What are WALKEN most looking forward to for the rest of the year?

Hey WALKEN! Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us! How’s the reaction to your new single ‘Fever Dreams’ been so far?

Matt: Really lovely, hey! We’ve had a lot of supportive messages from friends and it seems like the people that have listened to it are liking it, which is nice. I feel like it’s a good indication as to where our sound is heading too, so I’m glad people dig it.

Can you recall having a fever dream? What was it about?

Pat: When I was really young and sick with a fever, I’d always have the same nightmare. It was this weird limitless room, like neon colouring, but the floor came in waves, so it was always really hard to walk straight or gain any ground. The dream always ended with me getting to some sort of door, and a guy in a black suit, full X-Files looking guy, would hold up a key, then I’d wake up. I was always terrified when I woke up too, like paralysed with fear. I’m assuming it was just a lack of potassium in my diet, or my past life coming back to be subconsciously.

Matt: I never really have super memorable dreams, but when I was a kid I used to always have recurring dreams where I was being chased by the horror movie character Chuckie. I swear this happened regularly from when I was aged between 4 and 7. Nowadays, I could probably just punt Chuckie and that’d be the end of it.

For a trio, sonically there still seems to be a lot going on! We hear you have an interesting set up sans-bassist, and that there’s quite a bit of love for pedals within the band - can you tell us a bit about that?

Pat: Matt’s whole bass set up with his guitar makes everything pretty interesting.

Matt: Yeah, I’ve got an isolated bass pickup that sits just underneath my E & A string and that runs to its own volume and jack. The bass pickup is completely separated from my guitar signal and I have two jacks on my Jaguar (one for bass, one for guitar), so that pickup is just getting primarily root notes of chords I play. I then run that separated signal to a Sans Amp + POG (which is set an Octave Lower to hit bass register) then into a Bass Amp. We’re both pretty big on pedals, so I use a lot of those to manipulate my guitar + bass signal in different ways.

Pat: I’ve always been way too into pedals – I buy a lot just because they’re weird, but they’re so handy to hang on to for recording and getting specific sounds. When you spend a lot of time on YouTube you can get pretty sucked into a multitude of different avenues when it comes to pedals. I swap them in and out pretty regularly, just because mentally you always think you can make you rig a bit tighter or brighter or more unique. I used to have a Korg Kaoss Pad on my board just to make laser gun sounds. Anything weird that might make another musician do a double take is pretty much going to interest me.

Q: You’ve clocked up some pretty impressive supports over the last little while, including The Bennies, WAAX, and The Smith Street Band. What are some of your fondest memories of touring?

Pat: Watching bigger bands and how they work on the road is mega interesting. Being on that run of Smith Street shows was great just because they have a really great crew working with them so it’s interesting to watch their live show being put together. Most bands we’ve supported have been really tops people, always accommodating. On smaller tours when you’re just driving for hours, I guess the fond memories from that is finding ways to kill the boredom. Me and our drummer Beej have a habit of cranking a lot of cringy early 2000’s metalcore on the road and reminiscing while staring out the window at hours of farmland. That’s livin’ folks.

Matt: One of the best things about touring is how many really good friends you make along the way too. Like, you’re always hanging with other musicians or crashing at their houses and all their housemates are usually creative types, so you meet a lot of likeminded people. One of our good mates Jye from Wollongong also gave us a dick-shaped bong as a parting gift once, that was a funny highlight.

What’s your favourite record of 2020 so far, and why?

Pat: The new Smith Street Band album is fantastic. And also the new Run The Jewels album is super good.

Matt: I’ve been loving No Dream by Jeff Rosenstock, Circles by Mac Miller, Good Luck Everybody by AJJ and the new Fontaines D.C singles. I’m really keen to see what AURORA comes out with next as well because her last single (Exist For Love) is insanely good.

2020 seems to have been a pretty big one for you already - what are you most looking forward to for the rest of the year?

Matt: At this point in time we’re all just itching to play shows again. It’s felt like forever. After touring twice already this year before the end of March, not playing this long has hit us really hard in the feels.

And finally, where can we follow WALKEN and hear your music?

Matt: We’re on all most streaming services and social media sites, so here’s a big ole list below!