Project Description

Interview with

WALKEN

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The bombastic Brisbane maestros of lovable grungy pop punk have a brand new song to bounce off your brain while you chuck a nice positive tear. ‘Unomi’ is just gorgeous. It’s the latest taste from their new EP ‘What’s Your Environment?’ which saw the light of day on December 15. The one-shot video for WALKEN‘S dynamic, sumptuous lovesong is frankly captivating, emotive and surely one of the best clips of the year… Amnplify shot over some questions to the band to mull over during their Christmas break and below are their illuminating responses. Enjoy!

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How would you describe your journey in the music industry so far, and where do you want to go from here with your music?

The music industry is a weird, scary but strangely comforting place – it kind of feels like I’ve got Stockholm Syndrome every now and then.

It’s a super interesting industry though and I love how it encompasses stuff from basic management skills to all artistic mediums (fashion & product manufacturing for physicals/merchandise, the moving imagery of music videos, the still imagery of photography, hand-made and digital-made art for CD artwork, tour flyers, etc.).

In terms of moving forward from here, we’ve got around nearly 2 albums worth of structured/written material which we’ll eventually sort through and narrow down to a 12-track album and we’re ideally aiming to sort a publishing/distribution deal prior to that eventual release also.

In the grand scheme of things, we’d love to own and run an independent label & record store that supports the best upcoming alternative artists whilst also self-releasing our own material – But that’s still a while off.

 

How would you sum up 2017 in regards to your development as a musician/artist?

This year really taught me a lot about being patient and persistent.
I also learnt to just keep writing – always write, kids, don’t stop.

 

When did you know you wanted to make music and perform as your career?

Probably when I was 7 years old and wrote my first ever lot of lyrics for a rap song about Action Man toys, classic stuff. But it all really set in once I started learning guitar at 13/14.

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Who have been your musical influences through life?

Hoooooo-boy, this one is hard so I’ll just do a super compressed timeline of 5 artists in each period of my life –

6 – 12 (First Musical Memories/Childhood):
The Offspring, Blink-182, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Nirvana and Limp Bizkit

12 – 17 (High School):
Blink-182, Smashing Pumpkins, The Offspring, Foo Fighters & SlipKnoT

17 – 20:
Violent Soho, Bright Eyes, Jamie T, The Strokes & Arctic Monkeys

20 – 23:
WHY?, Crash Of Rhinos, Frank Ocean, Modern Baseball & Conor Oberst

Alongside all of those, my parents LOVEEEEE The Beatles, John Denver, ABBA, Elvis Presley, Cat Stevens/Yusuf and whatnot – So all of those artists have forever been a massive influence on me.

 

Are there any artist’s or musicians that you have been so impacted by that it changed your view on life or mentality?

Mark Hoppus & Tom DeLonge (Blink-182), Jeff Rosenstock, Sean Bonnette (AJJ), Conor Oberst (Solo/Bright Eyes), Yoni Wolf (WHY?), Georgia Maq (Camp Cope), Bren Lukens & Jake Ewald (Modern Baseball), Frank Ocean, Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie), Tim Steward (Screamfeeder) and tonnes more.

 

How would you describe your sound, and why is it unique from other artist’s sound?

A bunch of alternative sub-genres blended into a delicious and easily-digestible emo-tinged-pop-punk paste.

In terms of why it’s unique, I have no idea really – Music is subjective and whatnot, so it isn’t really up to me to decide. I don’t personally view it as all that unique – there’s too much history and too many active bands to truly say “oh yeah, we’re unique” without sounding like a wank – unless you’re making progressive samba flavoured dub-trip hop math pop, then I guess it’s kinda unique.

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What can fans expect from your live shows? And for people who aren’t fans yet why should they come to one of your live shows?

Music, there will be music.
And, if you like music, then you’ll most likely love live music?

 

What has been one of your most memorable live performances, and why?

Back in the day we used to be called Green Day and we played this super cool set at Woodstock ‘94, that was pretty neat. Lots of mud.

 

Do you have plans for 2018 after everything that’s been going on this year, or will you let things happen naturally and see where your music takes you?

Lots and lots of recording, building a home studio set-up and touring as much as we possibly can – plus all the fancy pantsy business stuff mentioned in question one.

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If you weren’t working in the music industry, what else do you think you would be doing with your life right now?

Well unfortunately I don’t technically work in the music industry. So, I’d probably just be working my crappy day job and fixing peoples telecommunication bills. Or I’d just legally change my name to Jonah Hill and try steal some of his acting work.

 

What’s one song fans might be surprised you really like?

No idea really, maybe the whole of FutureSexLoveSounds by Justin Timberlake – Beej and I both love that record, it’s a great time.

 

Do you have one live show that stands out so far as being your favourite, or most memorable, why?

Probably when we played with Violent Soho in Toowoomba – Teenage me was a very proud boy after that gig.

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If you could collaborate with one artist that is no longer alive, who would it be? And why?

George Harrison or Roy Orbison.

 

Lastly, just for fun – If you had to eat only one food for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

Burgers – There’s a big ole variety of different burgers, plus if you were sick of eating everything in unison, then you could disassemble the burger and BOOM, you’ve got a salad, meat, bread + condiments.

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AMNPLIFY – DB