The Pistola Press

The Walkmen just started their headlining tour with Here We Go Magic. They had a killer year so far with more to come. They a make in stop at the TLA in Philadelphia tomorrow and tickets are still available. Go check them out. What else are you going to do on a Wednesday night? Matt Barrick, The Walkmen‘s drummer, dropped by The Pistola Press to answer a few questions.

The Walkmen – Photo by Nick Ray McCann

The first time I ever heard of The Walkmen, I was like in 7th grade and I saw Saturn car commercial that featured “We’ve Been Had”.  I remember I memorized a few lyrics and looked it up on the computer. That was right when you guys were getting started. How did the commercial come about? How’d they find your music?

We’re not sure how it that works but someone who worked on the ad approached us about using that song. It was quite unexpected.

What was it like working with Chris Zane on You & Me? Was it different compared to your previous records?

We randomly ended up working with Chris Zane because he works at the studio affiliated with the label that put out You & Me, Gigantic, and we were very pleasantly surprised. In the past, it has always been a struggle in the studio getting things to sound how we want them and with Zane, he was able to do this very quickly. He’s very good at capturing how we sound playing live which is more difficult than it would seem.

How do you go about incorporating horns into your songs? They’re in a few tracks on You & Me. Do you write the songs with the horns in mind?

Paul (Maroon) took up the trumpet a few years ago and started adding them to our eight track recordings. The parts became more involved along the way and he had to get Pro Tools just to have enough tracks for the parts. In the studio, we generally get professional horn players to play the parts, though sometimes Paul does them.

It’s been a little over a year since You & Me’s release. Have you guys started to work on anything new?

We just finished another session with Chris Zane in which we recorded thirteen new songs and we are working on writing some more since they all probably won’t make it on the record. so things are moving faster than they ever have.

A lot of great new music came out so far in 2009, are there any artists/albums that have really caught your attention?

We are big fans of Thee Oh Sees.

You’ve had the opportunity to play in large arenas with Kings Of Leon and headline smaller venues like the TLA and 930 Club What kind of tour do you like more? The small intimate venues or the 20,000-seat arena?

We enjoy playing smaller venues for fans of our music, rather than arenas where people could care less, though we did enjoy playing at the Spectrum in Philly.

Imagine life on Earth was no longer inhabitable; the air became toxic. Would you rather live in a bubble under the sea or on a space station?

Bubble

If you could be any cartoon character, who would you be?

Foghorn Leghorn

Last record you bought:

Thee Oh Sees, Hounds Of Foggy Notion

Last drink you had:

Root beer

Last musical instrument you bought/acquired:

Washboard

Last good advice someone gave you

Get in the left lane (driving in Ireland)

Last time you felt like a kid again

Yesterday

What’s one song you wish you wrote?

Moon River