Whale Feral Reaches Beyond Track List for Album Release Show

A Moog synthesizer sat in the center of the stage as I entered through the side door of New World Music Hall Friday afternoon. Behind the machine stood Geoff Weber, tapping away at a bassline. To his right, Matt Urban noodled on his guitar, playing some bubbly notes while Alex Garcia intermittently pounded his drum kit in explosive bursts from the corner.

“What’s up, man?” Urban asked, looking up to greet me as I took a seat at the closest table. “You beat Rick,” he added.

“Ol’ Rockstar Rick”, Garcia chimed in.

Another voice called out from the sound booth at the back of the venue.

“Let’s bang the toms one by one to get them dialed,” said Pauly, the sound engineer. Pauly looked exactly how you would expect someone with decades of experience working with iconic bands to look— long sideburns, a pointed goatee, and a grey ponytail secured with multiple hair ties down his back.

Ricky Cagno arrived to soundcheck about fifteen minutes later, nearly an hour after the rest of the band. After some obligatory ribbing, Cagno plugged in his electric guitar. The immediate consensus was that his levels were too high, having been saved from Whale Feral’s previous New World gig opening for Perpetual Groove, in which Cagno played an acoustic guitar.

As the band continued fiddling with their instruments they teased countless familiar tunes, from Allman Brothers riffs, to Anderson .Paak grooves, to The Little Mermaid melodies, and many more that flew by too quickly to identify. Once Cagno’s equipment was set up, the band moved on to songs in their potential setlist.

“Should we start with [Tyler] Childers?” Cagno asked.

“I want to veto Childers,” Garcia replied, “At least until we’ve played it more as a band”.

The band accepted and agreed. Instead, they opted to test out the harmonies in their song “Haunted”, followed by a brief instrumental jam.

As Whale Feral wrapped up their sound check, one thing was apparent—this set would sound significantly different than the album they were here to promote. The album, Word’s We Can’t Read, released January 29, 2025, has a more acoustic-focused “Americana” sound throughout its track list. On the stage before me, Urban lacked his mandolin, Cagno was plugged in, Weber had an entirely new electric instrument alongside his bass guitar, and Garcia sat behind a seven-piece kit with two bass drums and eight more cymbals.

The band’s supporting act—Tampa blues musician, George Pennington—began setting up with his band as Whale Feral moved their instruments.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get this monstrosity out of your way,” Urban said, referring to his guitar pedal board.

“How many pedals are you up to now?” I called out from my seat.

“Oh, I don’t even know. Let’s count ‘em. One, two, three… sixteen.”

“Which one makes all the rest of them work?” Pennington asked playfully.

“I’m still trying to figure that out myself,” Urban replied.

George Pennington kicked off the show at 8:45, starting with some smooth, jazzy, blues originals, introducing each song with a brief background in his gentle NPR voice, before picking up steam with some Hendrix-inspired wailing as he led into a cover of Nirvana’s “Breed”.

After a brief intermission, Whale Feral took the stage at 9:45. The band opened with “Florida Man”, formerly “Alligator”, an original tune that is not found on either of their studio albums. The fast-paced country-rock rhythm, driven by Garcia’s train beat, launched the set from a slingshot as Urban and Cagno harmonized on the chorus, pleading “Please let me go” in the vein of Grateful Dead’s “Dire Wolf”, before the song settled into a spacey blues jam. The spacey blues jams continued as the band pivoted to a cover of J.J. Cale’s “Ride Me High”, saving the first album track of the night for song three.

Before “Fight or Flight’s” delta swing finally brought the focus to Words We Can’t Read, Urban took a moment to address the crowd.

“Thank you for coming out! We really appreciate it. And shout out to George for kicking it off—that was amazing. The whole band was fantastic. That was really a pleasure to listen to, and we’re really happy with his [new band/music].”

Seeing Cagno distracted, pointing to someone in the crowd, Urban added one last line.

“And Rick has more things to say—from the heart.”

Cagno took a beat, stepped forward, and leaned into his microphone.

“Thank you,” he added. “I mean that.”

After a one-song tease of their new album, Whale Feral continued their unpredictable set with “Andrea’s Song”, an unrecorded piece in the band’s repertoire written by Urban’s sister.

Nearing the end of the song, Urban leaned into Cagno’s ear, then into Weber’s ear, who then attempted to communicate to Garcia over his drum kit. Pointing to his eye, Weber’s sign was acknowledged with a nod from Garcia.

It was now clear the band had no plan, no setlist at all—aside from an opener and likely a closer. This concert was not intended to showcase Whale Feral’s latest album, it was intended to prove what they are capable of—not just crafting an emotionally driven collection of songs with a cohesive theme, but flying by the seat of their pants while pulling their crowd along for a relentless hypnotic ride.  

With the opening riff of The Marshall Tucker Band’s “Can’t You See”, Weber’s eye-point became clear. Cagno’s raspy, crying vocals kept the song familiar as Urban steered away from the country sound with the acidic raindrop notes he poured from his guitar.

The band followed the cover with another long-played yet unreleased original, “Barnburner”, then a newer unreleased track, “Wild”.

Halfway through their two-hour set, Whale Feral returned to Words. “Whiskey Hole” dropped the audience into a low introspective point with only one way to go—up. The rise of energy in the song’s second verse continued with “The 13th”, before devolving into the most pedal-and-synth-heavy experimental jam of the night as the band teased 31 flavors, including the “Under the Sea” riff from soundcheck— somehow the only constant from their witnessed preparation.

Garcia’s wife, Camille, who is now 8 months pregnant, joined on stage to sing backing vocals as she had in studio on Words. Her harmonies added a soft emotional touch to “The Ballad of Bob Morley”, leading into Urban’s weeping, squealing solo.

However, one guest was not enough. For their final song of the night, Whale Feral brought back George Pennington to the stage. The opening song of the band’s new album—and their most popular track—had yet to be played. If the audience was not already dancing, “Out Here in the Cold’s” fast-paced, triple-threat-guitar, sing-along closing number surely got them moving, sending fans home satisfied and excited for whatever new surprise the band has in store next.

Written by J.C. Roddy

Photo by @AJSMedia