The Walkabouts were an American

rock band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

formed in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

in 1984. The core members were vocalist Carla Torgerson and vocalist and songwriter Chris Eckman. Although the rest of the lineup changed occasionally, for most of the time the other members were Michael Wells, Glenn Slater and Terri Moeller. The band drew inspiration from

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

, particularly

Townes Van Zandt John Townes Van Zandt (March 7, 1944 – January 1, 1997) was an American singer-songwriter.

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

and

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

, but also from other types of artists and musical styles such as Scott Walker,

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...

, French

chanson A (, ; , ) is generally any Lyrics, lyric-driven French song. The term is most commonly used in English to refer either to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval music, medieval and Renaissance music or to a specific style of ...

and

Jacques Brel Jacques Romain Georges Brel (; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed theatrical songs. He generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, but later throughout the world ...

. Their sound was typically rich, with string arrangements and keyboards in addition to the standard rock instruments. The Walkabouts achieved commercial success and a strong fanbase in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, where they had done promotion and extensive touring starting from the early 1990s. They occasionally even made it high on the

record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, ofte ...

s in countries such as

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

History

Carla Torgerson and Chris Eckman met and began playing music together in 1983 while attending

Whitman College Whitman College is a private liberal arts college in Walla Walla, Washington. The school offers 53 majors and 33 minors in the liberal arts and sciences, and it has a student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1. Founded as a seminary by a territorial l ...

Walla Walla, Washington Walla Walla ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Walla Walla County, Washington, United States. It had a population of 34,060 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, estimated to have decreased to 33,339 as of 2023. The combined populat ...

. In 1984, they moved to Seattle, and the band was born when they joined forces with Chris' two younger brothers, drummer Grant and bassist Curt. The Eckman brothers had been playing in various

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

and pop groups during their college years, and Carla came from a folk and street singing background. The band took their name from Nicolas Roeg's cult film, '' Walkabout''. They released their first EP, ''22 Disasters'', in early 1985. Curt Eckman then left the band, to be replaced by Michael Wells. Their second EP, ''Linda Evans/Cyclone'', was released in 1987. The following year they released their first album, ''See Beautiful Rattlesnake Gardens'', on the PopLlama label, before being signed by

Sub Pop Sub Pop is an independent record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana (band), Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the gru ...

as that label's first non-grunge band. Adding keyboard player and multi-instrumentalist Glenn Slater, they released three albums on Sub Pop over the next few years - ''Cataract'' (1989), ''Rag & Bone'' (1990), and ''

Scavenger Scavengers are animals that consume Corpse decomposition, dead organisms that have died from causes other than predation or have been killed by other predators. While scavenging generally refers to carnivores feeding on carrion, it is also a he ...

'' (1991). They also toured extensively, particularly in Europe. In 1992 they left Sub Pop Seattle, but remained with Sub Pop Europe who issued three more albums, '' New West Motel'' (1993), '' Satisfied Mind'' (1993), and '' Setting the Woods on Fire'' (1994). Drummer Terri Moeller replaced Grant Eckman in 1992, when he left to care for his newborn son, Dakota Eckman.The Stopping-Off Place: Unofficial Site for the Walkabouts
'' Satisfied Mind'' was their first of several albums largely or wholly comprising songs originally written and recorded by an eclectic variety of other artists, including

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, writer, and actor who fronts the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Known for his baritone voice, Cave's music is characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety ...

Charlie Rich Charles Allan Rich (December 14, 1932July 25, 1995) was an American country singer. His eclectic style of music also blended influences from rockabilly, jazz, blues, soul, and gospel. In the later part of his life, Rich acquired the nickname t ...

Johnny Rivers Johnny Rivers (born John Henry Ramistella; November 7, 1942) is a retired American musician. He achieved commercial success and popularity throughout the 1960s and 1970s as a singer and guitarist, characterized as a versatile and influential art ...

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter, author, and photographer. Her 1975 debut album '' Horses'' made her an influential member of the New York City-based punk rock movement. Smith has fu ...

Mary Margaret O'Hara Mary Margaret O'Hara is a Canadian singer-songwriter, actress and composer. She is best known for the album ''Miss America'', released in 1988. She released two albums and an EP under her own name, and remains active as a live performer, as a con ...

, and

Gene Clark Harold Eugene Clark (November 17, 1944 – May 24, 1991) was an American singer-songwriter and founding member of the folk rock band the Byrds. He was the Byrds' principal songwriter between 1964 and early 1966, writing most of the band's best ...

. Their 1996 collection of unreleased songs, ''Death Valley Days'', also included songs by

Nick Drake Nicholas Rodney Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter and musician. An accomplished acoustic guitarist, Drake signed to Island Records at the age of twenty while still a student at the University of Cambridg ...

and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

, and in 2000 they issued ''Train Leaves at Eight'', which broadened the approach further by including songs by European artists including

Mikis Theodorakis Michail "Mikis" Theodorakis ( ; 29 July 1925 – 2 September 2021) was a Greek composer and lyricist credited with over 1,000 works. He scored for the films '' Zorba the Greek'' (1964), '' Z'' (1969), and '' Serpico'' (1973). He was a three-ti ...

Goran Bregović Goran Bregović ( sr-Cyrl, Горан Бреговић; born 22 March 1950) is a recording artist born in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is one of the most internationally known modern musicians and composers of the Slavic speaking countries in the ...

and

Neu! Neu! (; German for "New!"; styled in block capitals) were a West German krautrock band formed in Düsseldorf in 1971 by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother following their departure from Kraftwerk. The group's albums were produced by Conny Plank, w ...

. In 1995, the band signed with

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

in Germany and released '' Devil's Road'' (1996) - recorded in part with the Warsaw Philharmonic - and ''Nighttown'' (1997), leading to new levels of success in Europe. The video for "The Light Will Stay On", the lead single from ''Devil's Road'' was in heavy rotation on

MTV Europe MTV Global (formerly MTV Europe) is the international version of the American TV channel MTV as 24-hour music video and entertainment pay television network officially launched on 1 August 1987 as part of the worldwide MTV network. Initia ...

. Starting in 1996, Michael Wells left the band for several years, rejoining in 2003. He was replaced in quick succession by bassists

John Baker Saunders John Baker Saunders, Jr. (September 23, 1954 – January 15, 1999) was an An American Music Band, American musician, known as a founding member and bassist for the United States, American grunge rock supergroup Mad Season (band), Mad Season, as ...

, Fred Chalenor and Joe Skyward. In 1999, they moved to the German record label,

Glitterhouse Records Glitterhouse Records is a German independent record label and mail order company based in Beverungen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It was founded in the mid-1980s. From the late 1980s until the mid-1990s it was the European branch of the American la ...

(the successor to Sub Pop Europe), and released ''Trail of Stars'' (1999), ''Train Leaves at Eight'' (2000), ''Ended Up a Stranger'' (2001), ''Slow Days with Nina'' (2003) - an EP tribute to

Nina Simone Nina Simone ( ; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and po ...

- and ''

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'' (2005). During that period of time, Terri Moeller took a break from the band in 2000, and was replaced by Brian Young until she returned in 2001. In 2010, guitarist Paul Austin joined the band and work began on a new album entitled ''Travels in the Dustland,'' released the following year to strong reviews that also hailed the band's return to activity after a six year absence. During the subsequent European tour, the live album ''Berlin'' was recorded and released. In 2015, Eckman confirmed in an interview with '' Uncut'' magazine, and in a subsequent Facebook post, that The Walkabouts had disbanded. Eckman continues to write and record with a number of projects, as well as serve as label manager for the global sounds imprint Glitterbeat.

Side projects

Eckman and Torgerson have released albums as side projects under the name "Chris & Carla" and as solo artists. Carla Torgerson has worked with

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

musician Akis Boyatzis and his band Sigmatropic on their album ''16

Haiku is a type of short form poetry that originated in Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases composed of 17 Mora (linguistics), morae (called ''On (Japanese prosody), on'' in Japanese) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern; that include a ''kire ...

& Other Stories'' (2001). Later Torgerson released a solo album ''Saint Stranger'' (2004) with help of Akis Boyatzis. Between 1996 and 2003, Chris Eckman worked with Norwegian band Midnight Choir and teamed with Al DeLoner of Midnight Choir in

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

-project called "Höst" for an album ''The Damage Suite'' (2001). Also Eckman has worked with Willard Grant Conspiracy on the albums '' Regard the End'' (2003) and '' Let It Roll'', as well as with

The Bambi Molesters The Bambi Molesters were a surf rock band from Sisak, Croatia, founded in 1995. They performed regularly in Croatia and all over Europe, often opening for the US rock band R.E.M. They released five studio albums from 1997 until 2013. In collabor ...

. Eckman is also a member of the trio Dirtmusic along with

Chris Brokaw Chris Brokaw (born August 1, 1964) is an American musician, best known for his work with the bands Come (American band), Come and Codeine (band), Codeine. Life and career While studying at Oberlin College, Brokaw met many people who became figu ...

and

Hugo Race Hugo Justin Race (born 23 May 1963) is an Australian rock musician and record producer who had been based in Europe from 1989 to 2011. He was a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (1983–85), and The Wreckery (1984–89) with Nick Barke ...

and he has worked with the band Tamikrest from

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

. These two acts toured Europe as a double bill in the spring of 2010. Eckman has worked with

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1 ...

on projects including the song "John Lee Huber", and with Rupert Huber of Tosca on the album ''L/O/N/G''. Terri Moeller has formed The Beltanes with Eric Alton, formerly of

X-15 The North American X-15 is a Hypersonic speed, hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft which was operated by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the List of X-planes, X-plane series of ...

, releasing one cassette EP, entitled ''Love Punks'' (1990), and The Transmissionary Six with Paul Austin, formerly of Willard Grant Conspiracy. She released a solo CD under the pseudonym Terri Tarantula in 2010.

Band members

Timeline

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:18 PlotArea = left:110 bottom:90 top:0 right:20 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1984 till:04/01/2015 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy ScaleMinor = start:1984 increment:1 ScaleMajor = start:1984 increment:4 Legend = position:bottom orientation:horizontal Colors = id:voc value:red legend:Vocals id:g value:green legend:Guitar id:b value:blue legend:Bass id:dr value:orange legend:Drums id:key value:purple legend:Keyboards id:vio value:drabgreen legend:Violin id:studio value:black legend:Studio_Album LineData = at:15/01/1988 color:black layer:back at:24/09/1989 color:black layer:back at:13/09/1991 color:black layer:back at:15/01/1993 color:black layer:back at:24/06/1993 color:black layer:back at:13/01/1994 color:black layer:back at:15/01/1995 color:black layer:back at:24/01/1996 color:black layer:back at:13/01/1997 color:black layer:back at:15/08/1999 color:black layer:back at:24/07/2000 color:black layer:back at:13/07/2001 color:black layer:back at:24/01/2005 color:black layer:back at:13/09/2011 color:black layer:back BarData = bar:CEckman text:"Chris Eckman" bar:Torgerson text:"Carla Torgerson" bar:Wirth text:"Bruce Wirth" bar:Austin text:"Paul Austin" bar:CuEchman text:"Curt Eckman" bar:Wells text:"Michael Wells" bar:Saunders text:"John Baker Saunders" bar:Chalenor text:"Fred Chalenor" bar:Skyward text:"Joe Skyward" bar:GEckman text:"Grant Eckman" bar:Moeller text:"Terri Moeller" bar:Young text:"Brian Young" bar:Slater text:"Glenn Slater" PlotData = width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(11,-4) bar:CEckman from:start till:end color:g width:3 bar:CEckman from:start till:end color:voc bar:Torgerson from:start till:end color:g width:3 bar:Torgerson from:start till:end color:voc bar:Austin from:01/01/2011 till:end color:g bar:Slater from:01/01/1989 till:end color:key bar:Wirth from:01/03/1991 till:01/06/1994 color:vio width:3 bar:Wirth from:01/03/1991 till:01/06/1994 color:g bar:CuEchman from:start till:01/03/1985 color:b bar:Wells from:01/03/1985 till:01/06/1996 color:b bar:Wells from:01/01/2003 till:end color:b bar:Saunders from:01/06/1996 till:15/01/1999 color:b bar:Chalenor from:15/01/1999 till:31/12/1999 color:b bar:Skyward from:01/01/2000 till:31/12/2002 color:b bar:GEckman from:start till:01/03/1991 color:dr bar:Moeller from:01/03/1991 till:31/12/1999 color:dr bar:Moeller from:01/01/2001 till:end color:dr bar:Young from:01/01/2000 till:31/12/2000 color:dr

Discography

EPs

* ''22 Disasters'' (1985 - Necessity Records - produced by Terry Date & the Walkabouts) * '' Rag & Bone'' (1990 -

- produced by Tony Kroes, Ed Brooks & the Walkabouts) * ''Slow Days With Nina'' (2003 - Shingle Street Records) - tribute to

Studio albums

Compilations

* ''Death Valley Days: Lost Songs and Rarities, 1985–1995'' (1996 – Glitterhouse) – Rare or previously unreleased songs 1985–1995 * ''Watermarks: Selected Songs, 1991 to 2002'' (2002 – Innerstate) – An anthology featuring the best of the Walkabouts from their Sub Pop, Glitterhouse, and Virgin releases 1991-2002 * ''Drunken Soundtracks: Lost Songs and Rarities, 1995–2001'' (2002 – Glitterhouse) – Rare or previously unreleased songs 1995–2001, 2-CDs set * ''Shimmers'' (2003 – Glitterhouse) – An anthology featuring the best of the Walkabouts from their Sub Pop, Glitterhouse and Virgin releases 1993-2001 * ''Got No Chains / The Songs of The Walkabouts'' (2009 – Glitterhouse) – Remastered versions of 15 Walkabouts songs + those same 15 songs performed by others - a tribute disc - 2-CDs set

DVDs

* ''Life: The Movie'' Collected Films & Clips (2012 - Glitterhouse) - Contains "Live in Prague" video (same concert as in Prague bootleg), "Tracking The Walkabouts", a 40-minute "on-the-road" documentary, "Walkie Talkie", 40 minutes of interview footage and all 9 official video clips

Singles

Official bootlegs

List of official bootlegs (sold at concerts) and mailorder only releases (released on the German label Glitterhouse Records).

References

External links

Unofficial "The Walkabouts" (and Chris & Carla) website

The Walkabouts collection
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

's live music archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Walkabouts, The Musical groups established in 1984 Musical groups disestablished in 2015 1984 establishments in Washington (state) 2015 disestablishments in Washington (state) Musical groups from Seattle Indie rock musical groups from Washington (state) PopLlama Records artists Sub Pop artists Glitterhouse Records artists