The most widely used metaphor to describe music that has an impact on us revolves around travel: “it carries me away”, “it makes me travel”. In this case, if Walking Papers’ album makes you travel, it’s because its mains theme is… travel. Drummer Barret Martin’s thirst for travels is still strong, since the man spends all his time on tour, when he’s not on stage, visiting the cities in which the band stops. The idea behind the project was to musically transcribe the diversity and beauty of American landscapes, which Martin seems to be madly in love with. The result is a record with grunge foundations, which features sounds not often heard in the genre. It’s also extremely diverse, which the calm and minimalist opening song, “Already Dead”, shows in a very smart way.

The fact that these musicians still hunger for novelty can be surprising, given that all of them have had ample time to get used to, and possibly to get weary of, touring. Because Walking Papers is a project that brings together renowned artists, from Barret Martin (Screaming Trees, Mad Season) to Duff McKagan (Velvet Revolver, former Guns N’ Roses). There’s a word to describe this kind of initiative, a word that particularly annoys Barret, since this project is a new beginning for him. He doesn’t deny that, because the bandmembers are so famous, things are more comfortable from a financial point of view, but the band doesn’t want to jump important steps and wishes to rediscover the path most artists have to take: build a fanbase, win over small venues before selling-out bigger ones, create a bond between the members by playing intimist shows.

Also, Walking Papers want to remain independent. For Barret, who’s particularly severe towards those bands signed on big labels, that’s the only way to remain a rock band.

Read the interview…