"TRYING NOT TO EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM LIFE"- 12 QUESTIONS WITH RUSSELL WALKER

I recently had a lovely email exchange with Pheromoans' vocalist/solo performer/writer Russell Walker. Russell has a record coming out soon with Dan Melchior under the moniker The Lloyd Pack.

keep it tight n loose,

the janitor

Where did you grow up? 

In a place called Hillingdon in West London. No idea what it's like now but I didn't particularly like it. It was close enough to centre of London for nothing really cultural to happen, but I never really ventured into London itself apart from when my Dad took me to football. I got threatened several times by local people who had taken a dislike to me and couldn’t seem to cope with my existence. 

What was childhood like? 

That’s an interesting question. I was born in 1980 and my parents were financially okay. Very conventional in a lot of ways, but in hindsight I obviously felt very dislocated from what was going on. I really, really hated school and couldn’t seem to cope with any sort of authority figures or any criticism. To this day If I can’t do something i immediately go into a sort of foetal state. 

What were your interests as a child and a teen? 

I liked the usual stuff - films, comics. I liked football but again I had to stop playing because I didn’t enjoy the competitive aspects or being criticised or getting things wrong. Things improved a bit when I went away to university in Coventry, where I got involved with some genuinely bohemian types who spent all day drinking and things. I suppose in a way that put me on another quite problematic path, and then in 2001 I got seriously assaulted which set me back about another ten years.

How did your taste transform throughout the years to where you are as a performer/writer now? 

May tastes in other peoples work? I would say themes have stayed pretty consistent. A lot of it is about mixing up perceptions of ugliness, beauty etc for comic effect… or maybe using comedy to get across my sense of what is going on in my brain. I’ve had quite a serious mental health crisis over the past six months or so that I’m hopefully, touch wood, good morning Mr Magpie, etc. coming out of. As I said before I’m trying currently to just live from day to day and not get too involved in anything too tumultuous as I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I may have lost sort of layer of resilience somewhere along the line. Saying that writing is very therapeutic. To come back to my tastes quite predictably perhaps things like The Fall came through to me quite powerfully, but I don’t think the world needs another account of Fall fandom. 

Was there a point where you realised you were flying the freak flag or do you feel like a well adjusted member of society?

The venue was called The Anglers Retreat, an West Drayton (thanks to Middex for helping me remember the name). It’s flats now but was the place where these bands from our school would play - one featured out science teacher Richard Goucher and were called Don’t Feed the Bears, another featured a boy called Glenn who had very long hair but I can’t remember the name of that band. I didn’t have any close friends as such but I’d obviously find out on the grapevine that they were happening and get about 64 buses there and get very drunk and throw up in the car park. At home I’d also started buying CDs and listening to the Beatles and The Jam and then more current things like Jamiroquai or Maxwell. I didn’t really identify with any youth cultures of anything though, like grunge or Britpop. I actually worked with the lead singer of a very successful pop band called Scouting For Girls, called Roy Strides. We did paper rounds for the same newsagents, then both worked at Sainsburys Supermarket in Uxbridge. I left school during my A Levels and worked there full time, getting more and more remote from people my own age, and just stayed indoors drinking and watching old comedies. 

What is your favourite and least favourite food? 

I really like fish and chips but currently my nearest one is a thirty minute walk so by the time I get them home they’re cold. I’ve never really enjoyed eating out much in restaurants.

Best and worst place you’ve visited? 

I think the worst places I’ve ever been are these wealthy enclaves in London like Clapham or Fulham that have this sort of modern day apartheid. But generally I like visiting most new places, there’s usually something interesting everywhere unless they’re completely sanitised like Clapham.

Current pile of books you’re trudging through? 

I’m currently working through Philip K Dick’s non sci fi novels. Before that I was really interested in Uwe Johnson, an East German writer who moved to Sheerness in Essex. I read a biography now trying to read his fiction which is quite dense.

Favourite film? 

My favourite ever film changes a lot but let’s say Scarecrow on this occasion from 1973.

Extracurricular activity outside of reading/making the music on stage? 

I enjoy just wandering around really. Tidying up, looking after my son. Trying not to expect too much from life as I touched upon earlier. I haven’t been socialising much and when I have done it has been derailed a bit by my mental state. Otherwise just the normal things, watching football, TV etc.

Do you miss the queen? 

Not particularly I’m afraid! I’m quite apathetic about politics and things but I find the stuff around that a bit nauseating.

Got any recordings coming out? Wanna tell us about them? Any shows or tours coming up?

You have a new song ‘Boy On The Bridge’ from the forthcoming Lloyd Pack album which is about a lawyer called Reginald Hine. Otherwise a few things are in various stages of completion. I think the soonest thing will be a collaboration tape with Rory Salter (Malvern Brume), but the Pheromoans will all have an album out sooner or later - we don’t get together very often. There are plans afoot for my first ever live stuff in the USA but I don’t want to put a curse on it. 

Thanks Russell!