The Walrus on tour
Current mood: excited
Category: Music

Next week, July 26-29, The Walrus will tour Oregon & southern Washington. We'll be playing at the Myrtle Creek Summer Festival in Myrtle Creek Thursday, then at Mia's & Pia's Pizzeria, a brew pub in Klamath Falls Friday night. Saturday night we share the stage with 2 other bands (Taste and Tangled Web) at a night club in Eugene called the Black Forest, and on our way home Sunday we will play an "unplugged" show at the Mandolin Cafe, a coffeehouse in Tacoma, Washington.

We are looking forward to a fun trip, and to playing for lots of new Walrus fans.

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The Walrus and the Lady Bird
Category: Music

Question: What do the classic rock band Walrus and Lady Bird Johnson have in common?

Answer: They are both classics.

Our local newspaper ran a story today about the memorial service for Lady Bird Johnson, a former First Lady who died last week. The news story quoted a 57-year-old woman who was waiting in line at the LBJ Library to pay her respects.

Speaking about Lady Bird's place in her life, the mourner said: "She was up there with the Beatles and Eleanor Roosevelt."

The Beatles and the Walrus: the best in classic rock music.

Eleanor Roosevelt and Lady Bird Johnson: classic and classy First Ladies.

-----------------------------Kathy

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The Walrus on Pandora
Current mood: good
Category: Music

I really like Pandora. It is a great way for people to find new music that they like. We are really excited to be among the bands available there.

Pandora uses the Music Genome Project which analyzes different aspects of music (like chord structures, instrumentation, etc.) and categorizes the music accordingly. Unfortunately they seem to have our DNA confused with another band called "Walrus" that has 2 other albums there. So if you search for "The Walrus" you'll find 3 albums, as if all 3 were by the same band. Since the music of the other "Walrus" is quite different from ours, some confusion is sure to happen. They say they are working on fixing it...

Meanwhile if you choose our album "Uncovered" the music does seem to be categorized correctly.

Anyway I have been listening to Pandora for some time now, and I recommend checking it out. It is especially cool on my Squeezebox - I can listen to my "radio staion" even when I am not at my computer...

- Chuck

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Walrus Performs on 1st Chuckanut Radio Hour
Current mood: excited
Category: Music

Bellingham gave another nod to its favorite classic rock band by inviting the Walrus to play on the first "Chuckanut Radio Hour," which will air on KRME-102.3 on Feb. 4 and Feb. 11.

The Bellingham Herald's Dean Kahn writes about the taping of the show in his column today, saying the band wowed the crowd with its live version of "Bohemian Rhapsody." In giving a blow-by-blow description of the two hours it took to tape the one-hour program, Kahn writes:

6:12 p.m.: The Walrus plays Queen's operatic rock classic "Bohemian Rhapsody." The band performs the challenging piece admirably, winning the evening's biggest round of applause. "

The Walrus, of course, also played a tune off the new CD, Uncovered at the live taping last week. The crowd of about 70 people at the taping loved Joe Young's "Hold Your Hand," too.

The new radio show is being put together by the American Museum of Radio and Electricity and Chuck Robinson, co-owner of Village Books in Fairhaven, who hosts the show and is a big fan of the Walrus. (Robinson says the Walrus is one of only two local bands who he has on iTunes.) The Walrus expects to continue to be the "house band" for the variety show, which features poetry, jokes, music (classic rock) and interviews with authors. The next taping of the "Chuckanut Radio Hour" will be Feb. 13 and will feature an interview with Seattle author Bill Dietrich.

The inaugural show will be aired at 3 p.m. Feb. 4 and Feb. 11 on KRME 102.3 and features an interview with Erik Larson, author of "Thunderstruck." The station's signal can only be heard in the Bellingham-Ferndale area of Whatcom County, Washington.

--Posted by Capt. Kathy, aka ScrabbleSpice

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Uncovered a gem
Current mood: jubilant
Category: Music

It was nice to get the Bellingham Herald this morning and find another nice review of our album "Uncovered" in the Take Five section. Here is an excerpt:

"...we'd like to encourage shopping locally, and a good way to start is the new CD by The Walrus, 'Uncovered.' The band is as solid a cover band as you'll find, particularly when performing songs by The Beatles, The Byrds and their harmony-infatuated ilk.

'Uncovered' takes an unusual approach in that the songs are all originals, yet they gracefully acknowledge their obvious influences. Singer/guitarist Joseph Michael Young, who wrote seven of the 11 songs, has a way with soaring harmonies and clever lyrical phrasing, best evidenced by the opener 'Abbey Road.'

The CD sounds great, thanks to Chip Westerfield of Bayside Studios, and the band is as engaging on record as it is in person. Members of The Walrus have played with probably 90 percent of the musicians in town; guitarist/vocalist Chuck Dingee is the ubiquitous performer who runs open mics at The Fairhaven Pub & Martini Bar and Main Street Bar and Grill in Ferndale..."

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The Walrus on iTunes just in time!
Current mood: hopeful
Category: Music

According to a press release from Hitwise, iTunes visits skyrocketed 413 percent on Christmas Day, the same day The Walrus Uncovered album was listed on the iTunes Music Store.

If you just got an iPod, or an iTunes gift certificate, you can download the new Walrus Album from iTunes for just $9.99, or 99 cents per song.

-Chuck

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Santa Delivers our album to iTunes!
Current mood: happy
Category: Music

Our debut CD "Uncovered" is now available at iTunes where rock 'n' roll lovers can buy a song or the whole album with their iTunes gift certificates.

Santa delivered the new classic rock CD to iTunes early on Christmas morning.

The 11 new rock classics have been available on CDBaby.com for some time, as well as through the Independent Artists Company; iSound.com; Amazon.com, Bitmunk, Rhapsody, Napster and at many music stores in the Pacific Northwest, but Walrus members were awaiting its delivery to the popular online music store, iTunes.

The new album has 11 original songs in the classic rock style. With the Christmas delivery by Santa, the songs are now available for 99 cents each or $9.99 for the whole album at http://www.apple.com/itunes/.

Anyone with iTunes installed on a computer can go directly to the Walrus album on iTunes.

We were pleasantly surprised that Santa was able to deliver our new CD on Christmas morning, when lots of people have received iTunes gift certificates. These new songs are our holiday gift to our loyal fans and fans of classic rock everywhere.

Woohoo! Thanks, Santa.

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It's cool to connect...
Current mood: giddy
Category: Music

Not just with friends - old and new - but with other musicians that have influenced us (or that we might later influence). I've had the pleasure of adding as 'friends' some of my favorite musicians (Jonathan Edwards, Tom Shipley from Brewer & Shipley, the Posies, Goose Creek Symphony, and others). These were people who were on my iPod before they were my 'friends' - and I'm proud to be their friend. :-)

- Chuck

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Beatles are still incredibly popular
Current mood: hopeful

Last night I went to a High School choir concert, and kids who were born after John Lennon was killed were singing Beatles songs. Earlier in the day I saw some young people leaving a music store wearing Beatles T-shirts. A month or so ago my wife and I stayed with friends who have a teenage daughter whose room was full of... Beatles posters.

Now the new album "Love" featuring Beatles music is on the top 5 albums sold worldwide (and at the top of the UK charts).

Our new album "Uncovered" has 2 new songs written by our own Joe Young that are direct Beatles knockoffs: Abbey Road and Hold Your Hand.

The album can be purchased at CDBaby.com

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Walrus CD gets favorable review!
Current mood: hopeful

Our new CD "Uncovered" has been reviewed in Entertainment News NW, a local Arts and entertainment magazine. Check out the PDF of the December issue. (Our review is on page 11, which is page 13 of the PDF.

Some excerpts:
"Some two years in the making, the debut CD from The Walrus is finally out, and it was well worth the wait! Bellingham's popular Beatles cover band has released "Uncovered," a collection of eleven original pop-rock tunes guaranteed to delight their long list of faithful fans. Joe, Chuck, Jamie, Walt and Michael are talented musicians, the songwriting is solid, and the recording is clear and crisp. Clean, in-tune harmonies combine here with catchy melodies, a solid rhythmic base, and some tasteful lead work to produce a collection of tunes with a "familiar" feel. The professional sound of this CD is a tribute to the production and mixing talents at Bayside Recording here in Bellingham.

It can't be easy to go from being one of the most popular cover bands in the area to the release of a CD of all original tunes. It takes guts and talent to pull it off, this emotional exposing of one's self, especially when The Walrus could well just rest on the laurels of their success covering the rock and roll we all know and love. Thanks for taking the risk! It has paid off!"

You can buy one at CDBaby.com

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