The Walkmen
Formed from the ashes of Jonathan Fire*Eater and The Recoys in the year 2000, The Walkmen have steadily become a staple in American Indie Rock, taking New York City away from it's garage rock roots in favour of vintage instrumentation and an aural depth of emotion. Deciding on the name The Walkmen, Paul Maroon (guitar, piano), Walter Martin (organ/bass), and Matt Barrick (drums) Peter Bauer (bass/organ) and Hamilton Leithauser (vocals, guitar) made good use of the funds left over from the previous record deal by using the money to build a rehearsal space in New York City, doubling up as a 24 track recording studio. Macarta Studios was used by the band to record their self titled debut EP which in turn led to the band playing their first gig shortly after in the East Village.
The band then went on to release their debut album 'Everyone WhoPretended To Like Me Is Gone' in 2002 to huge acclaim from theindependant world of music who lauded the bands interesting approachto making music which differed from that of the New York City garage rock revival scene. Follow up record 'Bows + Arrows' was released in 2004 on Warner Brothers Record Collection and featured on many Album Of The Year lists cementing the bands as mainstays who had focused and defined their unique sound leading them to world tours and even a cheeky cameo in US teen drama The O.C.
Never one to allow their audience to find themselves too comfortable in the bands sound, third record 'A Hundred Miles Off And Pussy Cats' found them refocusing their efforts onto folk music, with Bauer (bass/organ) and Martin (drums) swapping instrumental duties. It was an exhibition of the bands constant evolution both musically and personally and the album again received critical acclaim.
The Walkmen released their fifth album 'You&Me' in 2008 after recording sessions with Chris Zane at Gigantic studios, the album charted well and as always the critics enjoyed the record calling it a "a bittersweet, but emboldened fairy tale of New York City Rock". The band also showed their charitable side by donating all the money made from the record to the 'Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre' in New York City.
Bringing us back up to date, the band recorded their most recent album 'Lisbon' as a tribute to the Portuguese city. The record was completed at a rapid pace, near to 15 songs in five days. The band ultimately ended up with 30 tracks to choose from, but eventually whittled it down to 11 to form the album which saw the band continue to win over critics and audiences alike, proving that, even after over a decade of putting out albums, the band have remained as relevant and exciting as when they began.
Watch our exclusive Rockfeedback Session we filmed when the band came over to the offices a few weeks ago.