Anthony Walker

One year ago, I put a record out called “This City Won’t Sleep” that was the biggest musical project I’ve been a part of… probably the biggest undertaking of my life… other than maybe college (Like, all four years of college).

In a kind of observance of this little first fittingly, semi-sleepless anniversary, I started thinking about this record – both the “making of” it and the time that’s gone by since.

I’ve talked a hell of a lot about the making and writing of this record here on the blog (check out the “Song Spotlight” blogs previous to this), on the Kickstarter site, and elsewhere. So, to avoid repeating myself about any of that, I’d like to recap a little about the album’s reception.

If you read about the state of the music industry, a lot of people will tell you that the art of the “album” is dead. With iTunes allowing you to buy only select songs, the file sharing, on and on and on, etc. etc. when you read these dumb, boring things.

I feel like the art of the “album” is certainly not dead. I think it’s actually coming back to life if anything (Look at the rise in vinyl over just the last couple years).

When you put a record out as an artist, people are going to give you feedback. After all is said and done with the making of my record, its release, and its reception, I can confidently and unbiasedly say something about it.

From the feedback I’ve gotten, this record has absolutely been seen, appreciated, and enjoyed AS AN ALBUM by the people who like it. And that’s something I’m really proud of about this record.

That being said, people will always tell you what their favorite song on the record is. I can say that I’ve had at least a couple people tell me that every song on this record was their favorite song.

If people keep listening to it as a whole… If every song on the record is someone’s favorite song on the record… That kind of makes me feel like we did our job making it.

I really hope that people listen to and discover this record for a long time. For that reason, it’s available for download right now, for a limited time. You don’t really have to even pay for it. Name your own price… Check out the link below..

I hope you all feel this record is as much yours as it is mine…

http://anthonywalker.bandcamp.com/

AW

It’s been an interesting week.

I’ve been known to go through little bouts of sleepwalking here and there. I might have talked about it on here before. Sometimes this leads to some bizarre night-time behavior. This is my latest late-night phase…

It all started last weekend. I was staying with friends after a party and woke up to find a couch cushion in the kitchen sink. I put the cushion back in its rightful place thinking, “What asshole would put this in the kitchen sink?”

Turns out, I’m that asshole…. Though I didn’t realize it until the next morning when I woke up at home to find my bed pillows missing. I walked into the kitchen to find them in the recycling bin.

That’s when I knew that the sleepwalking switch had flipped back on. The following morning I found some blankets and sheets in the bathtub and the following night I went to bed and woke up on the couch… 

After all of this… I’m just kind of curious of why I immediately decided to dispose of bedding materials in my sleep all of a sudden… This is almost as bad as the sleepwalking hand-washing episodes of 2009.

So, yeah, that’s what’s been happening in my apartment in the middle of the night. Literally, never a dull moment.

Ant

Good morning!

It’s been a great St. Patty’s Day weekend! I hope you all had a great time celebrating and this little message finds you well. There’s a couple things coming up I want to let you good folks know about…

This Saturday, March 24, The Medicine Chest and I will be returning to The Saint (one of our favorite digs) as a part of Lightning Jar’s Album Release Show! The boys in L.J. have invited the band and I, as well as Frank Lombardi, to be a part of their big night as they release their beautiful debut album, “So Long Traveler.”  It was a very flattering offer and we are so excited to be playing this weekend alongside a couple of our favorite local artists! Like I said, this all goes down at The Saint in Asbury Park this Saturday. Check out www.thesaintnj.com for more information about the show… and more importantly, it’d be great of you to come pay all of us a visit!

The following Thursday, March 29, I’m very proud to announce that I will be taking part in an event brought to you by “Move On, MS” a charity working to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis. It will be taking place at American Trash in uptown NYC. I believe the show has been sold out, but if anyone is interested in attending, or participating in some way to this great cause, please get in touch with me anyway and we can figure something out.

Cheers!

AW

Hello again!

I thought I’d check in here since it’s been a while.

As you may have noticed, my weekly video series “Walker-Vision” has kind of “gone off the air” the last couple of weeks. I hope you haven’t been missing it too much, but I figured this deserved some explanation, albeit a little after the fact.

For the last 80+ Wednesdays in a row, I have posted a video every week. Although this has been a lot of fun, and it makes me feel good when you guys enjoy the videos, whether they be of me playing a song or making a fool of myself (or both), I decided to pull the plug on Walker-Vision (at least for the time being).

In the meantime, I plan on working out some new music, fleshing out some new ideas, and using some of the extra time to get going on some new projects…… as well as working on my tan. This is all in the effort to give me some more time to work on new things, and improve the whole idea of Walker-Vision, so that when it does come back, it’s a little different and a little better. For you guys, and for me too. 

Walker-Vision has been a big part of what I do on a weekly a basis for almost two years. I never thought that it would have lasted this long. But I never want anything having to do with my music to be routine. So a break is in order, and it’ll be back, because I really do enjoy making these videos. Think of everything that has happened so far as “Season 1.” “Season 2” is yet to come. In the meantime, enjoy the “reruns” and I’ll be seeing you here!

Ant

This is such a crazy good version of this song. I’ve been on a big Ryan Adams kick the last couple weeks. I really like most of his newest record and that’s kind of sent me on a look back through his catalog. Lots of records in my collection and some that I must have passed over, through the years. Gotta say Ryan Adams can be a little bit hit or miss for me, but when he’s on, I think he’s one of the best songwriters out there. Check this out!

This is one of the new ones. Thought maybe I’d put the lyrics up first, before anyone hears the song… If you’re coming to some of the upcoming shows, you might hear it….Still working out the kinks… y’know?

“Be My Ark”

I packed some things and away I went
I took all the money that I hadn’t spent
I’m pretty tired of the way I’ve been
The January is chattering

Full of rain
Full of blood
The steady calm before the flood
A storm moves always
Coast to coast
We fear the things we love the most

It’s nothing like at first
So let heaven do its worst

Oh, the way I’ve been

Like Noah when he built his ship
To take all creation for a trip
If the ocean pulls me out too far
I was thinking you could be my ark

We’ll wash up on the sand
Foreign to the land 

And the way I’ve been

Like Mary when she had her son
All the work without the fun
When each long last part of me has died
Let my rebirth be my surprise

I, too, can be conceived
And immaculately pleased

With the way I’ve been

This is another song that I’ve been wanting to do here on WalkerVision for a long time. Problem with covering a Ray Lamontagne song is that it’s kind of impossible to sing a Ray Lamontagne song as well as Ray Lamontagne. So I put it off for quite a while.

But I was feeling adventurous (and pretty mellow) and gave it a shot.

I”ve been meaning to play thing song since I started WalkerVision. Have’nt played it a whole lot but I gave it a go.

This is a song that I always hear people talking about and it’s one of my favorites, so here we go…..

Kudos to Ryan Adams, this is one of those songs that really rings in your ears.

The other day, I was forced to go to what is probably my least favorite place on the planet. The dentist.

I have been avoiding the dentist for a few years now. It makes me nervous. I know some people are scared to go to the dentist. For me, I wouldn’t say it goes that far, but there’s definitely anxiousness. I’ve always been that way, and because I have been avoiding it for so long, it lead to me needing more work done than usual (I was surprised to find out that the bottom right side of my mouth was cavity city).

I think what I worry about most when going to the dentist is that they’re going to scold me for like, not flossing enough or something. Which is ridiculous, I know. At the end of the day… it’s my mouth, I’ll do what I want with it. (Don’t read too far into that last statement).

I mean, no one likes going to the dentist, however, there is one place that I hate almost as much as the dentist, and that’s the DMV.

I was thinking about this correlation in the waiting room the other day and I had an idea. The Department of Dentistry and Motor Vehicles. Why not combine the two?

Everyone hates the dentist. Everyone hates going to the DMV. In an effort to save time and inconvinience why not kill two birds. Basically, how it works is that you fill out whatever paperwork needs to be filled out while you’re waiting to see the dentist. Then when you get out of the chair they hand you a renewed license or whatever else you needed done for your car.

I’m pretty sure this needs to happen. Not sure who to suggest this to though…. It could be anybody… Do I write to my congressman??

Decided to do another original tune this week for WalkerVision. This time, with The Medicine Chest. This is a video of us at Maxwells last weekend in Hoboken. This is a song from the first record that the band and I haven’t played in YEARS but we decided to bring the song back to kick off this show. So if you missed us at Maxwells, this is how the whole thing started. Thanks to everyone who came out in the snow!! Good to see some old faces!

I didn’t really have a whole lot of time to make a video this week, so I figured I’d do an update of some upcoming shows while I went about my daily morning routine.

What better way to start WalkerVision off in 2012 than with The Beatles. Had the idea earlier today to do a Byrds song, but decided to go with this one instead so I learned it and here is my first stab at it. This song always reminds me of this time of the year. Kind of cold and bleak. Stay tuned to Walker Vision and spread the word on your favorite video. Maybe I’ll do the Byrds’ tune next week.

I was in kind of a country mood today so I picked this song. I’ve always liked it. This is actually my first time ever trying it out… nothin’ to it. Enjoy the tune and I’ll see you guys next year!

Where I was:

By October, I had moved five times in six months. I had just moved into the apartment where I live now. Things began looking up again. I was able to start unpacking my things and was getting stable again. It was nice being able to see my things again that had spent the better part of a year in boxes. I stepped out on my balcony one night with the modest New Brunswick skyline staring back at me. I felt really good, really fresh. I came back inside, picked a pen up and wrote this song. It felt as much like, “The End” as it did, “The Beginning.” By no means a “happily ever after,” but as close as one gets in real life.

About the song:

I’ve always looked at this song as being about revolution. A “hope revolution.” I looked out over the city and thought about the many stories that were unfolding. All those people pouring into the streets. Every one with their own story, writing the next chapter. I needed that reminder that there’s a power in people We don’t have to be so dreadful. We all need to believe that things are going to get better. Whether they do or not, I think you need to believe they will. As we all sing at the end of the song, “All this sadness will be gone.” Everything works out. Sometimes it works out badly, sometimes it works out great. But at the end of the day, everything works out. 

Extras:

The outro was originally an entirely separate song called “This Sadness That Haunts You,” but I fused them together. It was very easy to do so.  

The album’s cover was directly influenced by that moment out on the balcony that immediately proceeded writing this song. The moon seemed so huge that night.

I wrote the guitar part one day (probably about a year before I actually wrote the song) when I was learning “I Dig A Pony” by The Beatles. The riff is a variation of one bad attempt. My old dog, “Bam Bam,” was by my side as he was starting to get a little gray behind the ears.

This is the end of the line. Please don’t leave any of your personal belongings behind. Thanks for reading!

Decided to something in the holiday spirit this week. Well, sort of… This is “Back Door Santa” by Clarence Carter. I’m not really a big fan of Christmas music, so this is about as close as I was willing to get. Happy Holidays everyone. Stayed tuned next week for the last WalkerVision of the year!