Walter the Fish catches fresh music

For local music blogger Zeno Gill of Durham’s Pox World Empire, finding a blog name came as easily as recalling his daughter’s unusual title for the family car.

It’s an apt name. Walter the Fish, Gill’s new music blog, aims to let readers see unconventional Q&As in which two musicians interview each other.

“What I’m hoping for is some more in-depth questioning. I’m a musician myself. I’m hoping to learn the sort of things I would want to learn from musicians — the craft of the songwriting, the recording process, the bands’ dynamics and all those details,” said Gill.

The first conversation, featuring The Old Ceremony’s Django Haskins and Charlotte’s Anna Bullard, delves into the roots of Bullard’s songwriting, the type of questioning that Gill had in mind for the interviews.

Although he runs the blog, Gill’s primary role is one of moderator and initial contact. Once two musicians are set up, they control the interview process, including the questions and method of conversing.

In Gill’s experience, it only takes a brief explanation of the concept behind Walter the Fish before musicians are enthusiastic about the idea — the dynamic between artists is already there.

“I think there have already been some cool questions that maybe non-musicians hadn’t thought to ask. I am hoping that things will get even more involved. The interviews — I’ve been calling them conversations — I am thinking they might eventually be less about an interviewer and an interviewee, and more about two musicians having conversation without a particular subject in mind.”

For Maria Albani of Chapel Hill’s Organos and Schooner, posting her interview to the site felt like a good fit — she had already spoken to Broken Social Scene’s Andrew Whiteman, but had yet to find the right venue for publication.

“For our interview, Andrew and I did that on our own. I knew that I was going to do something with that, but I never really found the right thing for it,” said Albani.

From discussing the different tracks on Albani’s Organos EP to her ultimate DJ name (it’s 9LiVEZ), the two were able to engage in questioning on their own terms.

From stripped-down song explanations to quirky conversations about instruments, Walter the Fish provides a sense of informality that other blogs and publications lack. Its casual nature fosters conversations that might not occur in other sources of media.

“That’s another nice thing about this musician-to-musician conversation is that we get to hear a musician’s response to a song,” said Gill.

Gill has several other collaborations in the works, including conversations between Brad Cook of Megafaun and Mac McCaughan of Superchunk as well as Reid Johnson of Schooner and Stuart McLamb of The Love Language.

If all goes according to plan, Gill hopes that the blog will continue to expand in content, including national and international names and other formats such as Skype interviews.

The blog may still be getting its feet wet, but the local and regional focus Gill places on Walter the Fish allows it to be a relatable resource — while it is a great way for musicians to sync on the same level, it is equally satisfying for the general music fan.

“We are just lucky we live in a place where we have this great music scene with a million musicians, and some of them are nationally and internationally known.”

It’s a rarity that Gill doesn’t take for granted.

“It provides a pretty easy segway into expansion, I’m hoping,” said Gill.