Whereas it might haven’t been a straightforward path, Chicago’s The Walters have discovered their approach again to one another on their debut LP ‘Good Firm,’ a file full of affection for one another and a reminder of the experiences confronted alongside the way in which.
Stream: ‘Good Firm’ – The Walters
Change is nothing new to indie pop quartet The Walters.
The group has damaged up, reunited, and most lately launched their long-awaited debut full-length album, Good Firm. Their journey has been considered one of transformation – navigating private {and professional} modifications, and studying what it means to develop each individually and collectively. Ten-plus years after they first got here on the scene, The Walters are again and higher than ever, sharing a file which means simply as a lot to them because it does to their followers.
“Good Firm is the album we’ve at all times wished to make – a mirrored image of our story, our friendships, and the highs and lows alongside the way in which,” say The Walters – comprised of singer/guitarist Luke Olson, guitarist Walter Kosner, bassist Danny Wells, and drummer Charlie Ekhaus.
“We grew up on albums. They’ve formed us as people and musicians. In right now’s music world, albums might not carry the identical weight they as soon as did, however to us, they continue to be the purest expression of an artist and an period.”
After releasing their now-viral single “I Love You So” in 2014, The Walters rapidly caught the eye of music lovers throughout the nation. Going through such a fast change in reputation, from native sweethearts to a nationally recognized act, the band felt this new sense of strain all of sudden. Coping with all of this, together with touring and their private lives, finally took its toll. Not lengthy after their Lollapalooza efficiency in 2017, The Walters referred to as it quits.
“There was simply loads of immaturity and failure on our half to appreciate we have been on the up and up, that issues have been actually profitable,” Olson displays. “We simply fell aside.”
However The Walters’ story didn’t finish there.
In 2021, seven years after its authentic launch, “I Love You So” unexpectedly went viral on TikTok – introducing The Walters to a model new technology of listeners. The track’s sudden reputation reignited conversations among the many band members, sparking a realization that their music nonetheless resonated deeply, even of their absence.
With extensively revered hits “I Love You So” and “Candy Marie,” The Walters realized the affect their music holds in society. The unwavering help proven by followers in all places was sudden. If something, it’s the explanation the group determined to present music one other attempt.
“There’s positively no approach we may have made this file even a yr or two in the past,” Walter Kosner shares. “We wanted to undergo this course of to have the ability to lastly get to a spot the place we will simply make one of the best music we will.”
Provides Olson: “We’re in a a lot more healthy place, and the creativity is admittedly flowing. A few of my favourite songs on the album are ones the opposite guys wrote. I simply love singing them, and to be in that house is extremely thrilling.”
Because the 4 matured, they realized what really issues: Their followers, one another, and the music.
After stepping again from music, the band seen they couldn’t stay with out it. This transformative expertise led them again to their roots, and to at least one one other. When surrounded with Good Firm, an individual by no means desires to depart the aspect of these round them. The Walters are tethered collectively, an inevitable pairing. They embrace this and their rediscovery as a bunch, fueling their return to music.
The Walters inform Atwood Journal, “Good Firm is a mirrored image of who we’re – whether or not it’s taking part in in somebody’s automobile on a highway journey or found in a crate of vinyl a long time from now. After ten years as a band, we’re proud to lastly share our first full-length album.”
Lengthy-awaited and deeply felt, Good Firm is the return followers have been dreaming of. The Walters didn’t simply reunite — they got here again with goal, crafting a debut that’s dreamy, nostalgic, and richly reflective of who the’ they’ve grown to be. It’s a portrait of who they’ve turn out to be, the results of hard-won progress and renewed connection. Greater than a comeback, this file is a rebirth: The Walters’ authenticity bleeds into every track, reaffirming their voice and imaginative and prescient as a band reborn.
The Walters are at present on tour with half•alive throughout their “Persona” tour. Good Firm is making its debut, alongside the reintroduction of the beloved band to longtime followers and new listeners alike.
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:: stream/buy Good Firm right here ::
:: join with The Walters right here ::
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A CONVERSATION WITH THE WALTERS
You’ve talked about that Good Firm is the form of file you’ve at all times wished to launch. What’s it like releasing your first ever LP, particularly one so significant and private to you?
Luke Olson: It’s a bucket record second for us as a band. We began in 2014, after which we have been damaged up for some time. We by no means have been capable of actually make an album that we thought of an album. It was type of like six or seven track EPs. I feel we’re simply actually proud that we have been capable of see this by way of. Clearly we love the music, nevertheless it’s like extra of simply exhibiting ourselves that we will do it. Everyone loves an excellent album, and we simply have by no means had that. So hopefully this is usually a begin of us making lots of them.
Referring to your track “Damaged Hearts and Reminiscences,” how have your life tales and romantic adventures formed this album?
Luke Olson: Effectively, it shapes it so much as a result of there’s loads of love songs. I assume all the nice and the unhealthy that comes with relationships. You virtually subconsciously write about it, like damaged hearts, it will probably’t be tied to at least one relationship. It comes from experiences in all of them.
Charlie Ekhaus: It’s all in there, a technique or one other. All of it comes out in music.
With tour on the horizon, are there any songs particularly off the album you’re excited to play stay? Will touring this album really feel completely different than different stay reveals you’ve performed?
Walter Kosner: We performed a couple of reveals already and it’s been so good. I can’t inform you how good it’s been to play completely different songs. At any time when we have been touring we performed the identical two albums, identical singles and now half of our set is all new music. It’s been actually enjoyable and it’s thrilling to see if some folks react to the brand new music, or in the event that they’ve heard the music earlier than the live performance.
You’ve been by way of loads of ups and downs as a band. How have these experiences formed you as musicians, and contributed to your newest file?
Luke Olson: We have been damaged up for a short while, our band has at all times type of been like a rollercoaster. There’s one thing stunning about that, all of us are able now in our lives the place we will do that band in the proper approach. We will be good to one another and never take it without any consideration. Perhaps after we have been in our early 20’s it was just a little more durable to see what the scope of this implies to our lives. Now we’re absolutely conscious that this band is a really important a part of our livelihoods so we’re taking it severely.
After taking a break as a band, what impressed you to step again into this house? Likewise, what features of the music trade did you miss?
Walter Kosner: There have been completely different instances through the years that a few of us wished to do the band, or we weren’t prepared. In 2021, the band began trending on TikTok with the primary track we made I Love You So. When that occurred, we began getting loads of calls from file labels and it received us all again in dialog, speaking in regards to the potentialities of what we may do if we began the band once more. Everybody was feeling impressed, and it felt like an excellent time to do it.
Danny Wells: So far as lacking elements of the trade, we missed taking part in stay and recording. However I’ll converse for everybody and say, we don’t actually miss the trade aspect of it.
Walter Kosner: So long as you possibly can preserve it between your pals and make music that you simply love and carry out, that’s all that actually issues.
Moreover, what did you study throughout your hiatus and the way has this adopted you throughout your return to the trade?
Luke Olson: This band is simply vital, all of us most likely have thought of it daily of our lives not directly or one other. I Love You So going viral was the universe, it pushed us even when we didn’t ask for it.
Danny Wells: Everybody discovered completely different stuff on the hiatus, like Charlie received actually good at drums. Luke began shredding on guitar extra, I discovered how you can write songs. Walter turned an excellent higher author than he was. The day without work helped in loads of methods.
Walter Kosner: I received into driving Uber and doing deliveries. As you become old you type of understand what issues to you. The entire time we have been gone, you’d at all times see followers saying they wished we have been nonetheless collectively, and the way a lot our music meant to them. When you hear that sufficient, you understand that it’s type of vital not only for you, however on your followers. Having the ability to make music that individuals really hear and it really imply one thing to them is so vastly vital to us.
This newest file is the proper reflection on who The Walters are. What albums have formed you to turn out to be the folks you’re right now?
Luke Olson: That’s a tough one. I assume loads of the classics, The Seaside Boys, The Beatles, and The Strokes are vital. I might say these are the tops, it’s simply all of the nostalgic traditional music, we attempt to mix and make it type of trendy.
Walter Kosner: Oasis, The Chili Peppers, all of us simply actually like what we contemplate to be actually enjoyable, good pop music. We take heed to loads of the identical issues, however we additionally department out so much. I feel that type of helps our sound. Charlie produced all our music just about up till this level. Him and Danny positively have extra of a R&B background and I feel that helps with the manufacturing. It simply type of modifications our sound, it doesn’t make it simply this one factor.
This album is your most collaborative work but. How have your processes as a band modified as you may have grown collectively?
Danny Wells: We’ve been doing stuff extra remotely, which has been cool. Quite a lot of stuff collectively too, however we type of have our personal studios at residence and we’ve made a few of our greatest stuff. Every considered one of us would begin individually after which we introduced it to the band. That’s been a brand new factor since COVID.
Walter Kosner: It’s been collaborative. There’s a track on the album that Danny sings, and he’s by no means sang a track earlier than. Songs are coming from all completely different instructions, it’s not simply the identical. We used to simply write chords, and a melody and lyrics, after which convey within the instrumentals. It was type of the identical factor each time, and this time it’s type of far and wide.
Luke Olson: Effectively, we additionally used a number of producers and writers for this album. As an alternative of simply the band writing every track, we introduced a number of folks to assist and it reveals within the songs.
I liked the track “TV” off your new album. What are your favourite tv reveals in the intervening time?
Walter Kosner: White Lotus, Succession. Darkish is my favourite present. It’s a German psychological time journey present, it’s considered one of my favorites of all time, extremely suggest.
Danny Wells: I’ve been watching Yellowjackets, that’s an excellent one.
Luke Olson: I’ve been watching Peaky Blinders essentially the most, for like the previous few months.
Danny Wells: Presently popping out although, White Lotus rocks.
Luke Olson: Yeah I would like to look at the brand new White Lotus. I’m blissful you appreciated that track, it’s considered one of my favourite ones too.
You launched a track referred to as “Good Ole Years.” What would you contemplate the nice ole years to be?
Luke Olson: Wow. That’s an excellent query. It’s most likely completely different for everyone, however I assume it’s simply the years once you have been oblivious to the world. Whenever you have been throwing eggs at Dairy Queen drive thrus. Having the cops referred to as to your mum or dad’s home.
Walter Kosner: Yeah, once you have been residing in a bubble. I used to be throwing slushies at a fuel station, the identical time Luke was throwing eggs.
Danny Wells: I used to be working into the woods, throwing snowballs off a bridge.
Charlie Ekhaus: Whenever you didn’t have duty. Perhaps we’re within the good ole years proper now too, ?
Luke Olson: Yeah that’s type of it, proper? It at all times is altering what the nice ole years is, in ten years we’ll look again right now.
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© Rachel Briggs
an album by The Walters