When we sat down with the upcoming rock band Talking to Walls last year, the members had just gotten their first rock van and were headed down the road to fame.
Since then the group, half of which is made up of Fairfield alums Brian Kelly and Matt Krupa, has toured the Northeast. Also, Kelly has started doing solo shows, the group signed a licensing deal with MTV, and the van has broken down three times. However, Kelly swears that, as far as rock vans are concerned, it has held out pretty well.
Running a few minutes late, Kelly, the lead singer, and Krupa, the band’s drummer, arrived at the local hangout, Ray Kelly’s, just in time for happy hour. Straight out of rehearsal, they took time to sit down with The Mirror to catch up before performing on Saturday at The Levee as part of Alumni Weekend.
Over the football game and loud music, Kelly requested a martini until Krupa shoot him a look. It was obvious the bandmates have bonded while touring because, without saying anything, Kelly changed his order to a beer.
Not only has touring helped in anticipating drink orders, but in playing as well.
“The more you play, the more you are a cohesive unit,” said Krupa. “You anticipate what they are going to do, and it is a lot easier at that point.”
Kelly added, “There is something that comes with knowing what each other is going to do, because you are sleeping in the same room.” Krupa quickly chimed in with, “That room would be the kitchen.”
Like any up-and-coming rock group, they have struggled with touring.
“The worst thing is playing to a bunch of backs of people who are at the bar and don’t give a s**t,” said Kelly. “When they actually want to hear what you’re doing, it makes it a whole lot easier.”
While excited to be playing back home, they anticipate the hurdles of playing for an audience during Alumni Weekend.
“A lot of it is ‘Hey I haven’t seen you in three years let’s catch up in the next 20 minutes,’ so they are busy talking or whatever, so they don’t really give a s**t about what’s going on around them,” said Kelly.
Although the group has learned a lot from touring, members said there is room for growth.
“There is always stuff to learn,” said Kelly. “The biggest part of what Talking to Walls has had to learn is balancing day jobs with the band.
“You get to be kind of schizophrenic,” said Krupa. “You have to put that [the band] in your back pocket wherever you are working.”
Balancing the band and a full-time job is only getting worse as the band members are getting older, according to Kelly.
“As much as you try to resist it, certain pressures as you start to get further away from your college career start to creep in. said Kelly. “What’s the difference between an artist and a full-sized pizza? Only one of those can feed a family of four.”
Looking back, Kelly said the best piece of advice he can give to an aspiring artist of any kind is to start young.
“The longer you are like, ‘I will do it when…’, doesn’t work,” said Kelly. “You shouldn’t wait to live your life; the first couple of years out of college you can most afford to be poor.”
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