CoMusic Twitterview: The Walkmen
This past weekend, this post published over at The Collective. It’s a little tongue-in-cheek as whoever runs The Walkmen’s Twitter account was not ammused by the questions I sent them. Of course, if you read this blog regularly, you know how much I love The Walkmen. This semi-fake interview was not meant as a way to make fun of them. Instead, I want people to come out for once to see The Walkmen. The two times I’ve seen them here, barely anyone showed. I want people to check them out. I want New Pornographer fans to show up early enough to catch both bands. Whatever. Here’s the somewhat fake Twitterview. I have a real interview with a real-life band in a few weeks. Until then, enjoy…
As a citizen journalist trying to get a blog off the ground, I’ll take an interview anyway I can get it. With The Walkmen set to play The Blue Note this Friday alongside New Pornographers, I approached the band with an idea for a Twitterview. They allowed me five questions. The conversation is below…
This seems on par for The Walkmen. They have never shied away from diverse influences. It helps one understand their sound which harkens back to some truly classic rock ‘n roll (Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino), a little doo-wop (Dion), the alt canon (Ramones, Morrisey), and a little something from this decade to hold your interest (Cass McCombs). These selections should tell you all you need to know about the band’s sound.
Lisbon is a pretty great record. It made several best-of lists, including mine. Reports showed that 17 tracks were left off the final version. The Tweet above tells you all you need to know beyond that.
This is where the interview stalled. Only being allowed five questions at 140 characters a piece didn’t make it easy to come up with good interview questions. Apparently, my other questions were too lame with which to bother or were somehow offensive. I guess I’ll never know.
I did try to Twitterview The New Pornographers, but they never responded.
So, in the interest of telling you all you need to know about the show at the Blue Note, I’ll piece together a proper Twitterview using The Walkmen’s Twitter feed. Here goes nothing…
For the musicians out there, @orangebuffalo asked the following question and received the following response…
The sound is pretty unique and will definitely grab your attention. The band does some subtle things with their sonis to create an aesthetic that is rather pleasing to the ear.
I had considered to ask questions about the set lists for the tour, but couldn’t fit it in the five questions the band was allowing me. Luckily, @whiteskittLs took care of it for me…
So, expect a lot of Lisbon Friday night.
What’s in store for The Walkmen after this tour? Well…
If we’re lucky, we might get to hear these new tracks on which the band is working. And next time, I’ll just interview a band like a normal journalist/blogger.
The Walkmen play the Blue Note with The New Pornographers this Friday, April 29. Doors open at 8:00. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.
Illustration by Justin Nardy. His Tumblr is here and Etsy shops here and here.
Beer and Pavement 
What questions didn’t they answer? Maybe they’re hiding something…
I honestly don’t remember. One was something about what it’s like to eat a meal with The Walkmen. Another asked why guitarist Paul Maroon smiles so much. The third completely escapes me. It was hard to come up with three good questions that could be answered in 140 characters. So, I mixed it up, trying to cover a variety of topics. I guess they didn’t like that strategy.
Bummer. Unless the third question was completely nutty, it sounds like there was not good reason for them to not respond. Maybe the “smile” thing doesn’t gel well with their self-image?
On the other end of the spectrum, the overeager end: when I did a radio show, I had a local band come in one time for an interview/performance. They had a great time, and the dj who succeeded me seemed to enjoy it too. They interview/perform on the air at least twice a month now.
As frustrating as it is that they didn’t answer every question, it is still pretty cool that they actually answered some questions. Too many “famous” accounts show little or no interest in interaction on Twitter, which is a bit of a shame. If you don’t want to interact, don’t go on Twitter. Just plugging stuff is tiresome.
That’s a good point, Steve. And if you look at the kinds of answers they do give, the band is actually doing the Tweeting, not some intern. It really doesn’t bother me that they didn’t answer the questions. the questions were bad. I’m just happy they’re coming this Friday.