Entertainment
INSIDERS: THE WALKMEN
walter schools us on their new album.
Washington, D.C.-bred rockers The Walkmen have acquired a loyal East Coast following since they first started back in 2000, but in recent years their fan base has grown far and wide to some unexpected places.
Case in point? Their latest record, Lisbon, is in many ways an ode the people and fans they met during trips to the Portuguese capital while recording the album. We talked with the band's organist and bassist Walter Martin about Lisbon just before the guys hit the road on a massive world tour.
Was the process of making Lisbon different from making your other albums?
This time, we wrote more songs than we needed. I'm not sure how that happened, but somehow we became more efficient in finishing songs and seeing things all the way through. We take a long time to write, but the actual recording comes out really quickly. This time around, we recorded 4 songs in a day or something like that.
You're about to embark on a huge tour- does it ever get old? It gets really old later on, but it's fun at this stage when the record has just come out. We actually haven't performed a lot of the songs from this record yet, so that's exciting.
What's your favorite song on Lisbon?
I really like "Juveniles".... It's hard to explain why, but it's very "Walkmen." Some people say it's depressing, but I actually think it's happier than some others.
How did your recent collaboration with Etsy happen? Our friend from high school, Matt, is one of the founders of Etsy. Since they're trying to branch out into music, we decided to be their guinea pigs. It's exciting.
You guys have been doing this together for a while- could you ever see yourself doing anything else?
I actually don't know, probably not. It's all that any of us have ever done; it's hard to imagine a world without being in a band, with these people.
