Walkers’ Project, 'My Own Best Friend/ Peace of Mind'

In 2018, the name Walker surfaced on peoples radars, after gaining traction from his single, ‘It’s Not (Her Eyes)’. By combining a mixture of R&B and soulful Jazz, topping it off with soft hip- hop lines, Walker released this one song then vanished.

After almost a full year since his debut single, Walker came back to drop a two song project called, ‘My Own Best Friend/ Peace of Mind’.

Growing up a Santa Monica native, Walker had zero interest in music. Claiming he wanted to pursue an assortment of careers from Basketball and Soccer, to a short stint of being a garbage man.

“So this whole artist thing isn't exactly what we were shooting for... but I'm not complaining,” said Walker.

Your first single ‘It’s Not (her eyes)’ dropped in 2018, coming back almost to a full year since. You released your two- song project, ‘My Own Best Friend/ Peace Of Mind’, what have you been up to between that time frame?

Putting "It's Not" out and having it get the warm reception it did was great but was at times also disorienting and even scary. I had started singing and writing songs not even a year before and although I was working really hard and practicing those things several hours a day I didn't have an understanding of myself as a creative yet. I was also lacking confidence. It's Not was this crazy moment of flow. I wrote, performed and produced it in 3 hours and just like that, bam, I had this killer little single. That wasn't a level of creativity that was reproducible for me at that point. So I needed time to grow. There was no way I was going to put something out that didn't feel like it was on that same level.

You mentioned your project is wrapped around, what you can achieve when you decide no one can take away your creativity. Could you expand a little on that subject?

For me I had to lift the creative blocks that kept me from putting something out after It's Not. That was the task. So I worked more on myself than I did on my craft, if that makes sense. I put a lot of time into stillness, self-healing and self reflection. What I realized was that I did not love myself because I had not been loved. I am now working to give myself what I needed/need. As a result more songs come. And they come from that same crazy flow state, where in a short time I have a completely finished piece of work.

What influences are in your music?

I like everything that is telling the truth lyrically and captures the essence of the different sides of the human spirit musically. So I really only like stuff that's soulful, is another way of putting it. What that means for me is basically: The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, Donny Hathaway, Amy Winehouse, Joao Gilberto, Al Green. I can't really name genres so those are some big names. I don't like music that is overly ego-centric, or that is lying and forced (inauthentic), or that is static, un-human and un-feeling. I'm always discovering more stuff that fits this criteria. Just today I was really blown away by the sincerity of the lyrics and performance on Rex Orange County's "Sunflower." We're lucky to have him.

How were the Jazz and R&B sounds that fill your music introduced to you? Are they something you grew up on?

R&B was at the center of my musical education as a kid. Everything I listened to was either R&B itself or had a lot of R&B influence. I feel very very lucky to have had that. It means that R&B is just in me at this point and there's really none of the language that I have to learn by rote. It's automatic. Jazz was something I got into myself when I started playing guitar at 15. These days I have a love/hate relationship with it. But again, I feel very lucky to have it as a musical backbone.

What can we expect next from you?

Expect a lot more music. And don't think it's all gonna be soul-jazz-hip-hop fusion like It's Not or these new singles. I absolutely will not be pigeon-holed into that world and there's so many other sounds I want to explore.

Anyone you want to shout out?

I want to shout out my best friend Jared Gentile (IG: backwards_j). He's loved and supported me through this whole process and it makes such a huge difference having another person in my life who values good art and sincerity as much as I do. Love ya J.

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