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interview
Robert Walter's 20th Congress: Legislating the Funk:
An Interview with Robert Walter
musictoday:
Let's start from the beginning, for those people who may not be familiar with you. From what I understand, you were one of the founding members of the Greyboy All-Stars. Expand on that a bit.
Robert Walter:
That band was started by DJ Greyboy. He was out of San Diego. He had made a record on Ubiquity called Freestyling. It was like beats with jazz on top of them; like horn players and stuff like that. He wanted a band to play the tunes at his record release party. Me and a couple of others played this party and dug it, so we just kept playing. That lasted for, like, five years.
mt: The success of that led to numerous other opportunities, I imagine.
RW: Yeah. During that band, I made a solo record called The Spirit of '70. From there, I started doing my own thing. Eventually, that fell apart, because we had been doing it for so long. People wanted to do different things. From there, I started my own band, 20th Congress, to get my own thing out there.
mt: As far as I know, this is your second full-length with them.
RW: This is my second full-length as a soloist, but my first with 20th Congress. It is being released on Fog City Records, which puts out that band Galactic. Stanton Moore made a record with Charlie Hunter and a guy named Skerik…
mt: …Garage a Trois…
RW: Yeah, and he put that out, too. He does that genre. He normally doesn't do many records like this; maybe a couple a year.
mt: How is your relationship with the label?
RW: It is really cool. Dan produces the records and runs the label. We have similar ideas on the way things should sound on a record, so we are like-minded in that aspect. He is very artist oriented.
mt: You have freedom of creativity?
RW: Yes. Plus he is a good collaborator, too. It is cool because it beats working for some corporation.
mt: How did you get into playing the keys? What was your original motivation?
RW: I played piano when I was kid. My mom put me in classical piano lessons. Then, I discovered rock music and didn't want to play piano anymore. I switched and played drums for a couple of years in punk rock bands and stuff like that. Then, I wanted to write songs and started playing piano again. That sort of took over and I have been playing piano ever since.
mt: Any formal training beyond the early years?
RW: I took a little jazz with private teachers and also a couple classes in school, but nothing serious. Most of the stuff I learned was from records and playing with different people.
mt: But, you're not doing rock anymore.
RW: I started getting interested in soul music and jazz. Rock 'n' roll was just a phase, but it led me to listen to more and more stuff. My parents had some key records around the house like Ramsey Lewis and Herbie Hancock. I was always attracted to that stuff. It didn't really grab me, though, until the Greyboy All-Stars. There used to be this bar called the Green Circle Bar in San Diego that DJ Greyboy used to spin records at. On Wednesday nights, I got turned on to a lot of stuff there. I hadn't realized there was this whole genre of instrumental records that I hadn't heard. I knew about James Brown and the Meters, but I didn't know about all these jazz artists that made funk records. That turned me on to a lot of stuff.
mt: Do you think that the popularity of DJs resurrecting vinyl has contributed to the diversity of sound coming from that area, and the resurgence of soul and funk being played by younger people?
RW: Yes, definitely. I think that is how people hear stuff now. Good DJs can present things that people normally couldn't get a hold of, and put it in a context where it is still appealing and danceable. People get turned on to stuff in lots of different ways, but that is how I got turned on to it.
mt: How did you begin a musical relationship with Stanton Moore?
RW: I knew him because we played gigs together a lot. His band opened for my band, and vice versa. So, I knew him, and when I came down to doing the record, I just thought it would be good to do a record with him.
mt: He can play the hell out of some drums, so why not?
RW: We didn't really rehearse that much for it. I just sent him some tapes with the songs on them, and he flew in and we did it. I think the album really captures that spontaneity. Some stuff on the album was the first time we ever played it.
mt: How has the response been to the album so far?
RW: Good. It seems as if people like it. I am proud of it.
mt: …and touring?
RW: It seems as if things have been heating up a bit since the release of the album.
mt: So you were on the road before it dropped?
RW: Well, we are always on tour. We never stop. We go home for a couple of weeks, then just keep going.
mt: What is that like with your home life and everything?
RW: It is rough. I feel like eventually I will slow down and do it in a couple of short bursts. But, right now, I feel like we have to do it so we can let people know about the band. That is where the magic happens musically for me; at the shows, I mean. Every night is really different. I like the process of playing with guys in my band. Just trying to see how far we can take it every night is special. Touring is so enriching musically. Eventually, I have to slow down so I can stay home…
mt: …to take care of the house?
RW: Well, I am married, so…
mt: Oh.
RW: I would like to have kids one day, too.
mt: Do you see a difference in the response to the different styles you play, based off where you are located?
RW: Sometimes, I feel like when we go down South—I don't know whether it is me projecting or something—but, I feel like I want to play more harmonically straight ahead stuff. You know, more blues based stuff and less outside material. In New York, I feel like I need to go further out there. I think it is more how I perceive these places than the actual places themselves. Sometimes, it does change, though. You get wrapped up in the culture of where you are hanging out, too. What you want to play reflects that.
mt: Being on a smaller label can often times be a lot more difficult and straining personally than being signed to someone with a bit more financial backing. If you had the opportunity to sign to someone bigger, a major even, would you go that route?
RW: I would definitely consider it. I am a little worried about being a tax write-off band for someone's big label. I want someone who is really passionate about what I am doing. Sometimes, you can really get lost in the shuffle if a label has too big of a roster so you are not top priority. Where I am right now, there are not that many acts, so I keep real close contacts with the label. But, definitely the distribution and promotion to get your self out there is a bit better. I would like to do it, but I would like to do it on my own terms. It is good to build it up on your own first. It puts the power in your direction if you are already selling records and getting a draw. Hopefully, in the next few years, we may be able to look in that direction.
mt: What is the deal with the name 20th Congress?
RW: It is in reference to the 20th session of the Russian congress where Kruschev spoke out critically about the tragedies happening under Stalin. He told people that Stalin was torturing prisoners and other not-so-cool stuff. That was kind of the end of the age of innocence for communism, which was very vogue at the time in the United States and elsewhere. The joke is that this is my band out of the Greyboy All-Stars, which was sort of a totalitarian environment for me. This is kind of the new deal. It has a mysterious weird sound to it. I wanted to stay away from names that were…
mt: …you mean something like "The Robert Walters Band?"
RW: Yeah, and things that related to funk directly, or that sort of cheesy thing. That sort of traps you. The name 20th Congress doesn't really describe any sort of music, so we could go anywhere with it.
mt: You spoke of the All-Stars being totalitarian.
RW: That was just a joke. Actually, it was very democratic. After a while, I felt like I had to do a certain kind of music in that band. We were so into these old records, that I almost felt like if we didn't find an example of something that we were trying to do on an old record, it wasn't cool. Everything had to cross-reference to that stuff, and it became stifling.
mt: That sounds like one of the big limitations of turntablism.
RW: Yeah, you become so obsessed with the past and the little artifacts you can find, that you forget that you can make something out of nothing. It doesn't have to be a bit off an album, it can be, and that is a great way to make art. I am finding, more and more, that I am interested in doing things where I do not know where it comes from. Working out of my subconscious, instead of working from my record collection.
mt: When that group disbanded, did you break individually, or did you decide as a whole to call it quits?
RW: Our drummer left, and we had two weeks booked that we had to do, so we had another drummer come in and it just wasn't right. That was a great band, and the chemistry between the players was really cool, and after one of us left, it just wasn't cool to call it the same thing.
mt: With the success of Karl Denson and his Tiny Universe, have you considered getting back together and doing music again?
RW: We actually did do some shows with Tiny Universe. I sat in with the band and we played an old Greyboy tune. It was nice to do that, because I hadn't done it in years. I will probably work with him again in the future. We will all probably get together on an individual basis. I did a record with the guitar player, Elgin Park. His record, Elgin Park, I played on. That should be coming out soon.
mt: You have some elements of drum & bass in your music. Are you a fan of that genre?
RW: We were in England with the All-stars in '95 or '96, and I was hearing stuff I never really heard before. I was turned on to dance records there. I am not hugely into it, but there is some stuff I like. Mainly, I listen to '60s jazz records for the bulk of it. I am trying to be inspired by everything. I listen to not just one genre, though. That tune on the record was kind of a free form thing. We were improvising, so we didn't plan it to go that way. Playing like that just allows things to seep in. I would love to play shows like that, where I don't have to play any sort of written material.
mt: You gotta be on the road for ten years to get to that point.
RW: Yeah, you gotta be, like, Miles Davis or something.
mt: Ten years ago, it would have been nearly impossible to get on the road and do what you are doing, just because of the way the music industry was made up.
RW: It is much better now. A lot of the touring has to do with the Grateful Dead, Phish phenomenon. With the Dead going away, a lot of kids are still in the culture of touring and seeing live bands. That has spread out and gotten bigger and bigger. There has been a big growth in the interest of this music. I think that is a direct result of hip-hop. Recognizing breaks and finding records has become a common thing.
mt: Are you into hip-hop?
RW: I think that is one of things that got me into it, also. Recognizing breaks and wondering what it is, and when I found out who it is, I find that a lot of people use Ramsey Lewis, or whoever. I have kinda faded out in favor of the older records now. Back when I was younger, that was a big thing for me.
mt: I am always trying to distinguish why, in certain areas, a particular music catches on more than another. For instance, hip-hop in the West turned more toward Parliament.
RW: Yeah, well I have thought the same thing. I think it comes down to the type of records that were in your parent's collection. People here had more P-Funk and War, while I am sure parents had more jazz records on the East Coast. I was always a fan of the East Coast hip-hop, myself.
mt: Outside of music, do you have many other interests?
RW: I pretty much just do music. I am pretty fanatical about it. I do like to cook and I like old movies.
mt: Doing movie soundtracks has become a very lucrative deal of late. You should look into it.
RW: I have done one with the Greyboys for the movie Zero Effect with Ben Stiller. We did the score for that. I definitely see more of that in the future.
by Damani
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