Weasel Walter | |
|---|---|
 Weasel Walter at Club W71 in 2017 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Christopher Todd Walter |
| Born | May 18, 1972 Rockford, Illinois, U.S. |
| Genres | Avant-garde, experimental, free jazz, no wave, death metal, technical death metal, progressive metal, Avant-garde metal, noise, noise rock, brutal prog, new music, punk jazz, hardcore punk, free improvisation |
| Occupation(s) | composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, record label owner |
| Instrument(s) | drums, guitar, double bass, bass, bass clarinet, c melody saxophone, trombone, trumpet, mellotron, organ, piano, synthesizer, electronics, vocals |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Labels | ugEXPLODE, Thirsty Ear, Skin Graft |
| Member of | |
| Formerly of |
|
| Website | ugexplode |
Weasel Walter (born Christopher Todd Walter, May 18, 1972) is an American composer, improviser, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and founder of ugEXPLODE Records.[1] Walter's work has been informed by techniques and traditions of music including Avant-garde, experimental, no wave, free jazz, extreme metal, punk jazz, hardcore punk, noise, new music and free improvisation. He coined the term "brutal prog" to describe the aggressively dissonant strain of prog played by groups like his band The Flying Luttenbachers.[2]
Known as an unrelenting[3] and abrasive[4] provocateur whose performances trend toward overblown antics and "nihilistic glee",[5] Walter has been described by renowned guitarist Mary Halvorson as "completely manic and extraordinarily sensitive"[6] and by The Chicago Reader as "a splinter lodged beneath the fingernail".[7] Avant-garde artist Glenn Branca once called him "one of the greatest rock composers who ever lived".[8]
He has performed as leader and sideperson in a number of bands, including Cellular Chaos and Lydia Lunch Retrovirus.[9] Walter has worked with Roscoe Mitchell, Marshall Allen, John Butcher, Tim Dahl, Peter Evans, Mary Halvorson, Henry Kaiser, Jim O'Rourke, Evan Parker, Elliott Sharp, Ken Vandermark, and William Winant,[10] as well as in bands including XBXRX, Bobby Conn, Cock E.S.P., Curse of the Birthmark, Erase Errata, Harry Pussy, Lair of the Minotaur, The Chicago Sound and others. He has produced albums by AIDS Wolf, Arab on Radar, Glenn Branca, Burmese, Lydia Lunch, Coachwhips, and Total Shutdown.[11]
In 1990, Walter moved to Chicago to work with free jazz composer Hal Russell (born Harold Luttenbacher) at Columbia College.[7] The following year, Russell joined Walter in co-founding the band the Flying Luttenbachers; saxophonist Chad Organ played in the early trio lineup.[12] Russell left the band in the summer of 1992, and shortly after Ken Vandermark took his place for the recording of the band's first 7".[13]
Walter was highly involved in cultivating what he deemed the "Chicago No Wave" scene,[7][14] meeting new musicians and collaborators through the Luttenbachers' art rock-continuum gigs and the experimental improvised music series he ran at Myopic Books.[15] He graduated from Columbia College in 1995, with a final project, "Un-nerve", performed by a nonet including Ken Vandermark, Gene Coleman, Jim Baker, Kevin Drumm, Jeb Bishop, and Gustavo Leone.[16]
A prolific performing and recording artist, Walter was a founding member of projects including Miss High Heel (with Jim O'Rourke and Azita of The Scissor Girls), Lake of Dracula (with Marlon Magas and Heather M. of the Scissor Girls), To Live and Shave in L.A. 2, 7000 Dying Rats, and Hatewave.[17]
Walter moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2003,[18] where he reformed The Flying Luttenbachers with the addition of bassist Mike Green, guitarist Ed Rodriguez, and later Mick Barr. The Flying Luttenbachers officially disbanded in 2007.
In late 2009, Walter announced that he was moving to New York City to join Behold... The Arctopus as the band's second drummer.[19] He played on Horrorscension, released in 2012, and in two tours before leaving the band in 2013. Walter continued finding new collaborators and formed a number of groups in New York, among them Cellular Chaos, a band with Marc Edwards, Admiral Grey, and Ceci Moss.[20]
In 2017, after a ten-year hiatus, the Flying Luttenbachers played several shows in France, with a new trio lineup of Walter, on drums, joined by bass guitarist Tim Dahl and guitarist Chris Welcome.[21] In 2019, a quartet arrangement of the band released Shattered Dimension, with Walter and Dahl joined by saxophonist Matt Nelson and guitarist Brandon Seabrook.[22] Over the next several years, the varying lineup also included bassist Evan Lipson, guitarist Henry Kaiser, guitarist Wendy Eisenberg, guitarist Katie Battistoni, guitarist Alex Ward, and drummer Sam Ospovat.
