Your name:
Wily Bo Walker.
Where are you
from?
The band and I are London based. I am from Scotland (but I was born in London to
save on the train fare!) :-) …ah the old jokes are the best!
Name of band:
Rattlin Bone.
Who is in your band?
As a recording
entity Wily Bo Walker (vocals, guitars, keyboards, drums, percussion, double bass and sound fx), L'il Neill (trombones, trumpets and backing vocals), Kareña K (backing vocals) and some
wonderful special guests…
As a 'live'
touring and festival band there can be as many as 18 of us on stage. We have a
veritable trombone army, beat-boxing clowns, fire-eaters, The Vampirettes (a three-piece female vocal group featuring Kareña K) on backing vocals and a host of
other musicians…
How would you describe yourselves?
Voodoo burlesque and swamp jazz.
Who are your main influences musically?
Well there is a real N’awlins [New
Orleans] spirit within the band – those funeral marching bands with all the
brass players blowing up a storm. Mix in some Delta Blues and then a sprinkling
of some of those old foot stompin’ jazz rhythms. Add a touch of rockabilly in
to the mix and there’s your Rattlin Bone sound!
Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Howlin
Wolf, Screamin Jay Hawkins, even, dare I say it, Tom Waits. We have had a few
reviews comparing us to the great man so, Flaming Hearts Records even went to
the trouble to licence two of Tom Waits’ songs for us to record. Been a lot of
fun I have to say. Screamin Jay is another obvious one I guess – we have a
cover version of one of his tracks that we have licensed to record, but we’ll
see.
Most of the stuff we do is original,
of course, and even when we do a cover version we like to ‘rattle it up’! Plus
L’il Neill digs Ennio Morricone so you can hear touches of haunting spaghetti
western themes through his bone playing! Cinema soundtracks to b-movie horror
flicks perhaps? Got to be in there. Certainly some of the keyboard parts I have
laid down in the studio sound as if they would be right at home there – can’t
say I am the world’s most competent keyboard player but I get by – Much more in
my element when it comes to doing my frontman and vocalist thing. I look back
at some of the old videos of people like Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong and
love what they were doing back then! But I obviously mix it up with a lifetime
of influences as everyone does.
Music is so abundant and readily
available now that there is so much to inspire – I might not be inspired by the
boring mainstream syndicated radio stuff everyone is told to like but there are
tons of bands and artists out there producing up brilliant music that is both
innovative and inspirational.
What do you hope to achieve in music?
On a personal
level, to just keep on the path I am on; working with great musicians all
across this beautiful planet and create music. I love the energy that comes
from that. And I also love the moments when playing 'live' and the audience are
digging what you are doing, the band gels and that little moment of timeless
magic occurs for everyone!
What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?
I love every
moment I am able to create, write, play, work in music.
I recently
released a cover of the old Billie Holiday track 'You Don't Know What Love Is'
and worked with Teddy Charles. It was Teddy's final recording before he died
and I am honoured to have been able to work with such a legend. Teddy worked
with all the greats from the golden era of jazz; from Charles Mingus, Billie
Holiday through to Miles Davis and latterly people like Aretha Franklin.
Amazing experience.
And what’s the moment you want to forget?
Nothing
connected with music - I want to remember each and every moment! :-)
If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what
would it be and why?
Although not a
Rattlin Bone song per se, we do play this at every Rattlin Bone gig. It is a
solo track of mine called 'When The Angels Call Your Time' and it kind of
covers the sound of Rattlin Bone whilst also features in some of my other
projects; my solo work and my other bands 'The Mescal Canyon Troubadours' and
'The Blue Valentines'.
Where can we listen to it?
Where can we find out more about your music?
Links a-plenty:
RATTLIN BONE
ARTIST WEB-SITE: http://rattlinbone.com
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/rattlinbone
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/rattlinbo
REVERBNATION: http://www.reverbnation.com/rattlinbone
WILY BO WALKER
ARTIST WEB-SITE: http://wilybo.com
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/wilybo
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/wilybo
REVERBNATION: http://www.reverbnation.com/wilybowalker
SPOTIFY: http://open.spotify.com/user/wilybowalker
AIRPLAY DIRECT: http://www.airplaydirect.com/music/wilybo
MYSPACE: https://myspace.com/wilybowalker
CD BABY: http://www.cdbaby.com/artist/wilybowalker
SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/wilybo
Anything else you’d like to say about your band/music that I forgot to
ask?
The debut
Rattlin Bone album 'The Life and Death Of…' was re-released on 21st January on iTunes, Amazon and al good online stores with a special bonus version
released on Rattlin Bone's Bandcamp site: http://rattlinbone.bandcamp.com
