House of Whales
alternative rock band
House of Whales, formerly Treehouse, is a live hip hop band originating from Chicago, Illinois and currently residing in Oakland, California. The band's current line-up consists of Rico Sisney (MC, keys), Aunnoy Badruzzaman (Drummer, Production), Danny Varela (DJ, Producer), and Luis Mayorga (Guitar, Bass). The group is known for their unique approach to the genre of hip hop, utilizing live instrumentation and electronically produced sounds.
History
Origin (2010–2015)
Badruzzaman formed the group in 2010 after collaborating with Sisney. The two began shooting around the idea of starting a new project and began looking for bass players to round out the group’s sound, “We had jammed with a few other people, but we stopped jamming with people as soon as we jammed with Mike Ruby. It was just instant,” Badruzzaman said. Though founded in Chicago, the band’s members originate from across the U.S. Badruzzaman and Ruby are from Southern and Northern California and Sisney is from Atlanta. In 2012, the band released their debut EP, Tell No One, following their appearance in New York City at CMJ Music Marathon 2012 and a month-long tour in the San Francisco Bay Area. The EP went on to be nominated for a 2012 Independent Music Award. In 2014, the band released their self-titled LP and went on the receive their second Independent Music Award Nomination.
The public source identifies “House of Whales” as alternative rock band. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around House, Whales and alternative.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7837669. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2010, 2015, 2012 and 2014.
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This entry incorporates text from “House of Whales” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.