MrG: If folks have never heard of or seen the Charles Walker Band.. what can they expect to treat their eyes and ears to on Sunday?
CW: If you haven’t seen us before, we are a 7 piece funk band from Milwaukee. We are high energy and lots of fun to both watch and listen to.
MrG: What makes coming to Madison a happenin’ spot for the Charles Walker Band?
CW: I went to high school in Portage, so Madison was always the big city to me. Madison has a great scene for music because of the people that live there as well as all those UW students.
MrG: How has Community Radio been a part of your life?
CW: Community radio, and specifically WORT has always been a great ally of ours. Community radio is there to help the unsigned bands to get their name out there. Community radio actively seeks up and coming musicians to help spread the word and for that I am so very thankful and appreciative.
MrG: What type of impact did a person/musicmaker like Prince have on you /the band?
CW: We were on tour when Prince passed away. Hearing that was like someone saying that gravity stopped working. It just didn’t make sense. Prince doesn’t die. And yet, he did. Prince influences everything we do. When we are writing, when we rehearse, his name comes up. Last week, we were working on a rearrangement, and I couldn’t get the solo section to sound right. The guitarist in the band said, “Well if Prince was soloing on it…” and talked about his approach. Prince knew how to write music catchy enough to be accessible to the common listener and sophisticated enough to make a musician stop and say, “Whoa”. Whatever instrument he touched seemed to sing.
MrG: If people want to have a get off yo’ ass good time, do you think Sunday at the WORT BLOCK PARTY is the right place to go?
CW: I tell people this every time they are thinking about coming to a show. If you don’t have a good time and have fun, I will give you your money back. In this case since it’s free, I will come out and mow your lawn if you don’t have a good time!
I am predicting that many lawns in the Madison area will be staying tall after the Block Party. A Big Smokey’s Joint thank you to Charles for taking the time to add some of himself to our community through these brief statements and we will let the funk do the talking. See you there.
Funkin’ yours,
MisterG
