Walken was a four-piece band from Melbourne. Walken's final line up was Leigh Baines (drums), Andrew Bowie (guitar), Heath Smith (vocals) and Daniel Soussan (bass).
History
Walken officially formed on the 5 August 2000 when Daniel Soussan (bass) joined the band after watching Heath Smith (vocals), Andrew Bowie (guitar) and Bruce Chan (former drummer) play at a party.
The name Walken was chosen by Heath and Andrew via SMS on the 7 August 2000. Walken is named after the actor, Christopher Walken.
Heath, Daniel and Bruce had previously jammed together "playing bad covers". Andrew and Heath met and started writing music mid 1999. They both responded to an advertisement by a third party to 'start a band' on the newsgroup aus.music.
Walken's first gig as a full band was at the Duke Of Windsor, Prahran on Saturday 17 February 2001. Shortly after Daniel went on a year long holiday to Europe.
While Daniel was away the band recorded a 2 track single, Glory at Hothouse studios in St Kilda on the 8th and 9th of December 2001. Andrew played bass.
Bruce, who had only joined the band as a temporary drummer, quit the band before recording but kindly continued on to complete the CD.
When Daniel returned in 2002 Walken added Leigh Baines (drums) to the line up and started gigging again on the 14 July 2002 with a gig at The Tote in Collingwood.
The "Glory" single was reprinted in mid 2002 as "Glory (Misunderstood)" with two acoustic live tracks and officially launched at the Armadale Hotel on Friday 18 October 2002.
The band gigged and demoed songs throughout 2002 and 2003. They returned to Hothouse in February 2004 to record their 7 track EP, "Current Melbourne Temperature". "Current Melbourne Temperature" was lauched at Laundry, Fitzroy on the 30 July 2004.
A video for the single "Blue Sky" was released on 18 November 2004 with a launch at the Evelyn Hotel, Brunswick.
Walken took a six month break after their gig at The Espy Gershwin Room supporting Meebar's CD Launch on 18th Dec 2004.
At the start of 2005, Leigh left the band to drum for Organised Crime and soon after for The Gear.
During 2005 Walken infrequently worked on new material, occasionally jamming at Daniel's shed in Cockatoo with his brother Pat on drums.
In September 2006 Walken called it quits.
Heath and Andrew continued to work on new material, finally performing one gig in March 2007 at a friend's party with Bruce Chan on drums and new bass player Adrian. Soon after, Adrian went on an extended holiday to the UK.
They have not worked on any music since.
Walken quoted their influences as "Faith No More, R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers, Regurgitator & The Sharp."
Links