BIO
From the outside looking in, listeners would never know how much the members of Walking Bicycles went through since forming in 2004 – or, for that matter, what they went through leading up to that. How could they? Walking Bicycles are a blend of enigmatic doom pop and declarative lyrics that sound cool without trying to be, the type of music that exists for the sake of expression and enjoyment. There’s no air of major label hype or enigma-like backstory. Singer Jocelyn Summers, guitarist Julius Moriarty, bassist Jason Leather, and drummer Deric Criss just aren’t the type to boast, despite a deep history that warrants doing so.
The kismet path of founders and partners Julius and Jocelyn began while following the Grateful Dead in the ‘90s. The two crossed paths a dozen times on the road before literally running into one another years later on a college campus in Humboldt County, California, the sheer unlikeliness prompting the realization that they were destined to be together. They lived in Humboldt for a decade, Julius the quintessential Humboldt farmer, and Jocelyn working at an art gallery while they both went to school and traveled the West coast, hitting up as many indie shows as possible, which eventually inspired them to start a band.
Jocelyn gifted Julius a guitar as a birthday present and less than a year later, they were recording in Los Angeles. Walking Bicycles started their own label, Highwheel Records, to give underrated artists a platform to shine, including themselves. Their self-titled debut dropped in 2005 and off they went, leaving Humboldt for the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago, an indie scene that fit their ethos, adding Jason Leather, a talented multi-instrumentalist on bass in 2005, and motoric and bombastic drummer Deric Criss on drums in 2012.
Walking Bicycles have released five records, the last of which was the critically-favored To Him That Wills The Way. A heavier listen than the rest of their discography, the album centered around the isolation, separation, and loneliness Jocelyn felt when Julius served three years in prison for possessing a large amount of marijuana. The intense look inwards left them feeling exhausted. Logically, they decided to look outwards at the world around them for their follow-up record. But that’s when it hit them. “We said we’d write a happy album about the world,” says Julius, “but as soon as we sat down to write about it we realized this is the worst world to write about.”
That’s where Chooch comes in. On their first new album in 5 years, Walking Bicycles use a series of vignettes to highlight the chooches of the world: the jackasses, the idiots, and every person in between who continues to act inappropriately. Whether it’s calling out the conservative Fountainhead movement circling back in “Dumbshit Never Learns,” the dark side of conspiracy theories on “ESP,” or the eternal devastation of waiting for the man to stop controlling life on “Fat Cat,” Chooch is a record that confronts familiar annoyances with the most freeing, middle finger-up act of defiance.
Guided by warped guitar tones, menacing drums, and thundering bass, the new sound Walking Bicycles present on Chooch is louder than anything they’ve recorded before. Consider it a blend of the manic attitude of Thee Oh Sees, the shadowy singing of Siouxsie and the Banshees, and the burst of freedom that comes from telling the worst people in the world that they can go to hell. Walking Bicycles decided early on that they didn’t want opportunities handed to them — even at times when it was earned. With Chooch, the band shows just how far you can come as music-obsessed friends without having to compromise the way in which you get there. Now more than ever it’s clear that the successes Walking Bicycles achieved in the DIY community come from 15 years of hard work and a refusal to settle for anything less than what feels right.
Bio by Nina Corcoran
PRESS QUOTES
“…evoking early, abrasive Siouxsie and the Banshees and even touching on Clinic’s more frenzied forays into noise pop.” – The AV Club
“…doomy, booming rock music that sounds like a medical emergency crossed with an existential crisis.” – Stereogum
“Acid rock recalling Jane’s Addiction in their heyday coupled with garage rawness…” – HIGH TIMES
“…the quartet hauls doom metal’s weight through post-punk’s sharp corners.” – Noisey
“…caustic and unconventional post-punk.” – Chicago Tribune
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PHOTOS
