The Walls
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The Walls are an Irish band, formed in 1998 by two ex-members of The Stunning.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] 1998 – 2000
Brothers Steve and Joe Wall (previoulsy of The Stunning) returned to Ireland after a two-year failed label stint in London. Their Camden housemate Carl Harms joined the band on guitar and keyboard duties. Drummer Rory Doyle joined soon afterwards. They set up their own label, Earshot Records (later changing it to Dirtbird Records) and recorded and released a string of singles. They recorded their debut album Hi-Lo in a derelict building awaiting demolition. Hi Lo was released in May 2000 to excellent reviews[citation needed] and outsold Gold status in Ireland. A remix of one of the album tracks, "Bone Deep", clicked with radio and became a nationwide hit. Many of the songs have featured on a number of TV series and feature films such as Bachelors Walk, Dead Bodies, Goldfish Memory and On the Edge (starring Cillian Murphy).
[edit] 2001 – 2004
The Walls heard rumour of a second Slane Castle date for U2 (as the first concert had sold out in hours). They sent four copies of their album to the band. Bono loved it and offered The Walls a support slot. That day the band played to their biggest crowd to date – around 80,000 people. "To The Bright and Shining Sun" was their next single and became the most-played track by an Irish act in the summer of 2002[citation needed] reaching No. 11 in the charts. That June they supported the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They spent the next year gigging while building their own studio in Dublin. In February 2004 original member Carl Harms decided to leave the band to make his own record. They recruited bassist Jon O’Connell, who had just 2 weeks to learn all the songs before a two week tour of the new EU accession states: Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. And was also on the EA sports trax for the UEFA Euro 2004 in portugal official licenced game.
[edit] 2004 - 2006
For the next album, the band went to Studio Black Box in France to record with producer and ex-The Frames guitarist David Odlum. The band loved the sound of recent albums by Wilco and Kings of Leon and they concentrated on capturing the magic of a great live performance - four guys in a room doing take after take and trying not to lose the soul of the music in the process.[citation needed] Originally scheduled for a release date in Sept 2004, The Walls decided to hold their album until the New Year. U2 were releasing 'How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb' that autumn and according to Steve 'we thought that it would be a fair and gentlemanly gesture to stand back and give them a fair crack of the whip, so to speak'.[citation needed] In Oct 2004 they released a taster - "Drowning Pool" - a blistering, spleen-venting, blues explosion, 2min 52sec long. It took people by surprise and divided opinion - exactly what the band wanted. They supported Bob Dylan to a capacity crowd in Galway that summer and played a storming set that showed there were changes afoot in The Walls sound. They christened the album New Dawn Breaking after the final track on the record. It went straight into the Irish charts at No. 5 in it’s first week of release in June 2005 and has produced four hit singles: "To the Bright and Shining Sun", "Passing Through", "Drowning Pool" and "Black and Blue".
In March 2006 The Walls visited the US where they played to full houses in New York, Los Angeles and at SXSW in Austin Texas.[citation needed] Nic Harcourt invited the band to perform a live session on Morning Becomes Eclectic, his flagship radio show on KCRW in LA.
[edit] 2007
The band kicked off 2007 with a gig in Dubai and are presently negotiating gig offers in France, Italy, the Czech Republic and China. They are currently in the studio writing and recording.
[edit] Members
- Steve Wall
- Joe Wall
- Carl Harms (Guitar/Keyboards)(left Feb 2004)
- Rory Doyle (Drums)
- Jon O'Connell (Bass) (joined Feb 2004)
[edit] Recording label
- Dirtbird Records
[edit] Recordings
- The Night I Called It A Day (Single, released Feb 1999)
- Broken Boy (Single, released Sept 1999)
- Something's Wrong (Single, released Apr 2000)
- Hi-Lo (Album, released May 2000). A remix of one of the album tracks, Bone Deep, was popular in Ireland. Some songs featured on TV series and feature films: Bachelor's Walk, Dead Bodies, Goldfish Memory and On the Edge (starring Cillian Murphy).
- To the Bright and Shining Sun (Single, released 2002) reached No. 11 in the Irish charts.
- Drowning Pool (single, released 2004)
- New Dawn Breaking (Album, released June 2005) reached No. 5 in Irish charts and has produced four hit singles: "To the Bright and Shining Sun", Passing Through, "Drowning Pool" and Black and Blue.
[edit] Other career highlights
- Supported U2 in Slane Castle, 2002
- Supported Red Hot Chili Peppers, 2002
- Supported Bob Dylan, Galway, 2005
[edit] External links
- Official website, contains free MP3s; gig info, photos, Walls shop, press releases etc.
- The Walls at MySpace, contains some sample MP3s.
