“The big sound of Tall Walker, interview” is locked The big sound of Tall Walker, interview

by Rose Blanton

On January 31^st, I attended the show of Tall Walker, three boys who have formed a strong brother-like bond. Their show was impeccable in the sense that their sound was extremely crisp and well produced. So much so though that it seems a little too produced, a little too planned out. The band themselves has claimed to be extremely digestible so don’t the two go hand in hand?  The gentlemen of Tall Walker are talented musicians. They have a “big sound” feel and high level of easy listening that, I think, could segue them into arenas.

Rose Blanton: So Nick, you’re from North Carolina, is there a blues or southern rock feel that influences the music of Tall Walker or your personal sound?

Nick Bays: I think somewhat but, really, the music scene I grew up on was heavily swayed by a lot of indie bands so think Brand New, Manchester Orchestra, and Color Revolt. I think there’s a degree of southern sound but not really.  It’s not a specific influence.

RB: Your self titled EP came out back in December, can you tell me more about the process behind it. 

Chris Hershman: We sat in a car about one year ago to the day, and decided to knock off some of the loose baggage of the band, ask Ben Johnson to join and make this happen in our lives. We just fell in love with playing together. It really just started as us wanting to get songs out there and letting people know we were a band.  We started in April and it was a lot of late nights, and we ended up with four really strong songs that represented our band as a whole. It has really paved the way for our next release.

RB: As far as lyrics writing, are you inspired by your imagination or real life circumstances or is it a combination of both?

NB: The songs are really propelled by life experiences. When you look at the lyrics of the EP, you can trace the lyrics and see all the parts of our bands heart. The overall theme is a youthful restlessness. Trying to pioneer our path through a big city like Chicago. These songs are a way to help you cope with people. Like when it’s 2:30 in the morning and you’re with your friend sobbing in the car thinking “ where the hell am I going to get a job?”  or like breaking up with your girlfriend or whatever. We want these songs to hold peoples’ hands through these moments.

RB: You guys have described your music as very listenable, do you ever desire to challenge your listeners or challenge yourselves and get a little more weird or not as digestible? 

NB: I think there’s a level of tangibility that’s easy to feel, we’re such feelers. Ben has introduced this philosophy that we’ve really embraced as a band that is when we’re writing a song as a band if it feels good, we follow it. We’re not closed off to entering an atmosphere that isn’t as digestible, we’re just naturally a very listenable band.  I’m a firm believer in, and my favorite part about music is, that it’s made to communicate. We really shoot to communicate something to the listener. And the easier you make it for the listener to understand, the easier it is for people to latch onto your music and embrace it. It creates a really cool emotional connection that we love.

RB: On Friday, you guys had an incredibly crisp, produced sound. Is this due to a personal sound engineer? How do you create that high quality sound? 

NB: Well, first off, thank you, that’s incredibly flattering. We don’t have a live engineer. At the Lincoln Hall show we were paired with some in-house staff  that just really appreciate our tunes. So I think that really helped our sound shine through.

CH: That night we really got a proper sound check . Also, as a band when performing a sound check ,we know what we want or need to hear in order to feel comfortable on stage.

RB: I love Chicago and I definitely consider it a music city BUT, it’s not LA, it’s not New York, and it’s not Nashville. What’s the hardest part about being a band in Chicago and getting your name out.

Ben Johnson: First off all, I think Chicago is a great place to be a band in. The people who make music in this city are very excited and very loyal. And the thing about those cities is that everyone is playing at the same time so it’s competitive to get people to show up to your show. Chicago has a cool mix of artists but also people who are not artists but appreciate art and that’s a big part of being successful as a band. It’s easier to build a fan base.

CH: We’re just dealing with what we’ve been dealt. We’re rooted here. We don’t let it affect us. It makes us work harder and more professionally, but that’s fine. I think it gives us a better chance to stand out and not just be another band in an over-populated music scene.

NB: In the 6 shows that we’ve played I feel like the fans here are so loyal. I haven’t experienced this in any of our hometowns. And it’s really nice to see familiar faces whom you remember from past shows who are singing along or coming up after the show and saying hi.

RB: What’s your favorite song of the EP?

BJ: It’s hard to pick a favourite, but when we came up with Stay that was kind of a different experience. I’ve never played a song that has the feeling that Stay does in it. It just has such a strong pull to it. I can see when we play it live, people getting into it.  The first time we played it in the studio, it just had this feeling of like, wow, and when music makes you feel that why, that’s why you do it.

NB: This is such a tough question, especially for me because I’ve approached songs on a lyrical level too. I may have to pick two. I really love Stay, because it comes from a very personal place for me. I was in a relationship and struggling with all this doubt that I think you can clearly hear in the song. And for me it was a final release from all the doubt of the relationship that finally came out after a couple glasses of bourbon at, like, 3am.  My other favourite is Love is Alive, it comes from a place in me that is total reincarnation of my heart. It’s really about my wrestling with all these post modern philosophies and trying to find a community here in Chicago.

CH: Deadbeat is a song that started out very normal and then, in the studio, there were so many cool, spontaneous things that we did on that track that brought it to life. It’s a beautiful part of what we can do as musicians to create a really fresh sound. It’s fresh and exciting and it gets me excited.

RB: What’s next for Tall Walker?

CH: The full length is scheduled for the end of this year. So within the parameters of this year we want to release a full length. We want to keep the attention of the people who are listening. In the mean time, to satiate people’s appetites, we want to release music videos.

RB: Last but not least, what’s your star sign and what’s your favourite candy?

CH: Leo, and I’m not sure if this qualifies as candy but Welches fruit gummies. I clean out the bodega on Albany and Fullerton.

BJ: I don’t know my star sign but I really enjoy mango in season

NB: Aquarius, and Reese’s, but only the seasonal shapes.