ifitbeyourwill Podcast
“ifitbeyourwill" Podcasts is on a mission to talk to amazing indie artists from around the world! Join us for cozy, conversational episodes where you'll hear from talented and charismatic singer-songwriters, bands from all walks of life talk about their musical journey. Let's celebrate being music lovers!
Season Four runs from September 2024 to December 2024
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ifitbeyourwill Podcast
ifitbeyourwill S04E19 • TW Walsh
TW Walsh, a talented musician and audio engineer, takes us on a nostalgic journey through his musical upbringing. Growing up amidst the eclectic sounds of classic rock and new wave, thanks to his father's diverse taste, Walsh reveals how pivotal moments like watching Led Zeppelin's "The Song Remains the Same" shaped his passion for music. This episode promises to uncover the profound influence that early exposure to the cultural shifts of the 60s, 70s, and the emergence of 80s pop and hip-hop had on his creative path, culminating in his latest album, "Wilderness."
Listeners are invited to explore Walsh's transition from a passionate drummer to a solo artist with a unique voice in the alt-country and alt-rock scenes. We discuss the crucial turning points in his career, from the DIY music era to receiving unexpected recognition from peers, leading to a solo record deal in Seattle. This episode highlights Walsh's authentic sound and the personal nature of his early recordings, including his 1999 album, "How We Spend Our Days," reflecting on the dynamic evolution of his musical journey.
Technological advancements in music production form a backdrop to Walsh's creative process. Equipped with engineering and computer science skills, Walsh embraces digital audio workstations to transform his songwriting practice. As he shares insights on navigating audience feedback while maintaining personal artistic integrity, listeners are encouraged to appreciate the diverse artistic outlets that keep creativity flowing. Discover standout tracks like "Hypnotized" from his new record and hear how Walsh envisions future creative ventures across multiple mediums, ensuring that his artistic journey is ever-evolving.
I'm the keeper of the wilderness, the lawn and the woods. Here we are, another episode of if it be your will, podcast um today, very, very happy to be reaching down to boston um, and I'm pulling in tw walsh um to come and talk about his music, and not only his music, but his. He's also this audio engineer which we're going to get into, because you can feel this on this latest record that he just put out, called wilderness, came out in august 2024 and it's a beauty, so we'll play a track at the end. Two people, so don't turn the radio off until you've listened to the track at the end. So, tim, thanks so much for for taking a bit of time out of your day and joining us here, uh, to talk about you, yeah my pleasure, my pleasure.
Speaker 2:Thanks for reaching out, chris. I'm looking forward to chatting with you. Yeah, thanks.
Speaker 1:Tim. So I always like to kind of create a foundation upon which we'll build our conversation and I like to tend to ask like when did it spark for you that music was going to be something that you would do in your life? Do you remember those early recollections of where music was really influencing you and kind of like starting to carve out perhaps your journey throughout life?
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely Definitely started in childhood. You know, my dad was born in 1950, so he was like 19 years old in 1969, like the summer of love when everything was going down and then, you know, the culture was polarized around Vietnam. So he was definitely part of the kind of the boomer generation that was involved in a big shift in the culture and music was a big part of that. So he was like he's always been like into rock and roll and had a record collection and was curious what was going on. So I didn't grow up in a musical household, in that there were musicians in the family but I was always listening to um good music and uh, some of the early artists that kind of connected with me would were what he was playing at the time in like the early 80s, mid 80s, like, uh, he's always like neil young and the police talking heads, um bands like that, elvis Costello and the attractions Um so kind of um new wave and um classic rock the Rolling Stones were were early influences and then, like in the mid eighties I was born in 75.
Speaker 2:So in the mid eighties, kind of hip hop. So in the mid 80s kind of hip hop started happening early mid 80s and you know music at that time pop music was. They were experimenting a lot with like synthesizers and drum machines. So like those early influences I think I recognize now that they all really kind of stuck with me. Now they're they all really kind of stuck with me? Yeah, it's thanks, thanks to my, my parents or my dad in particular, like really having good taste in music and and just being part of that generation and culture, you know yeah, it was a very interesting age too, like I grew up in early 70s.
Speaker 1:Well, I was born in early 70s and then into the 80s and kind of that transition that took place in music where it was shifting so much in the 80s into the 90s when you first started playing music. What was, what were those experiences, tim? What? What was your first kind of band that you started to be involved with?
Speaker 2:that you started um to be involved with. Yeah, when I was about excuse me, when I was about 12 or something like that I saw um, the, the concert film uh, the song remains the same by led zeppelin. So that was another band that was, just, like you know, playing in the house. And so my dad has a had a cool, a nice hi-fi vhs player of cr that had stereo audio, you know. So, uh, he would hook up the audio to our stereo system and be playing the sound of the, the video, through the, through the big hi-fi that we had the big speakers and would watch these concert videos like the Song Remains the Same and Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads. And he also had some other cool ones that were like it was like Lou Reed around the New York record, and he had like a Neil Young or Crazy Horse concert from around like the era of trans, when he was using the vocoder and stuff like that. So in the eighties I was watching these concert videos and there was something about, like about John Bonham in Led Zeppelin that really captivated me.
Speaker 2:Um, I was just like obsessed with the drums in Led Zeppelin, and so that's when I started playing drums was at at the age of 12 and that was my first instrument and I played drums in bands for a couple years and then over time I started like around 14, 15 years old, I started playing a little bit more guitar too and writing songs and stuff. So, um, but for a long time I really considered myself a drummer first, and so I played in some serious bands who were we'd make recordings and play locally and stuff like that. It wasn't until much later that I started thinking of myself as a legitimate songwriter or or or whatever. But it wasn't a huge leap because I was kind of part of a diy, diy music scene that was really came out of like a like a punk kind of ethic system.
Speaker 1:So it wasn't a big jump for me to like, say, um, start thinking about making my own music too, you know and what do you consider one of the main tipping points in your musical career where things changed dramatically, like, do you remember those times of I mean I'm sure you've had more than one just because you've been doing this for? Yeah for a long time almost 40 years or something.
Speaker 1:It's an amazing catalog you have of records and artists that you played with page of the lion and come on whoa, I mean what were some of those? Points where where wow, like it started to amp up. You know you went to that next level with music. Do you remember those first occasions where that happened?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll try to think. There's maybe a couple points where there were inflection points for me. One of them was I had been playing drums in two bands. One was like an alternative rock band, which was informed so this would have been in like the mid-90s or something or late 90s. Um, you know, in my early twenties and mid twenties, um, I had been playing drums in two bands for a while, like several years, both in parallel. One was like an alternative rock band, one was more a little bit like lo-fi folk and um alt country influenced. Um, and those bands were, I felt like we were good, we had good songs and we we had cool arrangements and we made some good recordings and stuff and, um, there were local labels that had been involved and and at a couple different points with the, with the bands, but you know, the it always fell apart.
Speaker 2:These opportunities fell apart and um, I I started kind of sharing some of my own home recordings I made on my own on four track and eight track and stuff, and people that I respected that were maybe a little bit outside of the scene or the group that I had been involved with, were more interested in my recordings of my songs and my um creative output then, uh, they had been.
Speaker 2:Then then there was more interest in that than there had been in the bands I had been playing in, and so at that point I started thinking about things a little bit differently. There was a period where I was felt guilty about, like, thinking about leaving these bands and my close friends just to focus on developing my own thing. But, um, that was the first point at which I realized, like, oh, maybe there's something here that I can, that I can follow. And then the next, then you know, I kind of got I was really selective, but I sent out cdrs to a couple of small labels that had released band records by bands that I respected and stuff. And you know, I got interest from a couple of them and I, you know, so I got signed to a small label in Seattle a couple, a year or two into this process of thinking like, oh, maybe I could do something with my own songs.
Speaker 1:And what record of yours got that response? Um, I mean, you have so many early stuff that's so good. Um, tim, like how we spend our days, I mean so stripped back and kind of like it reminded me like when you're saying the two bands like this seemed like the first kind of the alt country. Then that first first record and then, like Soft Drugs Right, amped it up a little bit more, was more like that alt rock band. So you've kind of been juggling these styles throughout, which one really started like getting the attention that you were surprised by.
Speaker 2:Well, it would have been the music that ended up on how we spend our days in 1999, which I kind of had been. You know like I, I yes, even now, um, I don't necessarily like uh, write a bunch of songs, take them into the studio and come out with a record. It's like we're always working on things. And then, um, so it kind of evolved. So the record how we spend our days was put together from recordings that had been made over the course of the previous few years, so probably 97 to 99 excuse me, 99 or something like that. So those are the songs that people started saying oh, this is really interesting, this is cool, I like these lyrics, like that type of stuff.
Speaker 1:Um, and it's great, it's a great, it's really solid record. I mean, I've listened to it through about three times but, oh it, it does have that that um authenticity to it. You know, kind of like these were kind of like happening over a period of time and journals you'd kind of collected and then transformed into the songs and um, I wanted to ask you this about that record in particular is was that a complete control of yours, like you controlled every aspect of that, of that record coming to life?
Speaker 2:um, yeah, basically that was um, well, we're talking about more than 25 years ago now. So I'm going, I'm like going into the memory banks here. I would say that probably 80 of that is entirely me. And then there were a couple songs that I had one of these people who was encouraging me that I respected. He was a little bit older, he had been involved in different music projects that I respected um, his name's frank patalaro. He played with um scud mountain boys in the massachusetts band with with joe, pernice and and bob and, and got involved in in like the, the western mass music scene, and he kind of encouraged me to explore some of this um stuff like take it further. And he, he helped me on a couple of those tracks like flesh out and the arrangements.
Speaker 2:But, um, mostly it's me playing everything, doing the arrangements, recording it, like programming the drum machines, mixing it. I even mastered it without having any idea what I was doing all the way back in 1999 with the wrong equipment and everything. But that's that was, you know, really mostly, yeah, mostly me. It's rough around the edges, you know, it's like a home recording. The singing is wobbly but, um, like you said, there's an authenticity to it you can really hear my influences like Neil Young and like alternative rock, and then I'm using drum machines, so like the 80s and all that stuff. It was all already there back then, you know Right right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's very timely, I find, in the sense that you can't really pinpoint what year it was. It could have been recorded like this year or you know, like it just has that that life to it. That is just going to live. Um, now, as things evolved, I wanted to ask you too about the audio engineering, because I know that that was something that you you were heavy and involved in right throughout creating these records. Yeah, how do you separate those two hats tim, like the, the creative one where you're trying to like get the song kind of together, and then that other side of where you're trying to figure out the sound and and what do I need to put here and there to make it get to the level I want that song like? How do you manage those two hats when you're recording?
Speaker 2:um, yeah, you know, like I really don't make a distinction because at this you know, going back to that period, you know the equipment was cruder and stuff like that. But I am somewhat technically minded. Like I studied engineering and and computer science in college and like I and I grew up in a working class house where people my, my dad and and our and his peers they they all like did things around the house, they took on projects, they fixed stuff, people working on cars and whatever, and so like it was natural for me to like get my hands dirty and be doing the technical or the nitty gritty kind of aspects of the process and like, pretty quickly over time it just became part of the part of the thing. It was like it was all one thing Right, like we're coming up with ideas, implementing the ideas, putting all the pieces together, ideas, putting all the pieces together. It all was one process of the writing, performing, recording, mixing everything. So that kind of crystallized early, early on. That was just one thing.
Speaker 1:That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool and like what's your, what's your writing process? Like how do, how do you generate the songs? And let's, let's look at at at the latest record wilderness. Like how did those songs come together? And maybe feel in a bit like how, what's your writing process, like your creative process to get those songs down good question.
Speaker 2:So I think, uh, it's, it's been an evolution over the years, like previously uh, you know, when I was younger, it might have been and this might have something to do with the technology and how that's evolved but used to be like, okay, you sit down with a guitar and you write a song and you write the lyrics in a notebook and then, like, you finish it and then you kind of then you take it into the other room and like try to set up the microphones or whatever you know.
Speaker 2:But, um, at a certain point it was becoming clear that with the software that we have, um non-linear digital audio workstations, you have a lot of like um, um software instruments, um and effects in the, in the software itself, that you can do things kind of out of order and you can leave something and come back to it without having kind of lost a lot of progress. So I really leverage the computer and the software to facilitate me working on a project over a long period of time, kind of keeping the um, optimizing the workflow and if I'm looking for a consistent sound across all the songs, like I was here like leveraging the technology to to help me do that. So I kind of do um all of the writing, especially on this project, the writing, the recording, the mixing and mastering all in one process and um it worked really well and I think I'm probably going to be working that way like into the future, kind of have having um a template that I can um use for the whole project. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And do you find that there's a thread that attaches all these songs together? I mean just listening to it, I do feel that the order was thought about very meticulously. Maybe I'm overstating, but it feels like there was. The sequence was really thought about and how one song led into the next. How did you create that thread that runs throughout all these? What do you have seven tracks on here?
Speaker 2:yeah, it's kind of a weird number, like it's not quite, it's longer than an album, right, but it kind of was appropriate for people's attention span and what I was trying to get across. So, yeah, I'm really, I'm really glad that you like the sequence. Like that's something that actually has been a struggle for me historically, trying to figure out how to sequence records, and I've done, done, um, uh, it's been laborious in the past, but I think that what's nice is, um, I'm at a place I feel like, where these things come together. Um, naturally, like there's synchronicities, things fall into place and, um, somehow that just came together. Um, initially, the know, the first few songs, they just happened to be in that order in the session file that I was working on and I got so used to hearing it that way that I couldn't hear it a different way. And then I tried some different, different options and it never sounded right to me. So the first few songs were what? That was an accident. Um the rest, of the accident.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, and then the the rest of it. I kind of like took a stab at it and again, now the tools are so easy, like you can just like click and drag and move. Move a song like I was, you know, my initial, my first, you know ways of doing this stuff would be like you'd have to make a cassette which is like a linear recording medium, and if you didn't like the order you had to go back to the drawing board. So now it's just so easy. Um, but it but it really did just kind of fall into place. Like, basically the first thing I tried seemed right, you know, and um, and I think that if you're, if you open yourself to those possibilities like of, of, of synchronicities and and ease and happy accidents happening, then it, it happens, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, amazing, yeah, um, and I mean this record came out in August, so it's, it's, it's it's had some, some life out there in the ears of your listeners. What's your, what's your takeaways from this record? After kind of getting a bit of distance I mean it hasn't been that long, it only came out in August but having that distance and kind of having it out there for people to listen to, what surprised you about what you got as as feedback? You know you put something out there and like what came back to you, that kind of surprised you about this record um, that's a great question.
Speaker 2:I well, one thing is that I've really kind of um disengaged from. It's. Not that I don't value people's opinion and how it's received, but I've disengaged from the perspective of how that impacts my view of myself or my self-worth. So I made this record because I was compelled to do so and I didn't really do any marketing for it. I basically did one social media post and I sent my, you know, a couple of email list messages and the people who want to hear it are hearing it and they've given, they've been very, they've been very responsive, like and they like it, like and they like it.
Speaker 2:I think some people are surprised by the fact that it's got like loud guitars and it's like alternative rock record, because my last record was like an electronic music project that had no guitars on it whatsoever. So, like. I think that some people are have been surprised at how it sounds, because maybe it sounds more like low tom or or something than my last record. But then other people just all take it in stride and like and and appreciate it without questioning it or being, you know know, surprised by it. So I'm grateful that people are so open-minded, whether or not it's different than they expected. They still seem open to it and uh be able to appreciate it, you know yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:I mean well said, very well said, um, because you do put it out there and then people do what they want with it, right, um, you can't control those kinds of things, um, so you have to kind of have that. Um, it is what it is kind of. You know, like you like it, you don't like it. I mean, it doesn't affect who I am as a person, which I think. I think, um, younger musicians might struggle with those kinds of um, you know, putting a first record out, second record and the critiques I certainly did.
Speaker 2:yeah, like I. I remember back I put out a record in 2001, um called blue laws, that this was at during the peak of, like pitchfork's influence the the pitchfork umcom I guess it was probably pitchforkmediacom back then and they gave it a 3.8. And that stung back then in 2001 when I was 26 or whatever it was. So they called it Eorian, like eeyore from winnie the pooh, um, so you know, um I like that record I think it's really damn good.
Speaker 1:It's no way, it's a three, I mean no way, but.
Speaker 2:But what I'm saying is I'm not, I'm not immune to that stuff. And you're right, when I was younger, you know, it's like you want that validation, you know, and luckily, one of the benefits of being of advanced age is like not giving a shit. You know that's right, that's right. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, tim, in retrospect, kind of like, what advice do you give to those young musicians starting up Like you've had such a wonderful career and you've collaborated with such great people and produced great music, like and and it's not your full time job, right? I mean, like you do all these other things. It's one little piece of who you are and what you've done, of who you are and what you've done. But if you were to focus on your music and you know a young kid comes up to you, okay, on the verge of putting out his or her first record, like, what kind of advice do you give those young youngies in the music business to keep going, to keep finding the purpose of why?
Speaker 2:Yeah, these are good questions. So actually I've got three children. They're 20, 23, 21 and and 15 and and the two older ones, um brothers. They're musicians and songwriters and multi-instrumentalists and so I've had a lot of opportunities to have these conversations with them and kind of share my experience. And I would say, try to stay tuned into the purity of that compulsion, the creative compulsion and the creative impulse.
Speaker 2:Make art and music when you feel compelled to do so. And you know, make it, make it for yourself. And it's easy for me to say that now, really, because the music industry has collapsed anyway, right, like there's really almost no music industry to speak of, so there's not a lot of opportunities anyway, you have to be even luckier than you did back 20 years ago, which there was a lot of luck involved back then. But you know, I tell them, don't force yourself to generate ideas when the compulsion, the desire to do so, isn't there. You know it's a waste of time and you feel bad about yourself because you're going to come up with stuff but it's going to of time and you feel, uh, bad about yourself because you're you're gonna come up with stuff but it's gonna suck and you're not and you're gonna hate it and you're gonna feel bad about yourself. So wait, it's not like wait for inspiration to strike, but um know when to work, based on whether the the energy is there for it.
Speaker 2:And you know, make what you want to make and don't I mean that's the best I can do, because a lot, in a lot of ways, the world is so different than it was when, when I was their age. You know that I can't, I don't really know what it's like to be in the shoes of a young person or young creative person. In some ways it's like, you know, an amazing situation because there's no barriers to distribution. You can get your stuff out there to the entire world at the click of a button, like with this record, this like collection of songs, wilderness. I finished it on wednesday night and it was out on thursday. You know what I mean yeah, so um really cool.
Speaker 2:There's no barriers. Um just express yourself and um do it because you're compelled to do so and don't do it for any other reason.
Speaker 1:Some wise advice for sure I like to. It connects to what you were saying before about. Nowadays it's easier to produce sounds and music and you can move things here and click a button there and you can start to generate, and then the sharing is also a lot easier. But it has saturated the industry with so many artists, um and and much more. Like artists, like bands, seem to be almost a relic of the past. Have you noticed that in in like I look at the charts you know every month and you rarely see a band anymore. It's always just individual artists.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I saw a Rick Beato video about that a couple of weeks ago. Even at the top, the highest level of the of the charts is that way and it and it goes all the way down. I remember when I was young I was tormented about choosing to use my name or not as my artist name because I, you know, I had been using a band name up until the point where I got signed. I was, I was using the name dirt bike as my band name very in or in 90s indie rock band name. But you know it wasn't cool to be a solo artist back then. It definitely seems like it's flipped now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it has.
Speaker 2:Which I don't really know what that's about. I can tell you being in a band and navigating the interpersonal dynamics and the economics and the logistics of all that getting together for practice and everything it's a hassle. So I can see, maybe it's like a more of a logistical thing than anything else. Um but um. But there's something special about a band, the identity of a band and the, the energy of these different people coming together, which it's a shame.
Speaker 1:Hopefully it'll come back, you know, and yeah, yeah, I mean, maybe it's just these webs, ebbs and flows that we have in life, you know, and yeah, yeah, I mean, maybe it's just these webs, ebbs and flows that we have in life, you know, and that eventually because you're right, I mean a band when they're clicking, there's nothing like it I mean, there's nothing like it, you know, yeah, it's much cooler than if, like, there's a singer who's paid a bunch of guys to be on the stage with them for for that night, or for that, exactly exactly so amazing.
Speaker 1:So tw walsh what's coming down the pipe for you. So the record came out in august. What's, what's? What could you tell us about the future of of your music? What's? What does 2024, 2025, kind of look like for you?
Speaker 2:well, I think I'm just going to continue down this path of like. When I feel compelled to, um, create something, I'm going to do it, and I it's always like whatever's in front, you know, like I follow my nose, like, um, you know, last year I I published a book, um, and uh, I do a lot of painting and stuff. So it's, I think, when I'm frustrated or not feeling inspired in one medium, I'll change it up and do something different. So I'm feeling like I'm going to be making more music in the short term, but I could end up doing something totally different. I'm not sure.
Speaker 1:Like painting a million paintings and having an exhibition yeah, maybe something like that A book launch. I love that idea, though, of having multiple artistic outlets and whatever's clicking. I mean bam, you know that one the songs aren't coming easy these days, but my painting's kicking ass.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like we've all had writer's block or whatever your equivalent is, and so like if you only do one thing or whatever your equivalent is, and so like, if you only do one thing, that means your life comes to a screeching halt. But if you're willing to like experiment and and spread it around, like you, you could just like literally turn 10 degrees that way and you're off in a totally different direction. You know what I mean absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, this has been a real pleasure. Uh, tim, thanks so much for carving a bit of your day out to to share your history a little bit with us. Um, it's really fascinating and I I love talking with artists that have a have a few decades under their belt, because the transformation of of just the decades or the five-year chunks is pretty dramatic at times. So I recommend this record, guys, if you can go and get it. It's on Bandcamp Excellent. The first track's a buster we're going to put Hypnotized at the end, which is another banger. And support Tim, however you can, people out there. Thanks so much. T much. Tw Walsh awesome.
Speaker 2:Check out new record Wilderness alright, thanks, chris pleasure guitar solo Head back from something Just out of reach, so tempting and foreign Somehow real guitar solo Invisible. Not quite right Temporary, never ending, frightening, somehow. Real Changes, boundless, hypnotized Changes Boundless, hypnotized, categorically, unrecognized, hard to hold, welcoming so so, so bright, somehow. Real, changeless, powerless, hypnotized, changeless, changes, changes, changes, changes, changes, changes, changes, powers, hypnotized Changes, powers, hypnotized you.
