Matt Walker: Family Few.

Matt Walker & Necessary Few play the East Coast Blues & Roots Festival at the Red Devil Park, Byron Bay on March 28 and 29.

Melbourne based Guitarist and songwriter Matt Walker has been plying his trade since 1994 with percussionist Ashley Davies. After a couple of phenomenal albums, I Lister To The Night and Soul Witness, and rave reviews from both the Aussie and international press, the duo called it a day to pursue other musical avenues. For Matt, this has meant last year’s formation of Matt Walker & The Necessary Few. A musical power trio perhaps heading back towards his formative musical years, feasting on a steady diet of arena rock. Or perhaps not. Whatever the case may be, you can rest assured it will be a musical treat worth savouring, rather than just another quick fix.

“The duo had sort of run its course to a certain extent,” Matt explains. “We’ve got lots of highlights and really good things that we did together, but we just kind of got to a point where we wanted to try something else. Ash had a couple of other things he wanted to do with music, and the same for me really. It was totally amicable.”

“Things were getting a bit too comfortable, and I think it was the same for Ashley too. We could have kept cooking along and milked it,” he laughs. “Basically what I’m doing now is just lead by the music I want to play. It’s about keeping it exciting and you’re pushing yourself.”

Joining Matt in the new act are bassist Grant Cummerford (formerly of the Louisville Sluggers) and drummer Roger Bergodaz.

“The new band, I just basically wanted to get a rhythm section together, and I wanted to play predominantly electric guitar. That’s really the starting point of where I wanted the band to be. I was just starting to write songs that I felt would suit a line up like this.”

Musically the change from fulfilling rhythmic, harmonic and melodic roles at the same time with the duo, to working in a band context has presented it’s own challenges.

“This is a more traditional line up, but it’s quite alien to me. I’ve never really done much playing in a traditional kind of band. It actually took me a while to get the dynamics right with playing with a rhythm section and playing an electric guitar. It’s easy to get the dynamic going with a duo, because it’s drums and guitar and it’s really percussive. You can build it up or bring it back down really easily. With a larger group you can feel a bit claustrophobic having more instruments around, and you can’t control it as easily. We’re just getting used to each other’s style and learning how to work together and play together. It has to be dynamic or else it’s boring.”