Interview with The Walkmen
DCist caught up with Pete Bauer of The Walkmen this weekend as the band is about to start touring for their excellent new album, A Hundred Miles Off. The Walkmen play Thursday night at the 9:30 Club, and while we wish them all the luck in the world and a sold out crowd, there's sure to be a palpable absence of DCist readers present, as we're hosting Unbuckled, simultaneously.
Update: After posting this interview, Hamilton Leithauser -- lead singer of The Walkmen -- chimed in with his responses to our questions as well. Take a second look at our interview with some native sons who've made it big.
Obviously we're interested in your D.C. roots. Did you grow up in the city or in the burbs?
Pete: I grew up on Swann street in Dupont Circle. Paul grew up in Georgetown. Hamilton and Walt lived across the street from each other in Tenleytown and Matt lived in Virginia.
How did growing up here influence the band's sound?
Pete: Well I think we all met and became friends at a very young age because of our interest in the same DC bands and culture. We all tend to have similar opinions when it comes to making music which is probably due to our common childhoods.
Ham: Matt Paul and Walt played ska and punk and stuff that was sort of in style with area bands. There were a few ska bands around and I mean in the 13-17 year old scene, but that was sort of the thing for them. Pete and I played noise rock that copied the older guys.
Do you have any favorite D.C. bands, past or present?
Pete: The Nation of Ulysses and all of Ian Svenonious's later bands. Today, he plays in Weird War who are great.
Ham: I like the Nation of Ulysses, the Royal Trux.
Why did you all originally pack up and leave our fair nation's capital?
Pete: When you're 18, moving to New York sounds very exciting. Also, I think everyone wants to get away from their parents. I really had never been to many other American cities at that point and had only visited New York once when I was little. I don't think I thought about it very much at the time. I just sort of applied for college as I knew someone else who was going there.
You did come home however to record A Hundred Miles Off at Inner Ear. How was working with Don Zientera?
Pete: It was fantastic. I can't speak highly enough of Don. Every moment recording with him was a pleasure for all five of us. It was the first time we all felt at ease immediately and did not argue amongst ourselves about rack tom tones for three days.
Ham: Don's a great guy. He's a pleasure to work with, or chat with over Thai food in Shirlington, Va. He's a friend of my father's from way the hell before I was born, so I knew going in everyone was going to get along with him. He has no problems tossing out his thoughts, but mostly he just quietly makes everything go smoothly.
I interviewed The Routineers a few months ago and they couldn't say enough nice things about him. I believe the word "Zen" was thrown around a few times.
Pete: I guess that works. He's very relaxed. I think that's a very important quality for an engineer.
Ham: Yeah he's really a good guy to the core. Don wears shorts and sandals when it's 20 degrees outside. Maybe that's how he stays nice.
The new album - it's pretty great. How do you feel about it in respect to the other things The Walkmen have done?
Pete: I like it a lot. I think it's probably our best. It's lighter and less serious. I think it reflects our personalities more, although people sometimes say we're jerks so I don't know how people will take it.
Ham: I think it's the most solid record we've done so far. Once we got writing, the entire process was far less painful than the other two. I think Don had a lot to do with that. I think "Don't Get Me Down" and "All Hands and the Cook" are the best things we've ever written.
You pull from some pretty widely ranging influences on this album - a little Mariachi sound on "Louisiana," a Buddy Holly-esque riff on "Good For You's Good For Me," Dylan inspired vocals on "Another One Goes By" - how'd you pull that off and maintain that Walkmen je ne sais quoi?
Pete: I think we've gotten to the point where it's a lot more difficult to not sound like the walkmen after playing all this time, so we're always trying to do that.
Ham: Wow that's the first time someone's mentioned Buddy Holly for that song and it's what we were going for. A lot of people have mentioned My Bloody Valentine, but no Buddy Holly. Anyhow, we're always aping people and ripping people off and stuff, but in the end we try to make it our own with our instruments and our recording styles. I hope that works cuz that's all we've got.
You guys spread out before writing this album, with Matt and Paul in Philadelphia, and everyone else in New York. They way I understand it, you broke up to write the stuff and then came together to record it. It seems pretty apparent on the record with the wider range of influences, but I know I got a bit worried when I heard they were now in Philly (visions of break ups danced in my head). But I've read that you had a much easier time writing now that you're not in the studio together. Does everyone seem happier with this new approach to writing and recording?
Pete: There's been ups and downs and I think this record was hard because of all the upheaval in our individual lives. Nowadays, it's all smooth sailing. Since we left our old studio, things have been rolling. Maybe it was cursed.
Ham: We've never been able to write as a 5 piece, so the split up has almost made things easier. Now we don't waste endless hours slamming out funk songs and like metal riffs and Innagoddadavida. When we're in smaller groups there's less opportunity for the endless supply of stupid jokes and gags and shit that keep everyone entertained, so we actually get things done. The songs come together when we finally have enough parts and beats and little things to jam together into what sounds like a song.
Tell me about the song "Tenley Town."
Pete: It's basically our attempt to write a hardcore song while still sounding like us.
Is it named thusly because of its mad D.C. flavor?
Pete: Yes. It was sort of a jokey working title that stuck. We were definitely trying to play like the Bad Brains or Minor Threat.
Ham: Yeah. I think the original title was "Tenleytown 1984" but somehow the year got lopped off. It's just so clearly inspired by the music from that time and place. We tried several times to do a song with that beat, then we finally got that guitar riff, which I think kicks a lot of ass, so we put them together and the rest of the song is basically an excuse to play those two things.
What's your favorite song on the new album? (Mine is "Emma Get Me a Lemon")
Pete: Mine is "All Hands & the Cook."
Ham: "All Hands and the Cook." We wrote it really really fast, and recorded it within the first hour of it's existence. I just think it's really well put together and I like the words and the happy part.
I read that you've already written some new songs since recording this album, and that you're planning to play them on this tour. You must be pretty excited to have some new material to tour with.
Pete: We're incredibly excited. I think we've got some new songs that we are about as excited about as anything we've ever done. We all played together as a fivesome for the first time yesterday and it was our single most successful day in the Walkmen probably. Usually, starting a new record is like pulling teeth. I don't know when we'll start playing them. People often complain about not knowing songs and it wears on you. Then you get about two weeks away from home and you play them anyway.
Ham: Yeah it's really unknown territory for us. We have 2 completely finished and several more on the way. We're really into them and I think they are really a step up even from Hundred Miles so I'd like to play them live, and record them as soon as possible.
But you'll still play "The Rat" on Thursday, right?
Pete: I promise.
Ham: We probably wouldn't get a paycheck at the end of the night if we didn't. I think it might be written into the contract.
Exactly how tired of that song are you?
Pete: That one is not really a problem as it is so overplayed that I just sort of leave my body for four and a half minutes. It is sort of like going to the gym. Sometimes it is so loud that I lose the ability to hear the song as music and start to hear it in 2 different keys. It's very strange. It happened to both our soundman and myself at Coachella, but we watched a video of it later and it sounded fine. It was a strange shared hallucination.
Ham: Not at all. I've made my peace with that song. There are many others that are much worse for us. We've just accepted that as like our "Satisfaction" or something.
You just got back from the U.K. I've read before that the crowds on that side of the pond haven't exactly given you a warm welcome in the past. Did you have a better experience performing there than in the past? Are you seeing more - and more receptive - people at your shows this time around?
Pete: Yeah it's very strange. Its not as much the crowds as the music industry which seems to have more of a lock on who does what over there. It's very fashion based and sort of unpleasant. We just showed up with no record out in two years and sold out all our shows but, despite all that, the people who chat about that sort of stuff will all act like we were never there. I think you need to have a funny shirt or a drug addiction to do anything on that island.
Ham: The crowds were actually great this time. They were really into it, and they actually turned out. We still are very apprehensive going over there though, and we made sure we were only there for like 5 days.
So, your book - how's that coming?
Pete: Great. We have been trading off days in the studio 4 tracking with days doing research at New York public library.
Ham: It's probably 30 pages long, but I hope that over the course of this long June tour we'll churn out a good 400+ pages.
Is your album of Harry Nilsson covers gonna be as great as your cover of "There Goes My Baby?"
Pete: Thanks for the compliment. It will hopefully be better although very different. It has a whole string section, horn players, special guests and is a real honest to goodness record with ten songs.
Ham: We're so excited about that damned record. I think it'll be a real hit. It was a real blast making it and I think it definitely shows.
How are you getting ready for your tour?
Pete: Denial and laundry.
Ham: Bench pressing, and eating 12 eggs a day.
I couldn't help but notice that you're kicking things off in New York, and hitting D.C. second. Getting the hometowns out of the way early? Is there - perhaps - a little first is the worst, second is the best at play here?
Pete: It's sort of like dipping your feet in the pool as opposed to diving right in. Third is definitely the worst no matter what Paul and Matt might try to pass off on the rest of us. Philadelphia's like Baltimore without the charm.
Ham: I think that was just a scheduling thing. Glad to start here though. Why the hell not?
Who's idea was the cowboy photo that's up on your website right now? Because I nearly spat out my coffee laughing when I saw that the first time.
Pete: That's a snapshot from our video which is being edited right now. Hopefully, it will really be something. We always hated making videos as none of us have ever seen one we liked. Recently, we started to realize that it was more fun to dress up like cowboys than it was to stand around playing instruments so we thought we'd bite the bullet and do it. I haven't seen it, but there is a good chance that we might have made a good one. It may also be very strange and sort of dark.
Ham: It's from our "Louisiana" video. I haven't seen the final product, but that's what we were going for.
You may not know this, but DCist is actually hosting a concert of our own the same night you're coming to town. Wouldn't you rather forego the 9:30 Club and pop on in to DC9 for a few songs?
Pete: We'll play in your bathroom for the right price.
Ham: Sure. I'll see you there.
One last question - how many black sweater vests do The Walkmen collectively own?
Pete: Hundreds. We carry a separate trunk of them on tour and discard them at the end of each night. Did you know that Paul sleeps in one?
Ham: I think Paul has a regimen of them stored away somewhere. I'm gonna say collectively 10-15.
Photos by Amanda Mattos.