Lunch with The Walkmen this Tuesday – recorded at the legendary La Route du Rock Festival on August 11, 2012.
The Walkmen formed in New York City in 2000. The band consists of Hamilton Leithauser (vocals), Paul Maroon (guitar, keyboards), Walter Martin (bass, organ), Peter Matthew Bauer (organ, bass) and Matt Barrick (drums). Leithauser and Bauer are former members of The Recoys, while Maroon, Martin, and Barrick are former members of Jonathan Fire*Eater.
Initially active from 2000 to 2013, they are known as part of the 2000s-era post-punk revival in New York City, particularly for their critically acclaimed single “The Rat“. The band released seven studio albums during their initial run: Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone (2002), Bows + Arrows (2004), A Hundred Miles Off (2006), “Pussy Cats” Starring the Walkmen (2006), You & Me (2008), Lisbon (2010) and Heaven (2012).
At the close of the band’s tour for Heaven, in December 2013, the band entered an extended hiatus.
In October 2020, Hamilton Leithauser was asked about the possibility of a Walkmen reunion during a Reddit AMA, to which he replied: “No plans right now, but I guess stranger things are happening every fifteen minutes right now… so you never know.”
In November 2022 they announced that, after a ten-year hiatus, they would reunite to play several shows in April 2023, in New York City. In April 2023 they played a reunion show on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, followed by a show in Rhode Island and several more in Webster Hall, in New York City. In May 2023, they announced 29 additional shows on their 2023 reunion tour: in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Boston in May; in several European festivals and cities in June and August; and in Nashville, Minneapolis, the U.S. West Coast, Austin, and Toronto in September and October.
As of today, there’s no word on whether there is a 2026 tour or another hiatus or what. So . . .in the meantime, have a listen to what they were up to in 2012.
