I’m sitting down at ArcTan Gent with Steph, a charismatic and benevolent loud woman, and the vocalist and front woman of the prog band Giant Walker. We talk her background and love of music and writing.
Natasha: Thanks for sitting down with us! How did you find that set? It was electric and with such a good turnout, the tent was spilling over.
Steph: Thank you, yeah it was great! Considering this is one of the earlier slots I wasn’t sure if it would get that busy, plus ITHACA were playing just before.
There was literally five minutes between acts, I sprinted over with a horde of other people doing the exact same thing.
Oh wow! It’s the first time that we’ve been here, but it’s been amazing.
Excellent scenes, so what first drew you into making music?
My dad was playing guitar in a band in the 70s and so music was a huge part of his life. Then that became a very big part of my childhood, and it was very much the kind of household where every room had a different album playing.
Oh, I love that!
Yeah! There was always something going on. I just couldn’t imagine life without music. I used to just sing along with stuff all the time, my favourite past time is blaring iTunes Library just on shuffle, going through all of the songs. I ended up doing music in school and then music at college. I think it’s all of those things combined – once it started, I was just like, yeah, this is it for me.
Were you ever in a choir or similar at school?
Yeah, for sure. It’s quite funny because when I was at school, I had two friends at the time that were really into musical theatre. And I thought okay, I like singing, I’ll come along, and all of the other people there were proper musical theatre kids and I’m just there like, I like rock and metal, but I’ve seen ‘Grease’.
Haha, so you’ve always been into alt music?
Yeah, I think from the influence from my dad, I would say, that’s always definitely been the vibe. It was kind of one of those things where I loved singing, but I definitely didn’t feel like I fit in sometimes. Then, when I went to college to do music, I ended up in a rock band with Jamie, so we’ve been playing together since we were like, 16.
That’s so nice, does that make writing together easier because you’ve known each other for such a long time?
Yeah, I would say so, now we just know each other really well, it just makes it really fun. I think we’ve got past the point of when we first started writing, when we wanted to get our individual ideas out and it really wouldn’t end well. Whereas now, I feel like we’re very much on the same page.
That’s great that you’ve grown up together and that speaks through your music. How else has your approach to writing or performing evolved since you started?
So we, the current members (of Giant Walker) were actually in another project with a very different name. We basically wrote our first album during Covid.
Oh, cool!
Yeah! It was one of those things that me and Jamie would be playing in that same band name since we were 16 and everything was DIY, like super budget. And then yeah, we wrote the album over lockdown, and we thought maybe it deserves a fresh start and it just felt like a good time as well, Covid was just such a crazy time.
Absolutely! So in terms of writing and lockdown, was it all done remotely?
Well, funnily enough me, Jamie and Jordan actually live together.
That makes it easier!
Yes! But Alex is up in Newcastle. So, we were kind of sending ideas back and forth and that was all done on a computer, which was really, really different. I really enjoyed the process of writing and also being able to record at the same time. I think until that point, we just jammed in rehearsal rooms. I think the cool thing about recording that way is: I’ll have a song idea, and I literally just hit record and then just basically improvise over the whole thing, and that’s really changed our writing process. Capturing something from your first idea to playing it back when it’s finished, I think sometimes that can be where the magic happens. It’s really interesting to hear that back in the finished version and I love that. It’s really cool.
That is very cool and a really organic evolution for the band. As things grow over the years, how do you define success for yourself?
We’ve always just said, if you expect anything from music, you expect too much.
Yeah, do it for the love not the money.
Yeah, and that whole process of basically trying to have our work be as sustainable as possible. It puts a lot of pressure on it to think that’s gonna be the main income. Just need to make sure that we enjoy it the whole time and I mean, playing ArcTanGent with Karnivool on the same day!
Yeah, that’s pretty fucking cool!
Yeah! I call that a success.
Hell yeah! Okay, what’s a piece of gear or instrument you’re emotionally attached to, and why?
Oh I just invested in a Nord piano, which was a bit of a big investment.
Ooof!
That red wood! You just can’t go wrong. So, I would say that and funnily enough the microphone that we normally use for our live shows is the microphone that I’ve had since I was 15.
Oh that’s lovely, do you have any good luck charms that you like wear on stage?
This! (points to her necklace with a beautiful jade stone).
Oh nice! Okay, what advice would you give to anyone just starting their first band or project?
Don’t have expectations and just enjoy it. There’s a lot of pressure on people with social media and stuff these days to make everything look perfect, but it’s a journey and it won’t always be perfect.
Things go wrong sometimes before it all falls into place.
That’s it, it’s an experience. What’s so cool about music being released, is it’s that moment in time that will always be there. The collective energy that we’re all part of, so just enjoy the experience.
That’s beautiful, I love that. Last question, what’s your favourite dinosaur?
Ooh! I’m gonna go Triceratops, they’re pretty badass!
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