Walt’s Band Releases First CD, Launches Website
Victoria, Canada – May 1, 2014 – Victoria musician Nick Sullivan has released his first CD, Songs Sung Sideways. Conceived and created in Victoria, the album’s 14 tracks are all written by Sullivan and performed by Walt’s Band, an outfit so compact it has only one member.
“It’s just me and my fake piano,” says the Australian-born Sullivan. “Not a huge band by some standards.”
“I’ve been composing for years in various styles – folk, blues, rock, classical – you name it. Finally the pile of disused songs was getting to be a neighborhood disgrace. Some of them were actually starting to decompose right on the shelf into a mess of individual notes and unrelated ideas. Since live performance isn’t really my thing, I’m putting the songs out in a different way.”
That’s why, for Walt’s Band, bringing out the album on CD is only half the battle. To aid in presenting the songs clearly for other musicians as well as for a general audience, Sullivan is recording videos to match each track on Songs Sung Sideways. These videos will be viewable on the band’s website, WaltsBand.com, as they are released in the weeks and months to come. “It’s experimental,” says Sullivan, “but I hope it will work. It’s designed to give other musicians an easy way to come to grips with these songs if they choose to do so.”
Creating 14 videos and an engaging website would have been a tall order even for a band with multiple members, Sullivan comments. Fortunately, help for both was available close at home from Sullivan’s wife, Susan M. Scott, an Internet design and content specialist. It’s Scott who should get most of the credit for pulling the project together in its final form, Sullivan admits. “It was important to me to get the site and the videos launched within this millennium, and if possible before civilisation is destroyed by global warming. Thanks to Susan, everything was ready for May 1st.”
The WaltsBand.com website gives musicians looking for material a new place to look. Sullivan enjoyed the dual challenge of the project when it came composing the piano arrangements. “Of course I wanted to create listenable, varied music, even though I wasn’t drawing on other instruments. But I also wanted the CD and the site to provide useful demo performances for musicians in genres like folk, rock, country and bluegrass.”
Although he appears front and centre in the videos, Sullivan insists that the focus of the website is the songs, not the performer. “Ideally, they (musicians) can just drop by Walt’s Band, listen to a song, and perhaps be inspired to put their own stamp on it. Everything you need is there.”