A Conversation With Robby Walton From Stranger Boy

Today we’d like to introduce you to Robby Walton.

Hi Robby, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to ask, how was Stranger Boy formed?

Charlie and I met like 8 years ago through a mutual friend who was starting a cover band in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. We shared a  very similar taste in music and just vibed as people in general. We ended up playing in multiple bands together and eventually moved to Nashville to take our music careers to the next level. I remember I  bought him tickets to see the Goo Goo Dolls for his birthday one year because we both really love that band.

We were standing in the crowd watching the show and we just  looked at each other and were like, ‘We need to just do this.’ So we decided to start a band with just us two. We had always kind of romanticized being a duo because of all the drama that can happen when there are more members in a band. We were always on the same page so it felt like no matter what, we would love it and there would never be any BS.

Starting a band can be difficult. Did you encounter any challenges right away? 

It took us a little while to figure out how we were going to establish our sound as a duo. We both love alternative pop and indie rock  music so we knew it would fall in that realm -it was just a matter of,  ‘how are we going to pull this off with only two bodies?’ We eventually landed on owning that “stripped down” sound. Charlie took the toms away from his drum kit and learned to be expressive with just a kick, snare, hat, and ride. 

Luckily for me, he could be playing air drums and make it look cool. I’ll play guitar or keys and sing. I actually used to play guitar and bass at the same time just to fill more space sonically. I had a  pedal that looked like a piano. It hooked up to my laptop and I could make it sound like a really powerful bass and I would play it with my foot while playing guitar and singing. It was kind of hard to watch but it really made the audiences feel it more.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your music. How would you describe the success you’ve had so far and what contributed to it? 

I’m really happy with how quickly the ‘Stranger Boy plane’ left the ground. Of course, our first thought was, ‘Let’s make videos of us 

playing songs we like and throw them on the internet.’ They started getting a lot of views and before long, we were getting asked to play shows at really cool venues and some smaller festivals. We wrote some songs about situations we had been in together and people we knew. It was easy that way. Stranger Boy has always been, ‘our friendship,’ in band form.

What can we expect from Stranger Boy next? 

We’re working on putting out some songs one at a time. We write,  record and produce all of our own music ourselves and have been fortunate enough have them mixed by the great, Mark Needham.  He’s a legend that worked on some of our favorite songs including,  ‘Mr. Brightside.’ Everybody loves that song. It’s easy to get super hype when you have a guy like that mixing your stuff. I’m also just really excited to have it out into the world and know that it’s forever.  Making music is so inspiring to me because you can literally just take your thoughts, your rhymes, your melodies that existed only in your head and create something that is real; something you can bring into the actual world and share it. That’s so cool to me. 

Are there any important lessons you could offer to anyone thinking of starting a band? 

That it’s cheaper to sleep in your car instead of buying a hotel and quite comfortable when there are only two people in the band.

Contact Info:

• Website: solo.to/strangerboy
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/strangerboy
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/strangerboyband
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/strangerboyband
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/StrangerBoyBand

Image Credits
Jena Yannone and Sean Murphy