything, but said this year has some surprises. He's never going to have the same mindset that he had before COVID though. In that time, he moved back to Israel, switched management and took it to a good place.
Nothing makes him feel the way music does, and he talked about how it's helped him live through Tourettes Syndrome.
"The music I put out is 3 percent of what I havemade. I'm sitting on hundreds of tracks; finished songs and they're ready to go, they're coming out. This year is going to be crazy. If I'm not mistaken, by the end of the year I'll have released 30 more songs."
He has an album coming out soon, it's 13 songs but he says he wishes it was 40 songs. He never put himself in the category of dubstep, it's always been WHALES. His songs with hundreds of millions of streams are pop EDM. Although, he did say when he plays shows, dubstep is his favorite.
I'm pretty convinced that since a year ago, I've made more than 400 songs. It's just my speed — people get very mad when I speak about how fast I work. When I make music, I'm excited, when I'm excited it's like when someone binge watches a TV show. You see the first episode, you just finish the whole episode in a day. That's a song for me — I'm so curious to see how it will come out."
We could not be more excited to see what 2021 has in store for WHALES. Whether it be a 13-track album or hundreds more songs, the FBI will keep him at the top of our Most Wanted List.
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