About Caffeinated Corner:

Caffeinated Corner was created to replicate the feeling of chatting at coffee shops with new friends. From the warm taste of coffee, the slightly chaotic energy of the espresso machines, to the life stories shared, caffeinated corner aims to replicate this environment online. Join me as we talk with different artists about their favorite things, stories from their childhood, and new projects on the horizon

Luke

Thanks, I’m glad to be here!

Sidney

So, I will start off–what’s the story behind the formation of The Walters?

Luke

So, in 2014, I had just moved back from New York City–I was going to acting school there–and I just wanted to move closer to home. I’m from Kenosha, Wisconsin, so Chicago was the closest spot. My childhood friend, MJ Tirabassi, the other vocalist and guitar player, was going to Depaul there, where he also met Walter Kosner (lead guitarist) and Charlie Ekhaus (drummer). And then Charlie knew Danny Wells (bassist) because he was going to Columbia and they were working on music together. But yeah, we basically just hung out for a few years, and then one night at Bonnaroo, where I first started to get to know Walter, we just started talking about music and decided that we were going to write a song together, which just so happened to be “I Love You So.”

Sidney

Oh, nice!

Luke

Yeah, so after we had written the song, we took it to Charlie, who was producing at the time. We started recording and everyone else was there at the time, and we simply just kinda made the song right then and there. Then we were just like, alright, we’re The Walters. We uploaded the song to Bandcamp, and then it got on the front page of Reddit? Then it kinda hit us like, oh, we’re a band!

Sidney

How did you guys come up with the band name? Was Walter the inspiration behind the name?

Luke

Well…yeah, haha. Walter is…well if you know Walter, he’s a very funny and loveable man. But you know, it was his original guitar riff and the “I love you so…” came from his writing, so it just kind of made sense. We just said, “The Walters…” I don’t really know who came up with it. Still to this day, there will still be conflicting stories, you know? 

Sidney

Who would you say are some of your biggest musical influences?

Luke

Mine personally? I grew up on a lot of singer-songwriters. Neil Young is definitely at the top, but there’s also James Taylor and Paul Simon. And then band-wise, the Beach Boys, The Beatles, Marshall Tucker Band. Those are all the essentials. Oh, and I can’t forget about John Mayer. 

Sidney

Nice, all very good music choices. So, what was it like when you guys got together and started playing together as a group? And how did it feel from just playing locally in Chicago to moving all the way up playing shows like Lollapalooza?

Luke

It felt really good. I was really fresh into the scene, and I felt like it was really fun to just go out there and just really do this thing with the band. We really lived that Chicago come-up scene. We started playing in apartment houses and house shows, and I gotta say, we were very fortunate with “I Love You So” and our first EP, Songs For Dads. We already had an internet following, and people liked our music so they were coming out to see us. We didn’t have a manager or a label, so just getting up to the point that we were playing at Lollapalooza was just really cool.

Sidney

Shortly after Lollapalooza, you guys announced that the band was “taking a break.” What were some of the factors that led to this decision?

Luke

It was honestly a culmination of things. A lot of just being young and kind of irrational in your thought process. From the outsider’s point of view, everybody was like, how could you stop now? We were on a trajectory and who knows what would have happened if we wouldn’t have taken a break. It was all the typical things, though. Everything just starts clashing, everybody was mature, but immature, and not everyone was on the same page seeing the greater picture. It’s honestly hard to even look back at that. It was weird…I could have done a lot of things better. I think everybody could say that and we all could have handled everything a lot better.

Sidney

Yeah, that sounds pretty tough. On the bright side, however, “I Love You So” did put you guys back on the radar, with the song blowing up on Tiktok. What was that like for you guys?

Luke

I just woke up one morning to a text message from Charlie and the band. He told me that labels were beginning to inquire about us, and that we should all talk. I hadn’t talked to these guys in years. I hadn’t even seen them, really, but it felt really, really cool. It was like that moment where I could just say, “Finally!” But at the same time, it was pretty stressful.

Sidney

Now that you guys are back together, what has been one of the more exciting moments of your career?

Luke

For me, personally, it was coming back to Chicago and playing at the House of Blues. Primarily because my entire family was there. After all these years, I hadn’t played a show like that for that many people, and it being a sold-out show felt like a weight off of my shoulders. That and performing in Indonesia at a big festival and then going to Singapore. I’ve never been over there, so it was really eye-opening.

Sidney

Out of all the songs you guys have released as a band, which one is your personal favorite? For me, “Hunk Beach” is my absolute favorite.

Luke

Hunk Beach! That song is our best song to perform live because it’s just a really cool rock and roll type of song. There’s a lot of good ones though, “Fancy Shoes,” “I Wanna Be Good,” What’s Left…” I love “Life.”

“Life” is my go-to song once it’s officially fall.

Luke

“Life” just has a vibe to it. I remember making that song while we were working on the Songs For Dads EP, and after hearing the chorus, I just remember thinking, “damn…people are really gonna love this.” Even my dad loved it. He thought it was this perfect Beach Boys-y type song. So, yeah, I think “Life” is definitely in our top three favorite songs.

Do you think you guys are going to get tired of hearing “I Love You So?”

Luke

I don’t know…no? One thing I’ll say is that I am so happy that it’s such a huge song because I still think it’s a good song. Just the simplicity of it. If this is going to be the song I’m known for for the rest of my life, I’ll take it. I’ve always wanted to have a big song. I waited eight years for something like this to happen. I even told myself in 2014, if we had a label, this song could be on the radio! But yeah, the bigger the song gets, the better it is for us, so I don’t really think I’ll get tired of the song.

Do you guys have anything exciting coming up? Any new music or upcoming shows?

Luke

We’re definitely working on more stuff music wise, and we’ve got someone planning us shows for this year. We’re just taking it easy though, we’re not trying to overwork ourselves. It’s hard to just immediately get back into it all and just start doing everything all at once. So, we’re just taking our time, but we definitely have some exciting things coming soon.