Driven by the need to write music since their pre-teen years, Max Kakacek and Julien Erlich were already in full-time touring bands before they could legally drink. A founding member of Chicago garage-rockers the Smith Westerns, Kakacek met Erlich while on the road together with Unknown Mortal Orchestra; later, Erlich became the Smith Westerns’ drummer. But when that band imploded, the two found that their shared love for the softer edges and more earnest themes of folk rock made for great musical chemistry. Branding themselves as Whitney, the pair recorded their debut album, *Light Upon the Lake*, for Secretly Canadian to great acclaim. In their Fireside Chat, the young gents of Whitney share stories from their early punk days, reflect on the frustrations of their first bands, shout out their unlikely blend of influences and explain how early Whitney songs were met with disbelief and doubt by their friends and peers.
