Saturday 24th May 12:15 PM
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Richard Walters has been playing music in some form or another for
over 10 years. From poorly executed attempts at punk when he was 13, to the stirring cinematic music produced in recent years.
He holds his hometown responsible. "Oxford was such a perfect place to grow up in terms of the music scene, I often wonder if I'd have got
started so intently with music if I'd lived somewhere else".
Growing up surrounded by brilliance in the city - Radiohead,
Supergrass, Ride and a hundred other bands to idolize, its no surprise
that Richard found himself plucking a guitar and nervously mumbling
something into a microphone early on. "I just wanted to play guitar
until i was about 16, i never had the nerve to sing to a room full of
people. I was in love with such strong voices - Beth Gibbons, Jeff
Buckley, Thom Yorke - I just never felt capable or brave enough to try
and make the same noises."
Eventually finding his own voice, he set about building, joining and
leaving a number of bands in his late teens and early twenties; soon
realizing that alone was the best place to be musically. "I loved
being in bands, we became so tight musically and so close as friends -
but of course tastes and ideas change and I always felt a little
under-heard. My songs started to lose their sound, due to the other
people's contributions, so I started the solo thing, figuring I
couldn't fall out with myself, that I couldn't disagree with my own
ideas - but of course you can."
The solution has been to work alongside producers, musicians and
arrangers, keeping Richard on the right side of musical sanity.
Bernard Butler (Suede, Duffy), Guy Sigsworth (Bjork, Madonna) and
David Kosten (Ben Chrsitophers, Bat for lashes) have all helped to
hone Richard's sound in recent years, aswell as introduce him to new ideas and artists.
"Every time I've done a session, I've walked away with something new learnt, something gained..not just in terms of playing and
recording...I've found a couple of my favorite records from working
with other people, just being turned on to something new...Judee sill,
Billy Mackenzie, T-rex, the Postal service...things i might never have
approached on my own."
Richard Walters releases a new single, 'Brittle Bones', on May 26th
2008 through Kartel Records