Interview: Giant Walker @ Misery Loves Company

Interview

28 Oct

Giant Walker, a band normally known for their heavier progressive sound with grunge undertones, tried something new at the recent Misery Loves Company festival by performing acoustically. The four-piece, comprising vocalist Steff Fish, guitarist Jamie Southern, bassist Jordan Gregory, and drummer Alex Black, underwent a mini-metamorphosis for the festival, emerging as an acoustic trio with Gregory swapping bass for guitar to join Southern on dual acoustics.

Shortly before their set, we caught up with the band to chat about their temporary acoustic shift, what they've been working on since the release of their 2022 debut album All in Good Time, and their new collaborative approach to songwriting.

For anyone who's coming on to your music for the first time, how would you describe what you are doing?

Jamie: Heavy progressive rock, with a female at the front.

Steff: Something we've battled with for a little while is the progressive element of it. And I guess it depends on what you think of as progressive. But I think, at least for us, it's a lot of different influences and elements brought together to create something that feels a little bit different.

What are some of the influences that you feel like you’re trying to bring together?

Jamie: There's a lot of 90s grunge elements to it. I think that's the biggest one, but then you've got the likes of Karnivool, Queens of the Stone Age, and Deftones. Just roll it all together in a burrito and then that's us.

You had an album out in 2022. What have you been working on since?

Steff: That's a great question.

Jamie: Album two I guess, unannounced and not really confirmed at all. But we're working towards a second album. It’s still fluid and could still change. But we’re booked into record at the very beginning of next year. So it'll be a 2024 release.

Steff: After the first album All In Good Time, we did a live recording of the album which came out in June, this year. We’ve done two tours, which has been really cool. But since the first album we’ve mainly just been in a cave writing.

Jamie: It was hard, because All In Good Time was written during COVID. So obviously, there was no playing at all. Then a year later, after the album was written, we finally got to tour it. And then a year after that, we did the live album and all of a sudden, we're three years down the line and only now working towards album two, because of the circumstances. But it's definitely happening; all the songs are written and it's just a case of recording.

How do you think your sound has changed or built from the first album to what you're doing next?

Jamie: It's definitely, definitely changed. It's less progressive, in the sense that songs aren't as long and dare I say a bit more commercial. Even though that's a bit of a dirty word at times. But I suppose if you ever had to put a word to it, that’s it. There’s a bit more care and attention to the melodies. And because we've been together a lot of the time as well it's been far more collaborative. The first album, because it was written during COVID, was very much write then record, no time to really sort it out. When we recorded it was the first time we'd ever played those songs together. Whereas this time, it's a lot of trial and error and it's a bit more organic. We've managed to trial new songs live. We're playing a lot of new ones in the acoustic set today, just to try them.

Steff: I think it's one of those things when you first start out, you just want to try and cram all of the cool ideas into a song. Then further along you go, the more you try to serve the song.

Jamie: Shall we say mature instead of commercial? It's more emotionally mature.

You’re playing the acoustic stage and it’s got me wondering how you approach shifting this heavier, progressive sound into an acoustic set?

Jamie: That's a good question.

Take song, play on acoustic.

Jamie: To be fair, that's exactly what we've tried not to do. It’s a bugbear of mine, when bands just do that. We’ve tried to reimagine it as if the song was written for acoustic. Jordan is Mr. Bass man, and rather than him playing bass and me playing guitar, we’re both playing guitar and adding different layers to it. Trying to reimagine if we were a folk three piece with two guitars and a couple of vocals.

Steff: Which we are very much are not.

Jamie: As you will find out! But that's the way we've approached it; a reimagining of the songs.

That must be a really fun exercise to do.

Jamie: Definitely. And to the point where we've discovered layers that we’ll probably include when we record the songs in the studio.

You mentioned earlier that the writing process for your next album has been far more collaborative, how did you go about that?

Jamie: For the first album, it was pretty much me in the garage. I would flesh out a rough demo with everything programmed. I’d share a robotic demo, ask them what they think, we’d learn the parts as they were in the demo, and then fleshed it out from there with everyone’s own thing added. Then we’d give Steph a bit of music that she’d write vocals too.

Whereas this time, I'll come up with a part and then we'll collaboratively come up with vocals and then move on from there, building it up that way. So it's a bit more piece by piece building a song up rather than here's a full song before writing vocals to it. We had far more drum input as well.

Steff: It's quite different from how we started off writing, where we wrote in a rehearsal room. It’s now all very much written on Logic.

Jamie: We’ve 100% embraced newer technology. We never really write in a room anymore. We'll write on recording software and then once the song is finished, we'll get together in a room and work out the kinks that way.

Steff: Occasionally, if we find ourselves in Newcastle and with Alex, then we can go to his studio and jam an idea out. But most of the time, the songs are already finished and then played together. Which is quite interesting. I think ultimately, it's really helpful to hear how the songs are going to work. Recording that way lends itself to add in some interesting layers that potentially wouldn't have been there if we were just in a room doing it at once. A lot of the newer stuff has got a lot of harmonies on it. I don't think there's many songs where Jamie's not singing.

Jamie: I’ve been forced into it!

Last question I've got for you is, if you could hear any song again for the first time, what would that song be?

Jamie: That’s an incredible question.

Steff: Oooh that’s really hard. Jordan your contribution is …

Jordan: It would probably be something by Chris Cornell.

Jamie: I'll jump in straight away, the first thing that came to mind is a Soundgarden song called “Slaves & Bulldozers” on Badmotorfinger, track three for anyone who happens to be reading but hasn't heard it. It’s quite simply the greatest vocal take ever recorded. I wish I could hear that for the first time again. I still get goosebumps every time I hear it, without fail. It's the one thing I can listen to every time and guarantees to give goosebumps every time that song

Jordan: Yeah, I would agree.

Steff: You can’t just say the same thing!

Jordan: I was gonna something more mainstream by Soundgarden like “Black Hole Sun”. But to be fair, all of Badmotorfinger as well.

Jamie: Similar music tastes as you can tell. How about you?

Steff: I don’t know, maybe my favourite Queens of Stone Age song “Someone's in the Wolf”. What a great tune. Maybe that one? It's so off the wall but cool. And again, similar to Jamie, I just feel it's one of those songs where you just feel so immersed in it when you're listening to it. Or any Cornell tune, just because of his vocals. For some reason “Seasons” came to mind which is from his solo work and I think it’s so cool.

Catch Giant Walker on tour this November, and again for a headline tour this April, along with festivals announced for next year!