Legendary Cold Chisel singer/songwriter Don Walker releases his fourth solo album, Lightning in a Clear Blue Sky, next Friday, May 5.
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It’s been 10 years since his last solo studio outing appeared.
“These are new songs, recorded with the band as it was in early 2022,” Walker explained to me recently when asked what fans could expect to hear from the new album.
“After Glen Hannah [Walker’s guitarist] passed away in 2019, and after COVID, we rebuilt what we do around our other guitar player, Roy Payne [who sadly also passed away, in July 2022].
“We also brought on board three friends, Amanda Roff, Erica Dunn and Brigitte Hart, to give us some arranged backing vocals.
“They’ve sung together before, mainly with Melbourne band Harmony, and with The Drones.”
As a songwriter, Walker has penned some of Australia’s most iconic songs, with Cold Chisel’s Khe Sanh being one of them. Does he find when writing for a band format compared to a solo format, a different mindset is required?
“In both situations I keep in mind the instrumental skills available,” he said.
“Both in a band and for solo performers I’m trying to write something the singer can tell the listener, that will resonate.
“And hopefully free the listener to abandon their cares and move a little.
“I write mainly internally and on bits of paper.
“I usually have a musical idea that I’m writing to, and I don’t sit down at a piano until that’s all complete.
“Then I just use the instrument to sort out what it is I’m hearing.”
Walker explained that after 50 years of writing songs, the process did get easier.
“The writing has mostly been easy,” he said.
“If it doesn’t happen, I don’t think about it and I don’t worry, and that can be the case for a long time.
“With few exceptions every new song is new territory, and I have to figure out how to do it from scratch.
“Now that I think about it, that would be true for every song on this new album.”
Walker will undertake an east coast tour in support of his new album in May and June, and is hoping to visit Shepparton at some point.
“I’d love to play [in] Shepparton, and regional areas everywhere, and that is something we will look to possibly do in the future,” he said.
“But for now, it’s just the current dates.”
For tour dates, check out donwalker.com.au/
Music news
Aussie folk-rockers The Waifs, who formed back in 1992, have announced an extensive Australian tour. It kicks off in June and runs through to September, and celebrates the 20th anniversary of their seminal album Up All Night, which features their signature song, London Still.
Each show will see the band perform the album in its entirety along with a sprinkling of fan favourites.
The tour will feature special guests and great friends at various shows. And the good news is that Mooroopna is in the tour itinerary, with the band performing a show at Riverlinks Westside on June 4. Special guest for that show is blues folkie Jeff Lang.
Foo Fighters are back with their 11th studio album, But Here We Are, out on June 2.
After a year that saw the heartbreaking loss of drummer Taylor Hawkins, the album sees the band members beginning the next chapter of their life, with an album that sonically channels the group’s 1995 debut, while running the gamut emotionally from rage and sorrow to serenity and acceptance, and myriad points in between.
Heavy metal icons Metallica this week debuted at #1 on Australia's ARIA album chart with their new album, 72 Seasons. This is the group’s eighth chart-topping album to date in Australia.
For all lovers of guitar-based music, reissues of my first two instrumental guitar rock albums, Slave To The Fingers (2011) and Creature of Habit (2012), have just been released this week via American label Renaissance Records as a two-for-one CD album.
The reissues feature new liner notes, revised artwork and bonus material. Fans of Joe Satriani, Gary Moore, Ritchie Blackmore and Hank Marvin will find it particularly to their liking.
KISS behind the mask
Guitarist Bruce Kulick was a fully paid-up member of rock band KISS between 1984 and 1996. Since then, he has gone on to undertake a solo career as well, and done session work for various artists.
Some years ago, I caught up with Kulick when he was in Melbourne for an interview, where he shared a rare insight into what it was like to be part of the musical circus that is KISS.
“I wouldn’t say it was that crazy, but obviously whatever you wanted, it was there for you,” he said.
“If you were just looking for girls or looking to get crazy you could do that because when you’re a part of a big band and you’re a musician, it’s expected of you whether right or wrong.
“The band always had a very hard work ethic though, the hard attention to performing well and working at being the best we can was always there.
“I really appreciated their attention to it being a business.
“Although, sometimes that took some of the fun out if it, but at least we were very professional.”
Fun fact
Did you know that American boogie blues legends George Thorogood and The Destroyers visited Shepparton for a one-off show at the GV Hotel in April 1992?
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Musical Musings columnist