Into Scottish Creatives Interview: Walt Disco

The past 18 months or so have been a busy time for Walt Disco, the Scottish six-piece band whose sound mixes glam rock, post punk, elements of new romantic and electro-pop. Hints of Orange Juice, The Associates, Franz Ferdinand and David Bowie are in their sound but, it’s much, much more than that. Put it all together and the resultant output is bold, at times theatrical, and definitely grabs the attention.

Those past 18 months saw the release of the Young Hard and Handsome EP through to the imminent arrival of their debut album Unlearning coupled with a headline tour. Into Creative’s John Welsh spoke to James Potter and Jack Martin from the band to get the lowdown on all things Walt Disco. 

What and who are your primary influences from both a lyrical and musical perspective?

I think melodically and lyrically, Scott Walker is a huge influence for both Jack and me – the main lyricists of band. Sonically, we’ve evolved constantly but this album drew inspiration from Sophie, Young Fathers, Arca, Yeezus (the album) and St. Vincent, among many others.

You’ve got a UK & European tour scheduled to tour and promote the album kicking off with a hometown show in Glasgow (31 March, St. Luke’s). Of course, it’s been an incredibly difficult 2 years or so due to the pandemic. How much are you looking forward to getting out there and playing live on your headline tour?

Yeah, it’s been hard getting a huge part of our lives taken away from us and live music is still not back to its former glory, with many factors contributing to touring being harder than ever. This being said, we can’t wait to get out there and play the album to our fans.

Any particular towns/cities/venues you are looking forward to playing?

All of them!

What can the audiences expect from a Walt Disco show?

Energy, high volumes and the odd nip slip.

What’s on the tour bus mixtape?

We let our darling tour manager Simon take care of that! Driver picks the tunes, it helps that his tunes are always great!

What’s in the tour rider?

As much fibre and nutrients as the promoter is willing to give us. Desperately trying to avoid tour lurgy this time.

The lyrics to new single ‘How Cool Are You?’ don’t miss the mark. What’s the story behind the track? Was it based on anyone in particular or perhaps more observational of people in general trying too hard to appear cool?

Our friend Callum Rankine wrote the lyrics to this track actually. I always perceive these lyrics as saying to people to not take themselves too seriously.

The accompanying video sees you work with Eric J.Liddle and Kasparas Vidunas of Humble Film Productions – how did the idea for the video come about and how much fun was it to make?

It came about because of Finlay’s old hobby. In his earlier years of school he played ice hockey so when we were planning videos for the singles we knew we had to try and get in an ice rink somehow. I think the bruises were worth it.

Looking back over the past 12 months, you’ve shared a stage with Duran Duran and are on the cusp of releasing your debut album. What’s been your personal highlight of the past year?

I suppose it’s hard to look past supporting Duran Duran in front of 8,000 people.

Thinking back to all the gigs/concerts you’ve attended, which one show stands out the most as really memorable and why?

For most of us it was seeing Young Fathers in the Barrowland. It was an absolutely insane performance.