I first became aware of Walker Brigade through their Big Stir singles, one of which is a fun cover of “I’m Tired” from Blazing Saddles. Another is “No,” a Grammy Award first ballot listee. The B-sides, respectively “Tower” and “Fallout,” are great, and a reminder that good post-punk continues to be made.
The band was kind enough to answer a few questions for me.
Andrea Weiss: How did the band form?
Mark Fletcher: Tracy recorded some demos of her original songs and starting a band with her just seemed like a good idea. I ran into Jeff at a party and told him what we were working on. We all knew each other, so it just came together very quickly. We tried a couple other drummers before we invited Craig. He and I had been playing in a bar band, so we were already pretty familiar with each other’s playing. Our repertoire in the beginning was mostly covers--Buzzcocks, Ultravox!, Soft Boys, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Wire, Penetration, etc.
Craig Tyrka: Mark and I were playing in another band and he asked me if I would be interested in a project he was starting with some friends doing originals. When I heard originals based on late 70's, mostly British punk I was interested. I met them at Tracy's house. We practiced in her living room. I had to put a sheet over my drums so the neighbors wouldn't hear us. We clicked and here we are.
Andrea: Who are your influences?
Mark: Mission of Burma, Jefferson Airplane, Wire, the Who, Tom Lehrer.
Jeff Charreaux: As far as guitar goes, I like how Mick Ronson really added to songs to make it more rock than singer-songwriter music. Bernard Butler did that in Suede, too.
Craig: I was into drummers, of course, so in college I loved the jazz greats. I got into Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, who I shared a stage with, long story. I really got into Fusion rock, Billy Cobham, Mahivishnu Orchestra, etc. Bill Bruford and Phil Collins were big influences. I had to move away from drummers only and starting seeing the band as a working unit. I'm into any band that has a certain energy and does something that I don't think I can.
Tracy Walker: The Stooges, The Rolling Stones, early Roxy Music, The Kinks, Cheap Trick, Television, The Pretenders, Protomartyr, Christine Amphlett of the Divinyls (my favorite front person probably of all time).
Andrea: I hear a lot of X in your sound, which is great. Would you say they are an influence?
Jeff: We all admire X, to varying degrees. I love their lyrics. Technically, people hear a similarity because our vocal harmonies are sort of upside-down. Like a saxophone and trumpet. Beatles harmonies are in thirds and fifths, which double up the notes already in the guitar chords. Inverted, like horn parts, they become sixths and fourths. We don’t have three singers, and Tracy and I have to cut through the din. We practice loud, so that’s the only way I can harmonize with Tracy and both be heard. In a way, it’s good because our sound can’t really evolve too much. We’ve gotten more experimental in writing the songs, adding things like Kraütrock and Shangri-La’s-inspired narratives. But working the songs out at practice from our bedroom demos ends up sounding like us, because of the so-called, “angular” harmonies. That’s my X apologia, at least.
Tracy: As a kid, I was obsessed with Under the Big Black Sun and Wild Gift, and entranced by Exene’s image. She also imprinted herself on many singers who came after her, and I listened to all of them, too. I don’t purposefully emulate Exene, but she’s imprinted herself in my consciousness and other singers, as well, so I guess it happens spontaneously. Also her “jagged” harmony style naturally cuts through loud music, and our music is loud, so I go there instinctively to be heard.
Andrea: That loud, fast, rough sound is great. Do you feel like you're carrying on a type of punk that, sadly, isn’t heard a lot today?
Craig: Exactly. We say what we have to in about three minutes. Right now most commercial music is Urban and Rap. Rock is alive in the clubs mostly (and action movies), from what I see anyway.
Jeff: Yes! Mark had the concept of the band with Tracy to play the kind of great, semi-lost songs from when every band sounded unique in the post-punk era. Back then, in England, no one would ever form a band to sound similar to anyone else. We’ve all stuck to that approach in our previous endeavors. To succeed or fail on our own merits. We want our songs to be what we’d want to hear but don’t exist yet.
Andrea: Your lyrics seem to deal with vexing problems and frustration. Or do you think you deal with other things besides that?
Jeff: Life is mostly vexing problems and frustrations, if you are trying to live on your own terms and also keep your self-respect. That’s what “Don’t Sell Out (for Free)” addresses. If you don’t fight to retain your creative freedom, or at least get paid up-front for it, you end up having nothing but regrets when your product doesn’t resonate with anyone, even yourself.
Tracy: Sure, that seems accurate, also mystical/spiritual experience, the Apocalypse, corporatism, sex--it certainly does run a gamut.
Mark: As far as I can tell, the lyrics seem to be based on very personal experiences. Songwriting as psychotherapy.
Andrea: Though there are many women who play power pop, there still aren’t enough. What would you say to women who want to play power pop?
Mark: Before 1977 the Who defined power pop. After that, it was the Buzzcocks, at least in my opinion. Why more women don’t play that kind of music is beyond me. I’ve been thinking of becoming a music teacher and introducing my students to Live at Leeds and A Different Kind of Tension. And for the more adventurous kids, Bless Its Pointed Little Head.
Tracy: The 90s was the golden age of women playing hard, “uncomfortable” music in major venues. It was a veritable smorgasbord of female one-off’s, from L7 to Bikini Kill, Geraldine Fibbers, Sleater-Kinney and P.J. Harvey. They were heirs to the Slits, X-Ray Spex, the Pretenders, Pylon, Patti Smith, The Raincoats. It was an incredible time for authentic and complex female voices, but like all good things, it came to an end. They paved paradise and put up a picture of Kim Kardashian. I know Chrissie Hynde was a huge fan of the Stooges. I would tell other women who want to play Who-style power pop, buy the Stooges catalog and use it as an inspiration. There’s a great mix of male and female energy in their music, toughness and vulnerability, intellect and instinct, and the chords are straightforward and became a template for so many others, why not you? We need you!
Andrea: Your covers are inspiring, especially “I Wanna Destroy You” and “Rock and Roll Toilet.” Do you listen to a lot of Robyn Hitchcock?
Jeff: Mark proposed those songs on the first mix-tape CD he gave Tracy and me. “I Wanna Destroy You” was on the first demo we recorded so we could get shows. That must’ve helped us get our first Big Stir Live bookings. From the very first beat, “I Wanna Destroy You” kicks off on a fourth-interval harmony, which is the “X harmony” thing, but with male voices. It makes the chorus a bit ominous but still catchy. “Rock and Roll Toilet” is from a live show. Rex has been asking to release it, but we had our own songs and other covers that were recorded in a proper recording studio, like the Wire song. But that might be sloppier.
Tracy: Robyn Hitchcock is one of my favorite songwriters. There’s a lot of withering satire and psychological insight in his songs, and he manages to be very catchy.
Andrea: Do you plan to tour?
Jeff: The early reception to our album is looking like it can be viable. My ideal is to play Glastonbury, but that might be a way off.
