SFBG: When did you come in?

SB: I came in the band six years ago and started singing, when they were looking for a singer.

SFBG: So you and Andy just started jamming together?

SB: Sean grew up with Andy. They’ve been playing together since they were 12.

SK: Then we had a different bass player named Olin. He moved to New York. We replaced Olin with Zack, on bass. Our original singer Seth, who was from Funeral Diner, another local band. He got kicked out of the band after our first tour, and was replaced with Shane. I guess that was in 2002. And we that lineup with Zack on bass, Shane singing, me and Max on guitar, and Andy drumming until 2006. Then Andy quit, and instead of finding a replacement for the drummer...

SB: Zack’s always been a drummer. He was a drummer in the other band he was originally in. We just couldn’t fathom the idea of finding another member.

SK: We didn’t want to add anyone else to our already dysfunctional family.

SB: Dysfunction is our function. It works well. So I just jokingly said, “Hey, I’ll play bass.” And Max is like, “Fuck yeah!” And it went from there.

SFBG: Did you play bass already?

SB: I played guitar my whole life.

SFBG: So, why “Walken”?

SB: He’s just a cool, weird dude.

SK: And the name doesn’t have any heavy meaning, much depth, besides that it’s Christopher Walken’s last name.

SFBG: But he’s a pretty powerful kind of dude, don’t you think? He’s got that tone in his voice…

SK: Yeah, that’s part of it. And I think we’ve always approached the band…it’s not that we sit and think this artistically about it all the time, but, Christopher Walken is really easy to watch and easy to get into, but at the same time, you’re like “Where is this coming from?” Like, “What’s going on - in there.” [Points to head] Seems like there’s some weird chaos behind everything he’s doing, but he organizes it in a way that’s really fun to get into.

SB: He’s just strange. You never know what he’s going to do.

SK: He’s musical.

SB: He’s a dancer.

SFBG: I know he’s a chef. I’ve seen him on a cooking show.

SK: Really?

SB: I’ve seen him make chicken with like a…

SFBG: Beer can chicken!

SB: Yeah.

SFBG: I think it was beer can. Didn’t it have a beer can?

SB: Yeah, I think it did.

SFBG: He’s like a modern dancer or something?

SB: Originally, when he was growing up, before he was ever an actor, he was a dancer. That’s why he did that Fatboy Slim video, where he’s dancing, the “Weapon of Choice” one.

SFBG: I’ve never seen that.

SK: Oh, you’ve got to check it out. He’s like, on the walls, then he starts floating through the air, dancing.

SB: The whole video is him dancing in some weird hotel or something. It’s great.

SFBG: How long ago was it, since you guys have been together for so long, that you discovered the first “other” Walken band?

SK: There’s a band in Australia called Walken. They do weddings and shit like that. Andy was in contact with them years ago, but we both agreed that continental separation was all right.

SB: It was just funny, because their Web site has a whole section dedicated to people writing them telling them how much they suck. It’s really funny.

SK: We don’t care about them. The only one that we care about is that Sioux City one.

SFBG: I just copied this from their MySpace: “Rush meets Metallica meets Blink 182 meets Nickelback meets Matchbox 20 meets Live meets Red Hot Chili Peppers.” If anyone read that and though it was you guys, it’d be brutal.

SB: Their picture got used for our review in Metal Maniacs.

SFBG: Did you send them a photo? They didn’t request a photo?

SB: No. We didn’t even know we were having a review at all. The funny part, is at the bottom of the thing, it says our Web site.

SK: There was another band, too, but they changed their name.

SB: There was a San Diego pop-punk band was trying to call themselves Walken.

SK: There was a band on the East Coast.

SB: I just saw another one that’s like, in Wisconsin or some shit.

SFBG: I wonder if you could sue them, like, in a cheap way. Get a lawyer to send a cease and desist letter.

SB: Yeah. We’ve got to do something.

SK: If you trace it back, as far as I understand it, as long as you have something officially released. Then, it’s fine. We have something released.

SB: I just get worried - there’s that band Middian from Portland. They’re on Metal Blade, they’re ex-YOB members. They got a cease and desist letter from some band from Iowa or something, that had the same name but with one less “d.” And they’re going to court to fight for this name, and they got dropped from their label because they can’t sell these records now. All for some band that’s never even left the state.

SFBG: What’s up with Quentin Tarantino being at the Annie’s show?

SK: I called him. I texted him on my Blackberry.

People were making this big fuss and I looked over and saw this big head.

SFBG: I know someone who saw him at Pop’s or something. Apparently he slums it in the Mission.

SB: He was making his rounds. He was at Zeitgeist, too.

SK: I heard he really likes Hightower.

SFBG: Really? They might end up in a movie. You guys should’ve played earlier.

SK: That would be hilarious.

SFBG: I was just thinking of the band in the bar in that David Lynch movie, Wild at Heart. “You’ve got a lot of the same energy E had.”

SK: Cannibal Corpse were in Ace Venture: Pet Detective.

SFBG: All right, this is kind of a vague generality question, but how would you say the metal scene in SF has changed since you started?

SB: Hmm, there’s a lot more awesome bands. Every year. Every time you turn your head around there’s another great band coming out.

SFBG: Like who? Who are the Bay Area metal bands that are worthy?

SK: The well-established bands. There are plenty of those.

SB: High on Fire’s taking over the world right now.

SK: That’s one thing that’s changed about metal. It’s, like, all of the sudden it’s getting cool again. You can be big and be in a metal band - with Mastodon and High on Fire and bands like that. It seems like Mastodon really opened up the doors to all these older bands, like 20 years our senior, being able to tour around the world with big, promoted shows. Local bands that good? Orb of Confusion. Floating Goat. Hightower, who are responsible for why skaters are into Walken. None of us can skate worth a damn.

SB: Saros, Ludicra.

SK: Bands I look up to as a musician? Hammers of Misfortune, big time.

SB: Om.

SK: High on Fire.

SB: This list could go on for days.

SK: Oh, I gotta mention Thunderhorse. From Sunnyvale.

SB: No you don’t.

SFBG: Why do you want to mention them and you don’t?

SK: Oh, we just played this horrible show in Sunnyvale that they got us on, so it’s like a bad connotation. They themselves are…

SFBG: Well, there can’t be much of a scene in Sunnyvale, now that One Step Beyond is closed.

SB: Metal’s just getting big again. You’ve got that show Metalocalypse that’s on TV, that had the best-selling record.

SFBG: That guy’s a guitar player.

SB: I saw that show. I was one of the last 10 people they let in. They only let in 1,000 people.

SFBG: They played with Trail of Dead…

SB: Yeah, nobody watched them.

SK: I think they even changed the tour around. Because originally Trail of Dead were headlining, but they changed the tour so they were opening.

SFBG: With metal being on the come up again, it still seems like the shows are dudes in black hoodies.

SB: I don’t think the demographic has changed.

SK: [In cheesy voice] Well, come to watch us, ladies.

SFBG: The demographic has changed since it was dead in the late '90s, or at least it's smaller. But think of the '80s with all the hair metal bands. All those videos revolved around chicks. You think it’ll ever be cool for girls to go to shows?

SK: You mean, like rock star stuff?

SFBG: Why do you think it is, that girls don’t really go to metal shows?

SB: I don’t know. It’s a damn shame.

SK: I’ve only heard about all the girls that come to see Matt Pike play with High on Fire. So maybe it’s there to an extent.

SB: Maybe it’s the big boys that get ‘em.

SK: That’s probably how it’s always been. I think maybe people are disenchanted. Maybe it’s more about being successful than being in a metal band. Metal’s been around for a long time. So it’s just kind of re-carving the wheel. It’s not like this new, exciting, fantastic thing. I think there needs to be more of a, like a, something brand new, just pulsating, like a brand new scene starting like punk or metal, like 30 years ago.

SFBG: Do you think that’s even possible now? The only brand new thing is combining two old things, like metal emo - screamo!

SK: The last thing that was pertinent to my generation was Nirvana. And that was sort of a big deal.

SFBG: But that wasn’t necessarily a big deal to people who listened to Nirvana before that album came out. It wasn’t a new musical style - it’s just that all of the sudden it became marketable to be a dirtbag in a flannel shirt.

SK: Right. But it changed everything, even if it was part of the machine.

SFBG: It almost seems that the change didn’t come with people, it came with the music industry - “Oh well, hair metal’s dead right now. What’s the next thing we can sell people?”

SK: Exactly.

SB: It’s just anything. It’s just another way to sell something. Just like rap - the whole East Coast vs. West Coast thing was mostly started by the media to sell records.

SK: Each time there’s something new and crazy it’s gonna be even less remarkable, even less interesting. There’s a book I saw at the library - a biography about the Killers. On the shelves of the library.

SB: The music business is just get in, make as much as you can, get out. There’s no longevity for artists anymore.

SFBG: Especially now that music is available instantly, it’s like, “How much of this band can we pimp before their shit’s on the Internet, and we can’t make money off of it. Then we’ll move on to the next trick.”

SK: I mean, it makes sense - if you look at it from a practical business point of view - why it happens. It just sucks.

SB: No one gets a three record deal and a $2 million dollar advance anymore, unless you’re some big rapper or some shit.

SFBG: You can talk about good metal from the ‘70s and ‘80s like Sabbath, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden. Then you can talk about when hair metal got so big - it’s because they were like the pretty bands. Maybe that’s why women listened to metal.

SB: They were so groomed.

SK: Teeth metal.

SFBG: And now, those pretty bands are emo - guys with little, floppy hair.

SK: It’s still being churned out. It’s kind of nice - back to the High on Fire thing - that ugly dudes that you can chill with are getting really popular. Makes us feel more hopeful. But then it’s like, you feel hypocritical about being like, “Yeah, I want to be so successful…” And then what? Just fall right in place… I mean, not that that’s what I want to do. ‘Cause I’m so cynical about it. Am I going to just fall right into the pattern that all the other bands are? And I guess it’s like, well, you’ve got to strive to be more artistically inclined about it.

SFBG: But what “pattern” would that be of successful metal bands? I mean, who’s sold out?

SK: Yeah. I mean, just thinking of it as an inevitability. Like what we were just saying, how nothing’s revolutionary anymore. How could there be anything that’s going to revolutionize music or change people’s perceptions of it?

SFBG: Yeah. But it’s almost like the best you can really hope for is a really good metal album. I mean, the last High on Fire was good. It kind of reminded me of Motorhead a little too much.

SK: Yeah, and Celtic Frost. But it’s good though.

SFBG: There’s so many bands though. I mean, you make an album, there’s so many bands to compare it to, whether you listen to those bands while you’re making it or not.

SK: I think there’s still a potential for bands really broadening the horizon. I mean everyone has their influences, but…one band that always comes to mind - this isn’t local - it’s Loven.

SFBG: They’re fuckin’ rad. They’re playing tonight.

SK: They’re playing tonight?

SB: With Triclops!

SK: I know what I’m doing. Oh, that’s tight - awesome. They’re fucking good. And they’re different.

SFBG: They’re different because they’re a different make-up. I mean, l was going to say like Judgement Day. You put strings in metal, and it’s like, “Whoa! This is different!”

SB: It’s just different combinations of shit.

SK: If you talk to them about their music, they’re really artistic about it. It doesn’t ever sound to me like they’re trying to make music that’s easy to listen to. I mean, if you like it, it’s easy to listen to. But they’re just trying to express themselves musically, and they’re being appreciated for it. I mean, they’re on Australian Cattle God records.

SFBG: Are they from Portland?

SB: Tacoma.

SFBG: God, why do they live there? It smells like dirty socks. That’s not even a joke, dude - when it gets hot, the whole town smells like dirty socks.

SB: That is a weird town.

SFBG: It’s like stuck in between Portland and Seattle.

SK: It’s like tepid water or something. It’s like a tweener.

SFBG: It’s the closest to a Midwestern town, like some factory town that shut down. Do you think you guys have been overlooked by the local press?

SB: Oh yeah. We’ve been around forever. You know, what? Six years, and we’re finally sitting down with someone.

SFBG: What other releases have you done, besides that last EP?

SB: We self-released a full-length, and we self-released another EP, and we had a release on Deep Six [
The New Mannerism (2001)].

But, I mean, I can see why we could be overlooked. Because Walken - those earlier records - it was all figuring out who the hell we were, to be able to write the songs we can now.

SK: We never really had a plan.

SB: Our Unstoppable (self-released, 2004) record, it was just a weird record. We thought we were being all revolutionary having these funny rock songs, with like funk songs and blues songs…

SK: And math rock.

SB: And math rock in between. I think it went over a lot of people’s heads, because it was a weird fuckin’ record.

SFBG: Sounds more like a Mr. Bungle album.

SB: Yeah. Exactly. It was very strange. I think it took us awhile to get the sound that we have now. Most people sit in their garage when they’re coming up with their sound, but we were actually out there playing it, trying to figure it out in front of people.

SK: We all wanted to play all the types of music we like. We all like so many different types of music, but none of us can really duplicate any of the music we like. We’re really good at creating stuff, but not really doing it just like someone else did. So when you have all these influences, and you’re all trying to do it your own way, it’s like “Bleahaah.” Finally it kind of settled into something.

I don’t think we're slighted, though. Overlooked.

SB: Overlooked.

SK: I’m not bitter about it. I feel like it’s humbling to me, but in a way that it’s positive that we haven’t gotten it. I feel like it’s been a lot of time to develop what we needed to develop. I’m kind of glad we’re getting a little bit more exposure now, as opposed to then. Even though it took a long time, sometimes I was, like, “Fuck! Why?” More attention is always nice. But I’m glad. In a way, it makes me feel like we’ve earned it.

SFBG: You guys play a lot of shows locally. Do you think people get sick of bands?

SB: Yeah. And that’s why we’re not doing as many shows. We used to be known as, “Oh, Walken - they’ll play anything. Ask them if they want to play.”

SFBG: Hightower is the band I think of. I think it’s illegal to have a metal show without Hightower. It’s like the entertainment police come by.

SB: Especially in the Bay Area - we’re so fuckin’ spoiled. There are so many great bands and there’s always something going on during the week. It’s easy to miss something that’s fuckin’ amazing.

SFBG: Yeah, there was that night that there was like High on Fire at the Uptown and Ludicra at the Gilman.

SB: Yeah. We were playing that night, too.

SK: There was a time when we played a lot of shows. And then, after that Unstoppable album, we had kind of had a shift in what we were writing, and it became not as much funk and rock and silly shit, and we played a ton of shows. And then we kept playing a lot of shows, but it was almost like, at that point, people didn’t know about us, ‘cause they lost interest or whatever. Then when Zack joined, we started playing more frequently, to get our chops back, and now, we play once a month, tops.

WALKEN
With Hightower, Three Weeks Clean, and Soulbroker
May 1, 9 p.m., $8
Cafe Du Nord
2170 Market, SF
(415) 861-5016