CHILI AND THE WHALEKILLERS - Biography

 

Chili and the Whalekillers were formed by Àrni Hjörleifsson, Baldur Hjörleifsson and Hjörtur Hjörleifsson, Clemens Csar and Chili Tomasson in 2009, in Salzburg. In 2011, Clemens and Baldur left the band moving to Australia and Iceland and were replaced by David Bitschnau and Michael Szedenik.

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Shortly after the successful release of their Debut-Album “The Tragic Tale of Julie and the Crying Clown” and contribution of a musical-reading to the Biennale Salzburg with Marko Dinic in 2011, the band moved to Vienna. They continued playing various concerts all across Austria and Iceland.

Their second album, a concept album on the so-called financial crisis, “The Banker on the Run” was released in April 2012, receiving extraordinary good critics and reviews.

 

In 2013, Chili and the Whalekillers released their third album “Turn”. The second single and title-track “TURN” reached number three in the national Icelandic Charts. Following that success, Chili and the Whalekillers began to work on their fourth album “a dot in the sky”, won the European Youth Forum emerging Band Contest, which was accompanied by an invitation to play in Strasbourg (F), and began to tour more and more.

 The release of “a dot in the sky” in April 2015, was followed by the band’s first UK-Tour. This tour also contained their first performances on international Showcase-Festivals such as the Liverpool-Sound-City and the Great-Escape in Brighton. In October that year, they played another tour through Iceland and performed two shows at the Iceland Airwaves Festival.

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In 2016, Chili and the Whalekillers were signed by the German Label Velocity-Records and released their fifth Studio Album “Words on Tuesdays”. During this time Lisa Strohriegl joined the Band as a temporary substitute for Michael Szedenik. But when Michael returned later that year Lisa stayed in the Band - expanding the instrumental range of Chili and the Whalekillers. That year Chili Tomasson received the “Kompositions-Stipendium des Land Salzburg”.

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In 2017, Julia Julius and Jakob Weinhäupl joined the Band due to the departure of Àrni and Hjörtur Hjörleifsson. The Band continued playing various gigs, mostly in Austria and Germany, and began to develop a new musical style. Following their experiences from live-shows, Chili and the Whalekillers became more and more upbeat-swing orientated, working on their sixth studio Album.

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In April 2018 Chili and the Whalekillers published the political, leftist, anti-right wing Song “Viktor Orbán Builds a Wall” as a Single. Shortly after the release the song got restricted by major companies such as YouTube and Facebook, arguing it would contain hatespeech. Smaller and independent Radio-Stations continued playing that song on special, political Radio-Formats.  After one and a half weeks YouTube and Facebook withdrew their restriction, apologizing for an unfortunate mistake.

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When Julia Julius and Lisa Strohriegl left the Band in 2018, they were replaced by Katharina Weinkamer and Jakob Willner.  Jakob’s Jazz-Experience and Katharina’s classical-music attitude widened the musical range and style of Chili and the Whalekillers once more.

In September 2018 the Band published the Single “A Hole In The Wall” wich was accompanied by a music video from visual artist Isabel Seda.

In 2019 Chili and the Whalekillers got signed by the PR and Booking Agency ROLA music and released their sixth studio album ARE YOU HAPPY.

 

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Releases:

The Tragic Tale of Julie and the Crying Clown (LP 2011)

The Banker on the Run (LP 2012)

Grandma Martha’s Christmas Cookies (LP 2012)

Smile (EP 2013)

Turn (LP 2013)

Turn (Single 2013)

Industry (Single 2015)

a dot in the sky (LP 2015)

Portrait of a Ladyfish (Single 2016)

Words on Tuesdays (LP 2016)

Viktor Orbán Builds a Wall (Single 2018)

A Hole in the Wall (Single 2018)

Are You Happy (LP 2019)

  
Chili and the Whalekillers are:

Chili Tomasson: vocals, guitar, harmonica

Divad Barx: drums, vocals

Jakob Willner: tenor & sopran saxophon, vocals

Katharina Weinkamer: piano, organ, vocals

Jakob Weinhäupl: bass guitar