Walter Schreifels

He made his name with Youth of Today and Gorilla Biscuits and now he's back with a new solo album 'An Open Letter To The Scene' - James Allan caught up with Walter Schreifels to find out more.


How did the Album come to be? Why now are you releasing a solo record now?

I guess I wanted to create a new kind o venue for myself to do, like the kinda music that maybe wouldn’t fit in band things. I wanted to kind of put all that stuff in context, and so just putting out a solo album felt like 'Well I should do that.'. It’s a different kind of exercise.

Some of the tracks have been around for quite some time like 'Requiem’. Then you have even older songs like 'Don’t Gotta Prove it’. Was it a case of rounding these loose ends up?

Yeah, I kinds wanted to just get some of these songs out. Requiem has just been floating around for a million years and people always say 'Oh play Requiem'. So I just want to put it on a record, and now its done. Now it’s behind me, I don’t have to think about it any more. With the CIV stuff, I wrote the whole first CIV album and I don’t really have my own versions of these songs, and I feel really close to them. So I kind of wanted to put that to rest as well.

Do you feel it’s more of a case that you have to put this out now, to get rid of this weight on your shoulders?

Yeah, in a way I guess so. I think I felt like I need to get these songs out, and, Rival Schools is not big enough a vehicle to do it. I have too much material, and I have obviously been kind of working on this, for a long time, unbeknownst to myself. Now here it is, and it’s done. Had I got my act together sooner, maybe it wouldn’t be such a big deal.

The album itself has this 'Father figure of the industry' feel to it. Do you feel you have a responsibility to the industry in the albums writing?

I guess there’s not so much that I have a responsibility to the industry, but that’s my line of work. So I guess I am speaking to my experience you know, and just trying to kind of make sense of it for myself, and by doing that, creating some sort of story through the album.

To me, the sound of the album, and much of your previous work, have very strong musical ties to early 60’s British invasion artists like the Who and the Kinks. Is there any particular draw to this music for you?

That stuff is like, pretty standard influences I think for people. But I definitely got into music through the Beatles and the Who, and then the Ramones and stuff like that as well. But I really love that classic sixties stuff, and most of that stuff was coming from the UK.

Would you consider yourself an Anglophile in the musical sense?

I would not want to say that because I’m really into American stuff to, and I feel very much part of American songwriting, having done Gorilla biscuits, Quicksand and stuff like that. But even in Gorilla Biscuits we covered the Buzzcocks because they were one of my favorite bands. We covered the Smiths in Quicksand, so it’s always played a role in my music. I’ve always been influenced by that stuff, but on the other hand I’m American, and really feel part of that.

If push comes to shove, what record made you want to write and create music?

Ahh, as a kid you know. There’s just so many to choose from,. I think the Beatles is always a major blueprint. I got that career spanning double disk set sixty one to sixty five? And there’s the other one that’s sixty six to seventy. I got both of those records, ad especially the early one at first when I was a kid. I just loved the structures and the melodies. As I got older, I appreciated the latter one. So I guess that’s the template.

How did you end up playing with comedian Dave Hill on the Album?

He’s just a friend of mine that I have known for a long time, and he’s a fucking great guitar player, and I just like to be around him. So that’s just a winning combination.

Is there any material that you plan to release as a solo artist in the future?

I’ve already recorded a new one. Right before I came to England, I was up in Canada and recorded a new solo album. Its not mixed, and I’m defiantly going to play with it a little bit more. So I’m already onto the next one.

Does it carry on in the same vein as 'An Open Letter to the Scene’? If not, what has changed?

Oh, well, as previously mentioned, it doesn’t have a song like 'Requiem’ that has just been sitting around. It’s more current. For example, two of the songs I wrote while I was there. I’m working towards getting one hundred percent up to date.

Finally, what is the status with Rival Schools?

Yeah, there’s another Rival Schools album coming out in the fall. Sot there is that other thing that I have kind just had about. I have people asking me all the time about new Rival Schools material. Well we did it. Its coming out, and I am really happy with how its sounding, and I am looking forward to making that real.