Matt Walker | |
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 Walker in 2014 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 1969 (age 53–54) Wilmette, Illinois [1] |
| Genres | Alternative rock, experimental |
| Occupation(s) | Drummer |
| Instrument(s) | Drums |
| Years active | 1987–present |
Matt Walker is an American session musician, known for drumming with Filter, The Smashing Pumpkins and Morrissey, as well as being the regular fill-in to Butch Vig from Garbage on three of their tours (2002, 2016, 2019).
Walker began his career in Chicago in the mid-1980s, when he began playing drums for the Chicago bands Scott Bennett & The Obvious, The Clinic, Brad Peterson and Peat Moss and Tribal Opera until joining the band Filter in 1994. Matt toured with Filter in support of the album, Short Bus until 1996. Filter toured with The Smashing Pumpkins in Europe and when Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin was fired after a heroin overdose, Walker was hired to replace Chamberlin. He finished the Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness tour with the band (1996–1997) and all of their dates up until the beginning of the Adore tour. Walker also recorded the song "The End Is the Beginning Is the End" with the band on the official Batman & Robin movie soundtrack, as well as several tracks on The Smashing Pumpkins Adore. He also worked with Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan on the soundtrack for the movie Ransom and with Pumpkins guitarist James Iha on Iha's solo album Let It Come Down . [2]
In 1998, Walker's own band, Cupcakes, was signed to DreamWorks Records and subsequently left the Pumpkins to record the Cupcakes album. [3]
Walker was replaced by John Mellencamp's drummer, Kenny Aronoff, for the Pumpkins "Adore" tour.[ when? ] Walker did, however, play with the Pumpkins again at their last show before their first break up, on December 2, 2000. He played percussion on an alternate version of the song "Muzzle" and drums on "1979", while the original drummer Jimmy Chamberlin played acoustic guitar.
After Walker went on to collaborative efforts including Ashtar Command with former Filter member, Brian Liesegang, and Chris Holmes. [4] Matt co-created the band, Impossible Recording Machine with Jim Dinou. [5]
In 2002, Matt filled in for an ailing Butch Vig during Garbage's European tour. [6]
In 2003, he release an album under the band, Beautiful Assassins, called Preamp on the label Positron! Records. [7]
In 2005, he played on Garbage's album, Bleed Like Me , and also recorded and toured with Billy Corgan to promote the solo album, TheFutureEmbrace . [6]
Walker has played drums with Morrissey since 2006, appearing on his albums Years of Refusal , Swords , World Peace Is None of Your Business , Low in High School and I Am Not a Dog on a Chain .
Walker was also a member of the band the MDR (the Most Dangerous Race), which appeared on the 2007 MySpace/SPIN Smashing Pumpkins tribute album performing "Signal to Noise," an unreleased Smashing Pumpkins song. [8]
He rejoined the Pumpkins on percussion during the Chicago dates of their 20th anniversary tour in November and December 2008.
While on hiatus from Morrissey, Matt writes songs and performs under the name "of1000faces" with various singers and musicians. Under his own name in 2009, Walker co-wrote with Adam Ant and Morrissey/Ant guitarist Boz Boorer, as well as drummed on, the track Marrying The Gunner's Daughter, the quasi-title track of Ant's 2013 album Adam Ant Is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner's Daughter .
Walker performed with the Pumpkins again at a benefit concert at the Metro in Chicago, in July 2010 for an encore of "1979."
As of 2014, Walker has been working closely with Billy Corgan to remix many of the tracks due to appear on the upcoming Adore reissue.
In 2016, Walker again filled in for Butch Vig during the first leg of Garbage's European tour, [9] as well as the entirety of the European leg of their 2019 tour. [10]
In a 2010 interview, Matt stated he uses all Zildjian cymbals. His drum kit varies on the material he is working on but has used a Gretsch USA Custom 6-piece kit. [11]
Matt and Charlotte Walker live in a suburb of Chicago with their three children.
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band from Chicago, Illinois. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha, and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, the band has undergone several line-up changes since their reunion in 2006, with Corgan being the sole constant member since its inception. The current lineup features Corgan, Chamberlin, and Iha.
James Joseph Chamberlin is an American drummer and record producer. Described as "one of the most powerful drummers in rock," he is best known as the drummer for the alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. Following the 2000 breakup of the band, Chamberlin joined Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan in the supergroup Zwan and also formed his own group, the Jimmy Chamberlin Complex. In late 2005, Chamberlin joined Corgan in reforming Smashing Pumpkins; he eventually left the group in March 2009, though he returned again in 2015 for a summer tour, and officially performed with the band since then. Following the guitarist Jeff Schroeder's departure in October 2023, Chamberlin is the second-longest serving member of the Smashing Pumpkins after the frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan.
William Patrick Corgan Jr. is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the co-founder, lead singer, primary songwriter, guitarist, and only constant member of the rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. He has also been the owner and promoter of the National Wrestling Alliance since 2017. A cultural icon of Generation X, Corgan is credited with helping popularize alternative rock music as a member of the Smashing Pumpkins.
James Yoshinobu Iha is an American rock musician. He is best known as a guitarist and co-founder of the alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. He was a member until the initial breakup in 2000, and performed on the band's first six albums until rejoining the Smashing Pumpkins in 2018, and performing on the band's three most recent albums since then. Among his musical projects of recent years, Iha has been a permanent fixture of A Perfect Circle. He was most recently a member of Tinted Windows, a 1960s/1970s inspired group with members of Cheap Trick, Fountains of Wayne, and Hanson.
Gish is the debut studio album by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, released on May 28, 1991 through Caroline Records. The album was produced by Butch Vig and frontman Billy Corgan, with the latter describing Gish as a "very spiritual album" and "an album about spiritual ascension".
Lull is an EP by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, released in 1991.
Siamese Dream is the second studio album by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, released on July 27, 1993, on Virgin Records. The album was produced by Butch Vig and frontman Billy Corgan. Despite its recording sessions being fraught with difficulties and tensions, Siamese Dream debuted at number ten on the Billboard 200, and was eventually certified 4× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), with the album selling over six million copies worldwide, catapulting the Smashing Pumpkins to mainstream success and cementing them as a significant group in alternative music.
D'arcy Elizabeth Wretzky-Brown is an American musician. She was the original bassist of the alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins and is credited on their first six studio albums. She left the band in 1999. She has also been a member of Catherine and performed with Filter.
Rotten Apples is a greatest hits compilation album by alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. In the US, it was released on November 20, 2001, along with a bonus disc titled Judas O. The album's concluding track, "Untitled", was the Pumpkins' final recording before their breakup. Completed in the days leading up to the band's farewell concert at the Metro in Chicago, it was also released as a single. Another notable track is "Real Love"; while previously released on Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music, this was taken from the factory master tapes and, as a result, lacks the pops and clicks inherent in all copies of Machina II.
Machina/The Machines of God is the fifth studio album by the American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, released on February 29, 2000, by Virgin Records. A concept album, it marked the return of drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and was intended to be the band's final official LP release prior to their initial break-up in 2000. A sequel album—Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music—was later released independently via the Internet, and in highly limited quantities for the physical version.
Adore is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, released on June 2, 1998, by Virgin Records. After the multi-platinum success of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and a subsequent yearlong world tour, follow-up Adore was considered "one of the most anticipated albums of 1998" by MTV. Recording the album proved to be a challenge as the band members struggled with lingering interpersonal problems, musical uncertainty in the wake of three increasingly successful rock albums, and the departure of drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. Frontman Billy Corgan would later characterize Adore as made by "a band falling apart". Corgan was also going through a divorce and the death of his mother while recording the album.
"Today" is a song by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, written by lead vocalist and guitarist Billy Corgan. The song, though seemingly upbeat, contains dark lyrics; Corgan wrote the song about a day in which he was having suicidal thoughts. The contrast between the grim subject matter of the song and the soft instrumental part during the verses, coupled with use of irony in the lyrics, left many listeners unaware of the song's tale of depression and desperation. The song alternates between quiet, dreamy verses and loud choruses with layered, distorted guitars.
"I Am One" is the debut single by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. It was the band's first ever release and remains the only single issued by the band with co-writing credits to both Billy Corgan and James Iha. It charted on the UK Singles Chart at a peak position of number 73.
TheFutureEmbrace is the debut solo album by American musician Billy Corgan, frontman of the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. Released in June 2005, the album's sound was markedly different from most of Corgan's earlier work, eschewing his characteristic "drums, bass, (and) big-guitars sound" in favor of an electronic sound punctuated with heavily distorted guitar parts reminiscent of shoegaze.
"Eye" is a song by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released in 1997 on the soundtrack to the David Lynch film Lost Highway. Along with the song "The End Is the Beginning Is the End" from Batman & Robin and "Christmastime" from A Very Special Christmas 3, "Eye" represented a period of work on compilations done by the Pumpkins in between the release of the two albums Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and Adore. It also appeared on their greatest hits collection Rotten Apples.
"Mayonaise" is a song by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. It was first made available in 1993 on the bands second studio album Siamese Dream as the ninth track. It is subsequently set to be released as the albums fifth single on November 20, 2023 through Capitol Records as part of the Siamese Dream 30th Anniversary celebrations and shows. The song was produced by Butch Vig and Billy Corgan.
Zeitgeist is the seventh studio album by American rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, released on July 10, 2007 on Martha's Music and Reprise Records. Recorded solely by returning band members Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin, the album was the band's first since reuniting in 2006, and was produced by Roy Thomas Baker and Terry Date, alongside Corgan and Chamberlin themselves.
Cupcakes were a Power pop band from Chicago who were signed to the DreamWorks record label and released one self-titled album in 2000. The band's drummer, Matt Walker, had previously played with the Smashing Pumpkins and Filter and would go on to play with Garbage and Morrissey. Guitarist Greg Suran would go on to tour with the Goo Goo Dolls and the B-52's.
"Solara" is a song by American rock band Smashing Pumpkins. It was the band's first song to be released after reforming three fourths of the band's original lineup in 2018, featuring Billy Corgan, James Iha, and Jimmy Chamberlin performing on a track together for the first time since 2000's Machina/The Machines of God album and subsequent non-album single "Untitled" prior to their original breakup. It was released as a single on June 8, 2018, as the first song from a set of two upcoming EPs that were set for release in 2018 before a full-length album titled Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun. was announced in September. The song peaked at number 47 on the US Hot Rock Songs chart.
Butch will be ably replaced by Matt Walker who has performed a similar function for the Smashing Pumpkins, Morrissey and many others.
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