There’s that famous saying that all roads lead to Rome. What’s not so famous is the part which explains how all the roads are not all equal in distance – some are longer, some are shorter, and some even have detours. This summer, Michael, Sean and Alex who crossed roads three years ago and formed The Walkup, will release their debut album Down on Pacific (Reynolds Recording Co.). It is a record brimming with energy, perfectly jittery vocals and punchy angular riffs that personify the unapologetic fun essence and underground rock spirit that brought this group together.
To start from the beginning, Michael hails from Boston, Sean is from Staten Island, and Alex is a native of Manhattan. Coming from different walks of life, the three members eventually all relocated to New York City by 2005. “The NYC music scene is pretty big an
d diverse, but if you hang around awhile, you end up running into the same people over and over again and recognizing those with similar tastes and aspirations to yours,” says Alex. “The trick is finding people that you actually like." Leave it to these three to make that trick look easy - they met at a bar in the Lower East Side, where they discovered their shared tastes in music and scotch. After running into one another around the neighborhood, they decided to see if these shared tastes would translate into more than just talk and put their collective talents to the test. Almost instantly they connected and realized that there was something to playing as a group.
In the summer of 2005, the group released their first EP, These Walls Have Ears, and spent the next few years playing venues all around New York – honing their skills and sound. "It wasn't long before we started writing much better material than what the band had started with,” states Sean, “especially during the recording phase.” The group steadily drew in more crowds and played CMJ in 2006 and 2007 to packed venues. The Walkup has since become a firm addition to the underground NYC music scene with their highly energetic shows.
Now, after eight months in the studio, and with the recent addition of Christopher Ayoub on bass, the group is ready to release their debut album, Down on Pacific. Carefully crafted, the record came together in a natural, organic process and reflects the road each has travelled to get here, the growth of the band over the past few years as well as the sound of the City they live in. Produced by Chuck Brody (Northern State, Ra Ra Riot, Shitake Monkey) and Gregory Lattimer (Albert Hammond Jr.) the album is a refreshing dose of pop music infused with Lower East Side post-punk and Brit influenced, hook filled rock.
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