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Biography
Primary sources|date=December 2010Infobox musical artist| name = The Walkabouts| image =| caption = The Walkabouts in Seattle 2011: Chris Eckman, Carla Torgerson, Glenn Slater, Paul Austin, Terri Moeller, and Michael Wells - Photo by Hilary Harris| background = group_or_band| origin = Seattle , Washington (U.S. state)|Washington , United States | genre = Indie rock Alternative rock|Alt. rock Alternative country|Alt. country Country rock Folk rock | years_active = 1984& ndash;present| label = Sub Pop Virgin Records|Virgin Glitterhouse Records|Glitterhouse PopLlama Records|PopLlama Fire & Skill Recordings | associated_acts = Chris & Carla , Midnight Choir , The Transmissionary Six , Willard Grant Conspiracy , The Bambi Molesters , Höst , Dirtmusic , Akis Boyatzis || website = http://www.thewalkabouts.com/ www.thewalkabouts.com| current_members = Chris Eckman Carla Torgerson Michael Wells (musician)|Michael Wells Glenn Slater (musician)|Glenn Slater Terri Moeller Paul Austin | past_members = Grant Eckman Curt Eckman Bruce Wirth John Baker Saunders Fred Chalenor Joe Skyward Brian Young (drummer)|Brian Young The Walkabouts is an United States|American rock band formed in Seattle in 1984. The core members are vocalist Carla Torgerson and vocalist and songwriter Chris Eckman. Although the rest of the line-up has changed occasionally, for most of the time the other members have been Michael Wells, Glenn Slater and Terri Moeller.
The band draws inspiration from folk music|folk and country music , particularly Townes Van Zandt , Neil Young and Johnny Cash , but also from other types of artists and musical styles such as Scott Walker (singer)|Scott Walker , Leonard Cohen , French chanson and Jacques Brel . Their sound is typically rich, with string arrangements and keyboards in addition to the standard rock instruments. In reviews the band's music is often described as melancholic or mellow , while Eckman's lyrics, concerning such themes as human relations, loneliness and restlessness, are often emphasized as poetic .
The Walkabouts have achieved commercial success and a strong fanbase in Europe , where they have done promotion and extensive touring since early 1990s. They have occasionally even made it high on the record chart s in countries such as Greece and Norway .
History
Carla Torgerson and Chris Eckman met and began playing music together in 1983 while attending Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington . In 1984 they moved to Seattle, and the band was born when they joined forces with Chris' two younger brothers, drummer Grant and bassist Curt. The Eckman brothers had been playing in various punk rock and pop (music)|pop groups during their college years, and Carla came from a folk and street singing background. The band took their name from Nicolas Roeg's cult film, Walkabout (film)|Walkabout . http://thewalkabouts.com/bio.html
They released their first EP, 22 Disasters , in early 1985. Curt Eckman then left the band, to be replaced by Michael Wells. Their second EP, Linda Evans/Cyclone , was released in 1987. The following year they released their first album, See Beautiful Rattlesnake Gardens , on the PopLlama Records|PopLlama label, before being signed by Sub Pop as that label's first non-grunge band. Adding keyboard player and multi-instrumentalist Glenn Slater, they released three albums on Sub Pop over the next few years - Cataract (1989), Rag & Bone (1990), and Scavenger (1991). They also toured extensively, particularly in Europe. In 1992 they left Sub Pop Seattle, but remained with Sub Pop Europe who issued three more albums, New West Motel (1993), Satisfied Mind (1993), and Setting The Woods On Fire (1994). Drummer Terri Moeller replaced Grant Eckman in 1992, when he left to care for his newborn son, Dakota Eckman. http://www.thewalkabouts.com/intro.html The Stopping-Off Place: Unofficial Site for the Walkabouts
Satisfied Mind was their first of several albums largely or wholly comprising songs originally written and recorded by an eclectic variety of other artists, including Nick Cave , Charlie Rich , Johnny Rivers , Patti Smith , Mary Margaret O'Hara , and Gene Clark . Their 1996 collection of unreleased songs, Death Valley Days , also included songs by Neil Young , Nick Drake and Bob Dylan , and in 2000 they issued Train Leaves At Eight , which broadened the approach further by including songs by European artists including Mikis Theodorakis , Goran Bregovic , Jacques Brel and Neu! .
In 1995 the band signed with Virgin Records in Germany and released ''Devil's Road (1996) - recorded in part with the Warsaw Philharmonic - and Nighttown (1997), leading to new levels of success in Europe. The video for The Light Will Stay On , the lead single from Devil's Road was in heavy rotation on MTV Europe . Michael Wells left the band for several years in 1996, rejoining in 2003. In 1999 they moved to the German record label, Glitterhouse Records (the successor to Sub Pop Europe), and released Trail of Stars (1999), Train Leaves At Eight (2000), Ended Up A Stranger (2001), Slow Days With Nina (2003) - an EP tribute to Nina Simone - and Acetylene (2005).
In 2010 guitarist Paul Austin joined the band to begin work on a long awaited new album titled Travels In The Dustland, scheduled for release in Europe on October 21, 2011, and in North America in early November.
Side projects
Eckman and Torgerson have also released albums as side projects under the name Chris & Carla and as solo artists. Carla Torgerson has worked with Greeks|Greek musician Akis Boyatzis and his band Sigmatropic (band)|Sigmatropic on their album 16 Haiku & Other Stories (2001). Later Torgerson has released a solo album Saint Stranger (2004) with help of Akis Boyatzis. Chris Eckman has worked in 1996-2003 with Norvegian band Midnight Choir and teamed with Al DeLoner of Midnight Choir in Electronica -project called Höst for an album The Damage Suite (2001). Also Eckman has worked in recent years with Willard Grant Conspiracy on the albums Regard The End and Let It Roll (Willard Grant Conspiracy album)|Let It Roll , as well as with The Bambi Molesters . Eckman is also a member of the trio Dirtmusic along with Chris Brokaw and Hugo Race and he has worked with the band Tamikrest from Mali . These two acts toured Europe as a double bill in the spring of 2010. Eckman has also worked with Tosca (band) on projects including the song "John Lee Huber", and with Rupert Huber of Tosca (band) on the album "L/O/N/G"
Terri Moeller has also formed The Transmissionary Six with Paul Austin, formerly of Willard Grant Conspiracy . She released a solo CD under the name Terri Tarantula in 2010.
Band member history
Current line-up shown in bold.
Name
Playing
Member period
Chris Eckman
vocals , guitar , piano
1984–present
Carla Torgerson
vocals , guitar
1984–present
Michael Wells
bass
1985–1996; 2003–present
Glenn Slater
keyboards , piano
1989–present
Terri Moeller
drums , Percussion instrument
1991–1999; 2001–present
Paul Austin
guitar
2011–present
Grant Eckman
drums , Percussion instrument
1984–1991
Curt Eckman
bass
1984–1985
Bruce Wirth
lap steel , mandolin , vibes
1991–1994
John Baker Saunders
bass
1996–1999
Fred Chalenor
bass
1999
Joe Skyward
bass
2000
Brian Young
drums
2000
Discography
EP
22 Disasters (1985 - Necessity Records|Necessity - Terry Date & Walkabouts)
Linda Evans/Cyclone (1987 - Necessity Records|Necessity - Bruce Calder , Tony Croes & Walkabouts)
Album studio
See Beautiful Rattlesnake Gardens (1988 - PopLlama Records|PopLlama - Tony Kroes , Ed Brooks & Walkabouts)
Cataract (Walkabouts album)|Cataract (1989 - Sub Pop - Tony Kroes , Ed Brooks & Walkabouts)
Rag & Bone (album)|Rag & Bone (1990 - Sub Pop - Tony Kroes , Ed Brooks & Walkabouts)
Scavenger (Walkabouts album)|Scavenger (1991 - Sub Pop - Gary Smith (record producer)|Gary Smith
New West Motel (1993 - Sub Pop - Ed Brooks & Walkabouts)
Satisfied Mind (1993 - Sub Pop - Kevin Suggs & Walkabouts)
Setting the Woods on Fire (1994 - Sub Pop - Ed Brooks & Walkabouts)
Devil's Road (album)|Devil's Road (1996 - | Virgin Records|Virgin, Germany - Victor Van Vugt )
Nighttown (album)|Nighttown (1997 - Virgin Records|Virgin, Germany - Victor Van Vugt )
Trail of Stars (1999 - Glitterhouse Records|Glitterhouse - Phill Brown & Walkabouts)
Train Leaves At Eight (2000 - Glitterhouse Records|Glitterhouse - Kevin Suggs & Walkabouts)
Ended Up A Stranger (2001 - Glitterhouse Records|Glitterhouse - Larry Crane (recording engineer)|Larry Crane , Phill Brown & Walkabouts)
Travels In The Dustland (2011 - Glitterhouse Records|Glitterhouse )
Compilations
Death Valley Days: Lost Songs and Rarities, 1985–1995 (1996 - Glitterhouse Records|Glitterhouse - Rare or previously unreleased songs)
Watermarks (2002 - Anthology featuring the best of the Walkabouts from their Innerstate Records|Innerstate , Glitterhouse Records|Glitterhouse , and Virgin Records|Virgin releases 1991-2002)
Slow Days With Nina (2003 - Shingle Street Records|Shingle Street - Chris Eckman , Carla Torgerson & Glenn Slater Tribute to Nina Simone )
Drunken Soundtracks: Lost Songs and Rarities, 1995–2001 (2005 - Glitterhouse Records|Glitterhouse - Rare or previously unreleased songs)
Got No Chains / The Songs of The Walkabouts (2009 - Glitterhouse Records|Glitterhouse - Remastered versions of 15 Walkabouts songs + those same 15 songs performed by others - a tribute disc - 2-CD set)
Singles
Year of Release
Title
Comment
1987
Linda Evans/ Cyclone
1991
Where The Deep Water Goes
1992
Dead Man Rise
1993
Jack Candy
1993
Your Hope Shines
1994
Good Luck Morning
1996
The Light Will Stay On
1996
All For This
1997
Lift Your Burdens Up
Not official released
1997
Immaculate
Not official released
1999
Drown
2005
Devil In The Details
Adopted by Jack Wolfskin for advertising
Official bootlegs
Lists of Bootleg recording|official bootlegs sold through mail order or sold at concerts.
Year of Release
Title
Comment
1994
To Hell And Back - Live in Europe
1997
Mystery Mountain Chronicles
1999
Airmail
2000
Bruxelles w/ the Nighttown Orchestra
2002
I'm Sorry
2003
Emona
Italian music magazine Il Mucchio Selvaggio
2005
No You Won't
2007
Prague
References
Reflist
External links
commons|The Walkabouts
http://www.thewalkabouts.com/ The Unofficial The Walkabouts (and Chris & Carla) Web Site
Allmusic|class=artist|id=p14662|pure_url=yes The Walkabouts at Allmusic
http://www.nodepression.net/issues/nd12/walkabouts.html 1997 article in No Depression (periodical)|No Depression magazine
http://www.furious.com/perfect/walkabouts.html 2001 article at PerfectSoundForever
http://www.monochrom.at/cracked/reviews/Rev%20Walkabouts.htm Review of Ended Up a Stranger at Monochrom magazine
http://www.archive.org/details/TheWalkabouts The Walkabouts collection at the Internet Archive 's live music archive
DEFAULTSORT:Walkabouts, The Category:Musical groups established in 1984 Category:Musical groups from Seattle, Washington Category:Alternative rock groups from Washington (state) Category:American rock music groups Category:Live Music Archive artists Category:PopLlama Records artists
