Walt McClements is a man of many ideas. He’s well-traveled and talented, and he’s showcasing a new project this Saturday at AllWays Lounge—a one-man band known as Lonesome Leash. “Directly, the name came from a song title of what is now a Why Are We Building Such a Big Ship? song. In a broader sense, it takes on the question of what ties you to yourself, or what ties you to your solitude.”
I caught up with Walt as he was pulling into his parents’ driveway in Durham, North Carolina. “I’m frantically trying to repair my accordion. Last night I was having weird technical difficulties in DC with my accordion pickups, but I feel like it must have resolved itself during the drive, because now I can’t find where it was shorting out.” He’s referring to his performance at DC’s Velvet Lounge on Sunday night, one stop on a tour supporting his debut release I Am No Captain.
A member of Dark Dark Dark, Panorama Jazz Band, Why Are We Building Such a Big Ship?, and a former member of Hurray For The Riff Raff, Walt can certainly call the road his friend. He’s traveling solo this time around, and finding it just shy of overwhelming.
“It’s very nice, but it’s also very hectic. In terms of waking up, answering emails, driving 4-8 hours, loading in, loading out – I’m never too on top of my booking things. Getting to play for people, and self-releasing, it’s really working for yourself. It can be quite daunting when your accordion starts breaking though.”
On first visiting New Orleans at the ripe age of 19, and why he chose to call our great city his home, McClements comments, “When I first moved there it was the best feeling as a performer. Incredibly supportive. As soon as you gave something, people replied, “That’s great! Now give us more!” I’m on tour a whole lot right now, but I think I will stay in New Orleans. I have no idea what I’m doing with my life.”
Lonesome Leash has gotten some early comparisons to The Decemberists and Future Islands, but Walt doesn’t agree these are fair associations. “This project, while it certainly still has a lot of folk music type shit, I think of it as more of a raw, weird, noisy, rock project. I don’t know if I’m necessarily pulling it off!”
Released on January 1, I Am No Captain is seven songs recalling the romanticism that is New Orleans. The beautiful decay of “Ghosts,” the album’s closer, will stop you in your tracks with its haunting accordion backing Walt’s voice; “There are ghosts between us as we lay.”
The Lonesome Leash Release Party is at 11pm at AllWays Lounge on Saturday, January 12.
