Doug Walters, Crime Magnet

© Akim Aginsky

I sat down with Doug Walters, singer and songwriter of Red Wire Black Wire, the Brooklyn based indie-rock sextet, on a rainy afternoon in a dingy Brooklyn dive bar. From the minute he walked through the glass door with a confused look on his face and water dripping from the bandana around his head I knew this wasn’t going to be a normal interview. I introduced myself and with a quick hello back, Doug fell onto the stool next to me and placed his wet umbrella on the bar.

A few minutes later, with a drink in his hand, Doug started to tell a story of his apartment being robbed in broad daylight the day before, while he, his girlfriend, and one of his roommates were at home. The robber had picked the lock, gathered up laptops and cellphones, and was heading down the stairs when another of Doug’s roommates walked in from the street. Startled, the guy ran back into the apartment, over to the kitchen window and jumped out. Hearing the noise, their downstairs neighbor looked out to see the robber and started after him. While in chase, the neighbor called after the cops on the corner, who in turn tackled the guy and returned their stuff.

You’ve gotta be kidding me? This happened in broad daylight?

Yeah… I’m just kind of a crime magnet though. I get robbed a lot. My apartment was also broken into a year ago and my car’s been broken into three times now. It’s good I have renters insurance now though.

So, do you live with people from you band?

No, but we all live close now. 

Now?

Well, the band was started while we were in college at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, so the six of us came down at different times. My brother had been living in Russia for a while, so when he came back he rejoined the band. Maintaining a six-person band is tough though.

Why are you trying to have a six-person band anyway?

I tend to write very dense music, with a lot of parts, and I don’t want to play with a laptop. I feel like when I go to see a show and half of the music is being played off a laptop, it’s not like you’re seeing a show. So in order to deliver on stage I need six people; it’s not like they’re all playing all the time, but there are times when six people are playing. I think I’m going to start playing around with samplers though. 

It’s just hard to keep six people in line, uh?

It really is! If you want to go on tour the transportation is hard, housing is hard and also when you’re traveling around with a bunch of free wheeling musicians, everyone wants to do something different. Just getting from city to city and keeping track of everything people lost is very difficult.

So what made you move from Wesleyan University down to NYC?

I’d been coming here for the summers, most of us had, and it just seemed like where we were all going. 

Okay, so it wasn’t a progressive thing? Like NYC is where you have to go to make it?

It’s really not about “making it.” It was more because Brooklyn has a lot to offer in terms of amount of creative people in the area you can play music with and shows you can see and play. I go home to suburban Maryland and think of what it would be like to be in a band there and where you would play and what sort of musicians you’d be hanging out with and talking to. It just doesn’t seem like it would be the same at all. 

I was reading a couple past interviews and heard you say you guys don’t sound similar to the National. Do you think you sound like them?

I think a lot of the vocal phrasing is similar, but they are a lot more organic. I find the actual instrument choices are more organic. We use a lot of strings and stuff on our record, Robots and Roses, but a majority of it is synthesizers and also we try to make more grove-based music. Right now though is a very transitional phase for us we have a new bass player and drum we are starting to play with.

Where’s the coolest place music has taken you so far?

While my brother was in Russia we pulled together a trip out that way. It was really weird; we didn’t really see the sun the whole time, so our clocks never changed. We were there five days, playing two shows in this crazy packed rock venue.  It was great, but when I got back I was at a loose of what to do next. I had put out an album I was really proud of and I had toured to some great places.

So what’s the next step for Red Wire Black Wire?

I want to make different music from what I have been doing, not in a dramatic way, but you know, different textures, sounds. I’m still in the working process though so my thoughts aren’t really to the point where they can be talked about, but I’m looking for strong melodies and catchy rhythms. I’m back in the writing mode though.