Walk on in and be ready to rock

The members of The Walkmen grew up in the same Washington, D.C. neighborhood, but the band… The members of The Walkmen grew up in the same Washington, D.C. neighborhood, but the band was born in New York City.

The Walkmen — also known as Matt Barrick, Peter Bauer, Hamilton Leithauser, Paul Maroon, and Walter Martin — cut their teeth in two ill-fated New York bands called Jonathan Fire Eater and The Recoys. The two bands supported each other at shows throughout the city. In late 1998, the groups played together at the Bowery Ballroom and soon after, both disbanded.

After the demise of Fire Eater, Barrick, Bauer and Martin built a recording studio in an industrial space in Brooklyn and called it Marcata Recording. As the studio neared completion, The Walkmen formed. Out of the experiments with the new space came their debut album, Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone, which they released in March 2002.

They toured throughout Europe and the United States, recreating and improving upontheir sound. The band received some airplay on MTV2 and MuchMusic and was featured on MTV’s new music segment “You Hear It First.” By late 2003, they began recording their second release, Bows and Arrows.

This release is a culmination of their previous album sound, and the sounds they created while on the road. It is louder, faster and more emotional than the first. The album’s diverse, pulsing, angry rock songs like “The Rat” stand in sharp contrast to light melodies in songs like “New Year’s Eve.” The Walkmen’s sound has been compared to early U2 and Joy Division, and the gritty, New York-stained lyrical content is reminiscent of the Talking Heads and Lou Reed.

The Walkmen will be touring throughout the summer on day No. 1 of the Lollapalooza tour, joining established acts like Morrissey, Sonic Youth and PJ Harvey.

The Walkmen make a stop in Pittsburgh to play a pre-Lollapalooza show. The 21+ show at the Rex Theatre on Saturday, May 8 starts at 8 p.m. For more information and for tickets, call (412) 381-6811.