Robert Walter
Los Angeles, CA
Robert Walter’s 20th Congress https://robertwalter.com
Greyboy Allstars https://greyboyallstars.com
Mike Gordon https://mike-gordon.com
Photo by Rene Huemer
How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place?
I started playing music when I was 8 or 9. My father plays drums so I have been around music all my life. My parents also had a great record collection so I spent a lot of time listening to records and reading the album covers. I started by just improvising on the family piano, then later I took formal lessons and also played drums for a while. I got a 4 track cassette recorder as a teenager and started writing and recording original music.
How did the Greyboy Allstars come about, and how did that lead to the formation of the 20th Congress?
I was in a band with Drummer Zak Najor and Bassist Chris Stillwell. We took that rhythm section and added Karl Denson and Elgin Park. Greyboy Allstars were originally supposed to just play once for DJ Greyboy’s record release party for Freestylin’ back in 1993. The chemistry was immediately special so we kept on playing. I still had a day job when that band started. It gave me my career and we continue to record and play to this day.
During the late 90’s Greyboy Allstars had toured so much that everyone in the band was getting restless to do other things. We took a couple years off and I started the 20th Congress as a way to showcase my compositions. The Greyboy Allstars had always been pretty traditional in our approach. We really wanted to pay tribute and draw attention to classic jazz and funk music. 20th Congress had a more experimental edge to it and I felt free to pull in more exotic influences.
I saw you play at a small bar in Milwaukee in the late 90s/early 2000s called the Y-Not II – any recollection of that show, or the city itself?
If I’m not mistaken that was downstairs, sort of an underground speakeasy kind of vibe. Our bass player at the time Mike Fratantuno was from Milwaukee. I was just there with Mike Gordon at the Pabst Theater. Beautiful spot.
Photo by Rene Huemer
Who have been some of your major musical influences, past or present?
My three biggest influences are Dr John on piano, Jimmy Smith on Organ and Herbie Hancock for electric piano, clavinet and synths. I also listen to a huge variety of music, not always for the keyboard playing, but also for the composition and recording techniques. Lately I’ve been fascinated with Dub Reggae and 70s German electronic music.
What drew you to using pedals initially? Have you been using them throughout your playing career? How have pedals helped to shape your sound, or influence the style that you’ve created?
I have always liked effects. My first pedal was a Boss (I think) chorus pedal back in 1982 or something. It sounded like Andy Summers from The Police to me. During the early days of Greyboy Allstars we avoided using too many effects as a reaction to what we saw as overprocessing of music at that time. We even used reverb only sparingly. By the time I started the 20th Congress I was ready to start using a wider sonic palette so we went pretty crazy with pedals right from the beginning.
What’s your current setup look like? Take us through your pedal rig (feel free to include amps and instruments as well if you’d like):
It changes all the time and is different depending on the project, but there are a few thing that I always use. Hammond B3 with a Leslie. I prefer 145 or 147 to 122. They seem to have more bark to them. I rarely use effects on the organ except spring reverb. There are already so many sounds that can be pulled out of that instrument. I always run the Fender Rhodes through a Fender Twin Reverb. I use the effects loop in the piano and the pedals are a Ibenez Tube Screamer, MXR Flanger, MiniFooger Ring Modulator, Earthquake Devices Spatial Delivery and a Strymon El Capistan delay. With Mike Gordon there is a Prophet 6, Nord and I run Mainstage with a bunch of software synths. I really dig the virtual instruments made by Hollow Sun. With Greyboy I add a clavinet and a wah pedal. Clavinet sounds best to me through a small Fender amp.
Favorite type of pedal (drive, delay, fuzz, etc. – more than one answer is always acceptable!):
My favorite pedal and the one I can’t live without is an analog delay. I own a bunch of different ones and am not really brand loyal although my all time favorite is the old green MXR analog delay. I was really inspired by Herbie Hancock’s use of the Echoplex with the Rhodes during the 70s. I use it for standard dubby effects and also to trap the sound with long feedback and bend notes by changing the delay speed. That pedal just loves the Fender Rhodes for some reason.
Photo by Julia Mordaunt
What’s it like playing in a band with Mike Gordon? It seems like the band has really gelled the last couple of years since you joined – any insights as to why?
Mike gives the band lots of freedom to experiment and is an inspiring leader. It takes any band a little while to develop, and we are hitting a stride right now where everyone is relaxed and confident enough to take chances on stage. Mike is almost totally fearless in his creativity. He has influenced my own music by getting me out of imitating past records. I have begun to dig deeper and make music that has less rules and is more personal.
You’re stranded on a desert island – which three (3) of the following do you want to have?
Instruments: Fender Rhodes
Amps: Fender Twin Reverb
Pedals: MXR Analog Delay
What’s up next for you/your band(s)?
My new album, Robert Walter’s 20th Congress ‘Spacesuit’ was just released on Royal Potato Family Records. You can check it out here: http://smarturl.it/rw20cspacesuit We plan to do a good amount of touring to get the record out there.
Any last comments, promos or anything you’d like to talk about?
Thank you!
Thanks so much to Robert for taking the time to answer some questions! Make sure to go check out robertwalter.com, and check his tour schedule to see when he’s headed to a town near you! Cheers!
Check out some of our other interviews here:
Karina Rykman of Marco Benevento Trio
Scott Metzger of Joe Russo’s Almost Dead
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