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We’re upbeat to make our tunes uplifting
 STEVE
Wall has a problem. He and his bandmates in The Walls have a mantra a
mantra which dictates that their music must be uplifting. At the moment,
he’s finding it a challenging task.
“People usually write the best lyrics when they’re unhappy,”
he explains. “Otherwise, they’d be out being happy instead
of stuck in a room trying to write music.
“So we’re trying to be as positive and as upbeat as possible.
We’re hoping that this will translate into uplifting songs.”
It’s an interesting dilemma but it must be admitted that if anybody
has a right to be downcast, it’s Steve and his brother Joe.
Their musical odyssey has been an especially fraught one.
In 1987 they founded The Stunning, a band which went on to become one
of Ireland’s best-loved musical acts. However, despite national
acclaim and devotion from fans the band failed to make an impact internationally.
They broke up in 1994.
Refusing to become disheartened, Joe and Steve moved to London where they
were signed to a record label. Once again, success beckoned but failed
to materialise.
“Things really didn’t go as planned,” Steve recalls
with a hint of bitterness in his voice. “We were disillusioned by
the whole thing; having been pushed in directions we really weren’t
interested in going. We felt we’d wasted two years.”
At this point others would have conceded defeat but not the single-minded
Wall brothers.
They returned to Ireland, formed The Walls and set up their own record
label –– this time determined to succeed on their own terms.
“We knew that we’d have to work longer and harder on our own,”
says Steve. “But we needed to have more control.”
So, are these brothers really as indefatigable as they seem? Steve suggests
otherwise. He maintains that their decision to persevere in the music
business has less to do with their relentless desire to succeed than with
a lack of options.
“I’ve been in bands since I was 19,” he says. “It’s
all I know how to do and I think it’s what I’m destined to
do.”
Music has certainly played an important role in his life from the very
beginning. He remembers his mother’s record collection with fondness
–– The Beatles, Elvis, Burt Bacharach….
“My mother had six sisters and they were all into music,”
he recalls. “They’d have parties where I would be the barman
and they’d play music and have sing songs all night. That’s
where Joe and I got our love of music from.”
This love has sustained them through the arduous journey from those early
days serving drinks to their mother and her dancing sisters to the stage
where The Walls are now achieving some level of recognition.
How has the brothers’ relationship fared? After all, pop lore is
strewn with examples of rifts between siblings.
Quite well, it seems. “We have a good relationship,” says
Steve. “It’s competitive in its own way, a bit like Lennon
and McCartney.
“If he’s got songs on an album, I’ll want some of my
songs on there too and I’ll want them to be just as good as his.
The relationship works to the band’s advantage most of the time.”
The presence of three others in the band also helps to dilute this sibling
rivalry.
Together with Rory Doyle on drums, Jon O’Connell on bass and Marc
Aubele on keyboard, Steve and Joe have fashioned their distinctive sound
pleasingly light-hearted melodies combined with accessible yet interesting
lyrics.
“It’s definitely rock,” explains Steve. “It’s
slightly alternative without being too out there. It’s guitar-based
with a strong emphasis on lyrics and melody. We try to make it as uplifting
as possible. And then I like to use poetic and allegorical lyrics a song
that gives you more with each listen.”
Their last album New Dawn Breaking which was released in 2005, testifies
to this. Its radio-friendly pop tunes made it a firm favourite with fans,
ensured it a place at the top of Ireland’s charts and produced four
successful singles.
To The Bright And Shining Sun was one of these singles. It’s a life-enhancing
tune that sets lyrics of hope and redemption against the backdrop of an
addictive rhythm of repeated and escalating guitar riffs and drum beats.
Black And Blue is another fast-paced track in which heartfelt lyrics are
set to a traditional rock arrangement.
The singer speaks to a loved one who is suffering and tries to offer comfort.
“See the stars up through the skylight/they’re going to light
your way/ there’s all this love for you/there’s no need to
be afraid”.
Steve and The Walls want all of their music to be suffused with this sense
of optimism. At the moment, they are working on their third album and
are trying to bring this light-heartedness to the songs ––
something they do in a very idiosyncratic fashion.
“I’ll admit we have an unusual recording method,” says
Steve. “We write the music first and then I’ll sing gobbledygook
over that until I hit upon a lyric or a melody that fits.”
It’s a method that has seemed to work for them this far and Steve
is hopeful that it will prove just as successful for this album.
“We won’t have the album ready until the end of the year but
I can already tell it will be the best one yet,” he says, jokingly
but with a sure sense of confidence.
It’s a confidence born of the many trials experienced during their
long musical journey and it is tempered with a strong sense of realism.
The Walls have experienced national adoration with The Stunning and dealt
with crushing disappointment in London. But their love of music shines
through.
“We’ve been stung over the years,” admits Steve. “But
we’re still committed to the music. We always will be.”
Fans of The Walls (past, present and future) can breathe a sigh of relief.
n For more information about The Walls, visit www.thewalls.ie and www.myspace.com/thewallsband.
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