Columbus · Est. 1999

A quarter century of songs.

The Whiles are a Columbus indie rock band whose songs have traveled across four decades—melodic, searching, and built to reveal themselves slowly.

From Colors of the Year through Sleepers Wake, Somber Honey, and Mercury Ghost, the band has drawn on folk rock, country soul, psychedelia, and the sharp-edged independence of its Columbus home.

Hummingbird and the newly recorded Colors of the Year arrived together in 2026: one record facing the future, the other returning to where the band began. Both are about making peace with the past without living there.

Read the full Matter story

A night that kept us moving

Guided by Voices

Guided by Voices have always been a huge influence on The Whiles. In 2010, at Kyle Sowash's GBV Appreciation Night at the Treehouse—with Bob Pollard in the room—we played “Back to the Lake,” “Hot Freaks,” and “Dragons Awake.”

The band was at one of those uncertain points when it seemed possible it might stop. That night was a jolt: a reminder of why we made music together, and of the freedom, nerve, and economy we loved in GBV. It simply pushed us forward.

Read the PopMatters article

From that night

Dragons Awake

The Whiles cover Guided by Voices at the show that helped push the band forward.

Watch on YouTube

2005 documentary

Murderball

“Song for Jerry” · The Whiles

On the soundtrack

An unofficial theme.

Murderball is the Oscar-nominated documentary about elite wheelchair rugby and the rivalry between the United States and Canadian teams on the road to the 2004 Paralympic Games.

“Song for Jerry,” from Colors of the Year, was featured in the film and included on its soundtrack. Its place in that story has made it feel like a kind of unofficial theme.

Hear “Song for Jerry”

The theatrical trailer

Watch Murderball.

ThinkFilm · MTV Films · 2005

Open the original upload

Pictures and performances.

Continue through the candid photo archive or watch the live sets gathered from more than two decades of shows.

Photo archive
Live video