Yeah, it's great to re-contextualize that music and put it in a good spot. You play them so well, it's seems like it's coming from a great place. But now it's fun to play them and bring them to a new light. You want to remember where all the songs come from, but most are just drug use and being really negative. You know, they were written just so bummed out. That's so cool you can hear the songs in a whole different way now. There's still bad days, but yeah, I'm a much happier person than I was. When I play them now, it sounds kind of happy, because I'm somewhat happy. I think the songs are really fun to play live because the record sounds so sad. And I'm in an NA program and I have a sponsor and I have all this accountability in my life right now. I was deep in a really dark depression.īut, now, I went to rehab and I cleaned up and I have almost six months sober right now. That press release was written in a pretty dark zone. I'm clean now and I thank whatever out there for it. No, what made touring hard was I was a heroin addict for years. So I read that you can't listen to Deafman Glance anymore because it kind of 'broke your brain.' Does that make touring hard? And then I wanted to have him on board in a band because he's really into jamming and stuff. He put on a show for me in Columbus and then we just decided to do a collaboration set. I don't want to call it serious contemporary music or anything. Ryan, who plays drums, he was living in Columbus, Ohio at the time about 10 years ago and I was getting really into improvising and noise stuff. Ryley Walker: I found them through the Midwest noise scene. How did you find those guys and how long have you been playing with them? Walker was gracious enough to chat with KEXP after his performance, covering his addiction recovery, his love of Dave Matthews, and the joy of the big city. (Both are out now via Dead Oceans.) Sadly, 2018 was also the year he began to self-destruct from drugs and depression, a pit he's since proudly managed to crawl out of. There was a point where it seemed like Walker and the drummer were improvising and playing off each other like jazz musicians. After the performance, walking back outside, I could hear attendees still marveling over what they just witnessed.ĭeafman Glance isn't the only thing Walker released last year he also released The Lillywhite Sessions, an irony-free cover album of an unreleased Dave Matthews Band LP. Throughout the entire performance, they were cheering before the songs were even over. He came out on stage sans shirt, saying it was just too hot, and proceeded to launch into a jaw-dropping set of tracks spotlighting his most recent release Deafman Glance. Instead of performing from one of the outdoor stages, he was booked in the intimate Wheeler Theater, which seats less than 300 people. One of the best kept secrets at THING Fest was Ryley Walker.

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