The Walters almost went away, but the internet wouldn’t let them. Named after founding lead guitarist Walter Kosner, the band formed in Chicago in 2014, self-releasing their debut, Songs For Dads, that same year. The band – Luke Olson (lead vocals; guitar), Kosner, MJ Tirabassi (rhythm guitar; vocals), Danny Wells (bass), Charlie Ekhaus (drums) – found viral success with a few songs from the album, but not what they would eventually experience a few years later. Another release, Young Men, followed the next year with The Walters continuing to tour, but after a triumphant hometown appearance in 2017 at Lollapalooza, the band members agreed to part ways and go on to other pursuits. Then fate intervened.
In early 2021 The Walters were collectively discussing a return, when a song from that first album Songs For Dads – a track called “I Love You So” – had a viral rebirth, generating 270,000 fan-generated videos. That led to a surge in streams that is already over 133,000 and growing, sealing the band’s fate. They decided to rejoin forces, performed their first shows since 2017, and signed to Warner Records, releasing the “I Love You So” single and starting work on new material to come soon.
The song that grabbed national attention, “I Love You So,” is a story of conflicted feelings: knowing it’s time to leave but being too in love to do it, with the final chorus declaring “I love you so,” while also pleading “Please let me go.” With the haunting guitar the drives the song highlighting the emotion of the tune (there’s also an “acoustic version” with just the guitar that cuts through the soul), The Walters have found their way onto KINK, WXRV, The Current, Lightning 100 and WNRN, to name only a few.
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