Interview with October Sky bassist Andrew Walker

Canadian Rockers October Sky have just released their debut album Hell Isn’t My Home to critical acclaim. The band has been compared to Coldplay and Muse and Chart Magazine has called them “Up and Comers.” I recently spoke with Andrew Walker, the bassist for the band, as he was preparing to hit the road for a tour that will take the band coast to coast across Canada.

The name of the band October Sky is interesting to say the least and sounds as if there is a story behind it. Where did the name come from and what is the story?
Andrew: We have this story going about our name. Yanik, Karl and Alex are all born in October, so they are the October. My last name is Walker, so I am the Sky, because I am supposedly SkyWalker, the Jedi.

Your brand new CD titledHell Isn’t My Home was released in September. Now that it is complete, how do you feel about it? Are you satisfied with the outcome?
Andrew: Yes, we are very satisfied with the outcome. We completed the whole recording and engineering process in under a month, while working full time, so it was a tough time. It was then that we first dropped a sort of demo version of the album. We later went back in the studio to polish the edges and rerecord a few parts just to try to upgrade the sound as much as possible. It was this second version that we released in September 2008, in which we added our first eponymous EP as a bonus disc to offer more to the fans.

What was the writing process like for this CD? Did you guys all write together? How long did it take?
Andrew: The writing was kind of all over the place, in a good way. Some of the tracks had been written a year or two before we went into studio, and some of the songs were created while in studio during the time we were recording the album. We always compose as a group. Often, we work on new material during a band practice and feed off each others’ energy. Then there are times where we are able to try completely new things in studio, which is a different writing process. Experimenting with new sounds allows you to expand your musical horizons as far as writing goes, and hopefully gives you some diversity in your sound.

Give us some insight into the new record and the meaning behind its title, Hell Isn’t My Home.
Andrew: A lot of the lyrics on the album, especially for the title track, deal with the internal struggle within each individual, the fight between good and bad, and the importance of finding the beauty within yourself, everyone and everything. If we don’t fight it, we will get lost in the dark.

What can fans expect when they pick up a copy of Hell Isn’t My Home?
Andrew: I think that almost anyone can listen to the album and find something that they like. We are finding that many people who usually listen to certain genres of music are hearing our stuff and enjoying it, even if they do not normally listen to that kind of music. Our music doesn’t necessarily target a certain demographic. I think one of the reasons behind that is that each of the band members has different musical influences that span a wide range of genres, and every listener can take something different from the album and connect to it in their own way.

Do you get nervous before a performance or a competition?
Andrew: We don’t get nervous. We have a decent amount of stage experience, and we love what we do. We do not feel that we have anything to be nervous about. On the contrary, we get excited and energized before we get on stage.

We have all heard the stories about back stage antics and groupies. Is there any truth to those stories and if so do you have any outrageous stories or tales that you would care to share?
Andrew: We do not mess around before we play a show. We stay focused because we want to be able to deliver the best performance possible. And after the show, we are usually talking to fans and meeting new people. That’s one thing we love about playing music, every show you get to meet new people. All in all, we do not find ourselves backstage too often. We are either preparing for the show or talking to fans.

When you are on the road for a while I am sure you see and experience many different things you might not even have known existed. Are there any stories that stand out in your mind as being exceptionally strange or odd?
Andrew: We have some interesting stories from the tour. One that is somewhat strange is that one night in Saskatoon there was an international conference and all the hotels within a 100km radius were booked solid, so we ended up having to sleep in our pickup truck in -5°C weather. Five guys in a five seat truck in the cold, not such a good idea. It was really tough, but we laughed about it.

What does the future hold for you guys as a band? Any plans to tour the States?
Andrew: You can never really know what the future holds, but we have a lot of plans for the next year. We are planning another cross-Canadian tour, and we have a lot of projects scheduled, such as a collaboration with a reggae artist and the release of two music videos. At this time, we are unable to tour the US, which is something we are really looking forward to doing. We would only be able to do so once we find a record label or a booking contract in the US. It is something that we are working on, but we cannot say for sure when it will concretize.  [ END ]