Walk… Wired
Interview: Walk
Published on March 27th, 2013 | Jonny Abrams
Rocksucker was really rather taken with the recent, self-titled single from Manchester’s “sequencer-blues” project Walk, so we fired some questions over to constituent duo Rik Warren and David Schlechtriemen in the hope of finding out a little bit more about them…
How did Walk come together in the first place, and how long have you been going for?
We met at a gig in Big Hands Manchester, and ended up playing in a few bands together. We started playing as Walk six months ago almost to the day.
Your sound is decidedly un-Manchester-like – do you take any pride in this, or do you feel at all alienated because of it?
Manchester’s underground music is very eclectic and diverse, it would be very difficult to feel alienated there as a result of not sounding like other bands. There is pretty much something for everyone.
We don’t take pride in our sound being different intentionally, more in the fact that we’re surrounded by such talented and dynamic musicians. This keeps you on your toes.
Was it a concept to weld the blues to sequencers, or is that just what came out naturally?
There is always a need to bring blues back to the dance halls, so simply enough it seemed right to combine old rhythms with contemporary textures. Manchester has a long history of live electronic music, living there it’s easy to be inspired by the pulse.
Is there a full album in the works? If so, what can you tell us about it at this stage?
Yes, there is, and the EP will be available early April via Libra Records. The album will be showing a bigger picture of our sound as we are able to leave our Rhythm & Bedroom studio to record in bigger rooms with bigger amps, bigger drum kits and a few fresh pairs of ears. Did we mention a bigger tape machine?
How did you come to the attention of Debt Records?
Manchester is full of support vehicles and platforms for unsigned artists. Debt have been pioneering this for the last decade generating a plethora of musical friends, family and community. Providing industry based support and advice to many a grateful toerag. They put our single out and got drunk on red wine with us.
Will you be playing any festivals this summer?
Of course, please check out www.walkmusic.tk for more details.
Are you concerned at all by the profound ungooglability of your name? Why did you decide upon it?
We get that a lot but the lovely phrase sequencer blues has been coined to aid us in our digital meanderings. So for full internet browser support press ‘walk sequencer blues’.
To us the name Walk represents lots of things, movement, as it’s good to make people dance. Step sequencers play heavy in our sounds which is no giant leap to figure, but thinking up puns on a rough ferry crossing is harder than we thought.
The name happened upon us quick, fast and not sober. Names, labels and ideas come and go – we didn’t dwell too long, we got busy instead.
Which were your favourite albums of 2012, and/or which are you most looking forward to in 2013?
Grizzly Bear with Shields, Alabama Shakes, Dr. John with Locked Down and Music from Saharan Cellphones to name but a few from last year.
As for this year: Honeyfeet, Age of Glass and Family Wolves from Manchester are releasing records which we are very excited about. More commercially we’re hoping to get our hands on the new albums by My Bloody Valentine and David Bowie.
Finally, if you had to spend the rest of your life with the entire works of just five different artists, musical or otherwise, whose would you choose?
Reid Miles – record sleeve designer for blue note and Columbia amongst others. Hopefully the records will still be inside them.
Robert Johnson – because there might be more out there we’ve never heard.
Nikolai Tesla – for a few upgrades to our workshop.
David Attenbourgh – for our souls.
Dr. John — for he is vital to the effective wanderlust of modern music and its place before the impending ice age.
Walk, thank you.
For more information, please visit www.walkmusic.tk
About the Author
Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.
