The Walkmen has been cranking out organ and piano-tinged pop-rock records for the past eleven years. In that time, the group has garnered critical acclaim from the likes of Pitchfork and PopMatters, and in 2004 played on the TV show “The O.C.” Organ player and bassist Walt Martin first befriended drummer Matt Barrick in middle school, and the two have been working together ever since. The pair worked in Jonathan Fire*Eater with guitarist Paul Maroon and later came together with former Recoys members Hamilton Leithauser and Peter Bauer to form The Walkmen. Last September, the band released its sixth full-length album, Lisbon, and is currently finishing up its final tour for the album. The Walkmen hit the Triangle this Wednesday, opening for Fleet Foxes at the Raleigh Amphitheater. Martin talked to Assistant Diversions Editor Allison Hussey about the group and its recent overseas adventure.
Diversions: What have you found is usually your greatest challenge when it comes to writing?
Walt Martin: I think doing something different every time and actually havimg to do something different, that’s very difficult. We sort of try to trick ourselves into doing different stuff or find different devices to make sure things come out different. Sometimes you take a step back and you realize it’s not that different. It’s really hard to make things sound different and good and exciting.
Dive: On that note, how is your most recent record, Lisbon, different from previous material?
WM: I sort of think it’s in the same vein as the one before it, as the You and Me record. I think that we are focusing on different things with those two records, which is focusing more on the songwriting and on the melody and lyric above everything else. With Lisbon as opposed to the You & Me record, it’s a little more cheery-sounding, a little more fun.
Dive: It’s been almost a year since Lisbon came out, how has the past year been? I looked at your touring schedule, and you guys really seem to be keeping busy.
WM: Yeah, we really have been keeping busy. The album came out just about a year ago right now. We’ve toured a lot on it. We were able to be home a lot to continue writing, which we were able to do. We already have a big chunk of our next record written, which is great.
Dive: Do you know about when it might be done, or is it more ideas at this point?
WM: It’s a little hard to know. It feels like we’re off to a really good start because we’ve been in the studio with the producer Phil Ek, who produced the new Fleet Foxes record. We were with him all last week hammering out the songs and making sure everything’s ready for the studio. We have about fifteen songs that we’re going to record in November, and hopefully by then we’ll have a couple more. We’ll have a bunch more. It’s hard to tell. After the November session with him, we’ll have a better idea about where we stand. It could be that we’re done in November, but it could be that we have five songs by the time we’re done there. It’s really hard to know.
The Walkmen plays at the Southgate House in Newport, KY, 2002. Photo by Austin Kleon via Flickr.
Dive: Your most recent round of touring took you all over the world, like to Istanbul and the Primavera festival in Spain. What was your favorite part of all of that?
WM: I think it was probably those two things, actually. As far as travel and seeing the world, I would say Istanbul was by far the coolest. It’s an unbelievable place. We really had some time off, we had time to recuperate after the flight and we had time on our own, so we really got to see the city. It was fantastic. As far as the band stuff and shows, I would say the Primavera was probably one of the best shows we’ve ever had. We had a great crowd, a really huge crowd for us. We get nervous at those things, and I think we actually play a lot better when we’re a little bit nervous. It was a big success, and we all felt really great about that.
Dive: Why do you think you play better when you’re a little nervous?
WM: Just because you’re a little more on your toes. I think we have more fun when we’re nervous, because we’re all a little more supportive of each other. When something good happens, you sort of smile together as a band, or when something bad happens, you laugh about it. Whereas if it’s a small show where you don’t necessarily care that much about it, you just kind of go through the motions a little more. Everyone’s a little more on their toes when we’re nervous. It’s good for us.
Dive: Is there anywhere else that you haven’t been yet but you’d still like to tour?
WM: Yeah, there are tons of places. We’ve always wanted to go to Eastern Europe. There are plenty of places in South America that we’ve wanted to go. Basically, we spend ninety percent of our time in the US and the UK, and we’ve just started doing more Europe stuff, which is enjoyable, but there’s plenty of room to spread out.
Dive: You do have this next big tour coming up with Fleet Foxes, how did it come about that you got to work with them?
WM: They came to us and asked us if we wanted to do it, and we said yes because we love them.
Dive: Are you going to focus more on recording after this round of touring?
WM:No, we’re really done with (touring). The first tour on the Lisbon record is very much winding down. We probably would have stopped by now if the Fleet Foxes thing hadn’t come around. We’re very much ready to start focusing on the next thing, which we’re going to do on this tour. We’re going to play a lot of the new songs that we have, and it will be a great way to test everything out. Once that’s done, we’re really going to stay home and write and record.
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