Band Spotlight: The Walkmen

History: The Walkmen consists of three members from the now disbanded Johnathan Fire*Eater and two members from The Recoys. In 2000, all five of The Walkmen started playing together and in 2002 the group recorded their first album. In total, The Walkmen have recorded three albums and a fourth one is scheduled to be released within the next few months.

Years Active: 2000-Present

Line-Up:
Hamilton Leithouser (Lead Vocals)
Paul Maroon (Guitar, Piano)
Walter Martin (Organ, Bass)
Peter Bauer (Bass)
Matt Barrick (Drums)

Label: Record Collection

Genre: Independent Post-Punk Revival

Musical Style: Garage rock with a lot of piano. The Walkmen are NOT your typical poppy piano rock band, but the fuse of guitar and piano is very evident in their music. As I recently read on AMG, The Walkmen even combine elements of Christmas music in their songs. In the end, the sound is uplifting and catchy.

Best Album: Bows + Arrows (2004)

Top Songs:
"Little House of Savages"
"Revenge Wears No Wrist Watch"
"'The Rat"
"Thinking Of A Dream"
"What's In It For Me"
"We've Been Had"
"Louisiana"

Influences:
U2, The Pixies, Tom Waits, The Velvet Underground, The Smiths, The Pogues, Joy Division

Influenced:
Tapes N' Tapes (Unconfirmed, but I hear similarity)

Why You Should Listen to The Walkmen: This is definitely not a reason why you should listen to The Walkmen, but I want to first mention that The Walkmen were featured in "The O.C." I hate to admit stuff like this, but I did indeed watch "The O.C" for a short time in 7th grade mainly to listen to the music (mostly independent rock). Anyway, The Walkmen are a premier "indie" band of the 2000s and if you listen to them you will know what a mean. If I had to recommend one song, it would be "Thinking Of A Dream" without a doubt. On a related note, I contacted the band manager of The Walkmen and he said they should be in Boston sometime in August (hopefully not at an 18+ only show!)