The Walls launched their new album ‘Stop The Lights’ earlier this month. It’s been six years since the release of their last album New Dawn Breaking. According to Steve Wall of The Walls, it has been, “six years of starts, re-starts, re-writes, scraps, scrapes, walk-outs, walk-ins, changes of direction, crèche runs, school runs, the death of the Celtic Tiger, the collapse of a country, a change of government and a new president.”
One of New Dawn Breaking’s stand-out tracks ‘Romantic Ireland’s Dead & Gone’ highlighted the climate that was prevalent in the year of it’s release:
“They build them quick these days, apartment space would suit three or four.
The walls are paper thin, while in my bed I can hear my neighbour snore…
…Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone, the Gombeen sold her for a song”
Little did the band realise how prophetic those words were to become and what lay in store for the country, and that it would take so long to complete and release the follow-up album in a very different Ireland.
The Walls were formed after the demise of The Stunning by brothers Steve and Joe Wall. The band has released two albums on its own Dirtbirds imprint. The album New Dawn Breaking went straight into the Irish charts at No. 5 in its first week of release in June 2005 and has produced four hit singles including “To the Bright and Shining Sun” (“the song from the bank ad”). The Walls released ‘Bird in a Cage’ in 2011, a wonderful autobiographical tune that features on ‘Stop The Lights’
In the intervening years since the last album from The Walls there has also been many extra-curricular activities going on in The Walls camp. The Stunning have gigged occasionally and Steve has started an acting career and has been cast in ‘Moone Boy’, the new series for Sky TV created by Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids, IT Crowd). Joe is now lecturing in BIMM, the new Dublin College for Modern Music. Rory and Marc are part of Bellx1’s touring band and Jon is playing trad music in Co.Clare.
The current single ‘Stop the Lights’ is out now. The Walls play Dolan’s on Friday March 30.
