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Marc Luber: You're watching professional rock drummer Charlie Walker as he rehearses to
go on tour. His reunited band, Chamberlain, is hitting the road this summer with the band
The Gaslight Anthem. Today on Careers Out There, we'll be exploring the life of a rock
musician - what it's like and how to get it. Stick around - it's gonna be a fun episode!
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Marc Luber: Hey everyone, we are here on location in Hollywood, CA today and we are sitting
with professional rock drummer Charlie Walker. Charlie, thanks so much for joining us Careers
Out There.
Charlie Walker: Thank you.
Marc Luber: Appreciate it. So, thereís a lot to talk about. And there are so many people
ñ probably at least every guy ñ would love to be a rock drummer. Everybody plays drums
at their desk, they play air drums, we all grow up just being fascinated with drummers
and wanting to be one. You get to be oneÖ.itís pretty cool. Tell us some highlights of your
drumming resume.
Charlie Walker: I think the highest for me personally would be we toured with U2. I played
for a guy named Gavin Rossdale, who is the former singer of the band Bush, and we had
a band called Institute together. In 2005 we did 13 shows opening up as direct support
for U2 on their Vertigo tour.
Marc Luber: That had to be fun.
Charlie Walker: Amazing, yeah.
Marc Luber: Alright. How does someone from a farm town in Indiana end up playing with
Gavin Rossdale of Bush, a band that sold over 10 million records just in America! How does
that happen?
Charlie Walker: It happened through just years of touring. I was 14 when I did my first record.
I had a band called Split Lip and Chamberlain back in Indiana. Then I moved to New York
City in `99 and I met a guitar player named Chris Trainer. Chris Trainer and I had a band
together. Then Nigel, the original guitar player of Bush, quit and they got Chris to
replace him. Then Chris called me when he said Gavin wanted to start a new band and
he asked me if I wanted to play and of course I said yes.
Marc Luber: Nice.
Charlie Walker: There you go.
Marc Luber: So was a lot of that networking, would you say?
Charlie Walker: Yeah, punk rock networking, really. Growing up in an underground, hardcore
music scene, you just by touring in a van and staying at peopleís houses, playing in
these peopleís basements and everything like that, you just get to know people and then
those people end up eventually growing up and getting jobs in the music industry and
everything, and you can call them and say ìheyî, you know. So it is networking on
a different, underground scale.
Marc Luber: Right. Youíre not running around with business cards and schmooze events.
Charlie Walker: No. Now I am.
Marc Luber: More professional now.
Charlie Walker: Right.
Marc Luber: So whatís the perspective like when youíre on stage in front of a giant
audience like a U2 audience? The drummer is kind of isolated. Youíre in the back of the
stage, youíre staring at the backs of peopleís headsÖitís not like youíre out front with
everyone. Do you feel lonely? Whatís that like?
Charlie Walker: Sure, itís kind of a catch 22 because you have this protective barrier.
You have 22,000 or 30,000 people surrounding you but you have this little wall in between
all of that. But you donít get the interaction, of course, the same as the guitar player or
the singer. Theyíre very up front and can see the people right away. My perspective
is yes, I get lonely, but also I know that I have the best seat in the house. I see everything.
Yes, I see the back of the other players but also can look around and see everybody behind
me and around me. In small clubs, itís obviously more interactive, which I like a lot. I like
the sweat and hearing all that screaming and stuff. Yeah, I have the best seat in the house,
thatís the best way to put it.
Marc Luber: Are you contacting record labels to find gigs, are they calling you, how does
that work?
Charlie Walker: Constantly. I am constantly calling either my friends from the old school,
hardcore punk scene that work at labels to see if they have anybody who needs a drummer.
Iím constantly calling people at record labels, any source that I have through what Iíve
gone through in the last 15-20 years now, Iím constantly calling them. You know, sometimes
even bothering them too much. ìYou just called me a couple days ago,î but thatís really
what it takes. And the people that Iíve found that get the most gigs and the most jobs,
are constantly on the phone every day.
Marc Luber: What about the hardest part? If someoneís watching right now, they can be
in Indiana, they can be in Florida, they can be anywhere, and theyíre interested in doing
what you do. What would you tell them, if you canít handle this, this is not the path
for you? What is it? Whatís the hardest part?
Charlie Walker: The instability of it. You never know where your next gigís coming from,
you never know where your next paycheckís coming from. You always have to worry, literally,
if you can put gas in your car or food on your plate. It will go to the highest of highs
and to the lowest of lows. And itís so inconsistent. Some years it will be straight awesome and
youíre rockiní, and then some years you wonít have anything, you know what I mean.
I would say if you canít handle instability, then donít even think about it. If you want
a paycheck every Friday and know where your job is and know exactly always whatís going
to happen in a perfect box, donít do this.
Marc Luber: Give everybody an action plan. For all the people that are watching out there,
regardless of where they are in the country, or regardless of their age, they want to do
what you do, what can they start doing today? What can they start doing right now to get
on that right path?
Charlie Walker: Practice. The first thing you gotta do is practice and immerse yourself
in your instrument. Guitar, banjo, drums, whatever it is. Study, study, study. And the
blessing is YouTube. Go on YouTube and watch every drummer, and every video, study them.
Break it down, take it apart, make it your own, steal riffs, make them your own thing
and just go for it. I mean, really, if you want to make it your life, itís like if you
want to be a doctor, you start looking at medical books. Get every rock book ever made.
Get every biography, get every autobiography, get every piece of magazine, every piece of
musical history and study your history, man, because that is a very very important thing.
The Stones were the blues, but the blues were this, you know, and it just goes back and
back and back until youíre like at the root and youíre like oh, man, OK. Study. Immerse
yourself into it and have a good time. Have a good time, man!
Marc Luber: That's great advice, yup.
Charlie Walker: Have a blast because itís fun. Itís not meant to be taken so seriously.
In any aspect of life, especially music, itís a joyous occasion. Itís a very beautiful
thing that you should hold dear to your heart and enjoy it. Have fun.
Marc Luber: So you love what you do.
Charlie Walker: Absolutely.
Marc Luber: What would be, if you had to leave everyone with some keys to success, what are
some keys to success that people should be thinking about?
Charlie Walker: Work hard, believe in yourself, have full confidence, forget about the arrogance,
and enjoy what you do. And donít ever give up. Donít ever give up, and donít let anybody
tell you any different - cause itís your life, not theirs.
Marc Luber: Beautiful. Well said, well said. Everybody - Careers Out There is real advice
from real professionals like Charlie Walker here. Keep watching us - we're at Careers
Out There dot com and we look forward to seeing you again soon. Take care.
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