Greg T. Walker of “Blackfoot” Talks with X101’s John Harrison

John Harrison: [00:00:00] Good afternoon everyone. It’s John Harrison on X101 Always Classic. And joining me over the phone, I got a real special guest in the studio, legendary bassist and songwriter of Blackfoot playing with a new band. Now this is Greg T. Walker on the phone. Greg, thanks so much for joining.

Greg T. Walker: Oh, my pleasure.

John Harrison: Well, Greg, you’re calling in because you’re part of a new band now that I really wanna talk about ’cause you guys are doing some exciting stuff. You’re playing with Two Wolf alongside Lance Lopez. and you’re playing at Sharky’s up here in Liverpool on September 19th. That’s coming up in just a few days.

Yeah. how you feeling about that show coming up?

Greg T. Walker: Oh, very, very excited.

John Harrison: Yeah. It’s a, it’s a great venue. They got a, a real nice vibe, and I know you’re down in Florida and, I know they do like a bit of a tropical theme there, so it should, should feel nice. And at home up here in the mountains.

Greg T. Walker: Well, it was 59 this morning.

John Harrison: Oh, wow.

Greg T. Walker: Which was, oh yeah. Nice and calm. And bright and sunny. It’s now 88. A little bit of a breeze, but, yeah, it feels like fall up here in the mornings. [00:01:00]

John Harrison: Yeah. Well, I, I love the fall weather. It’s feeling like fall, all day here, so,

Greg T. Walker: yeah.

John Harrison: Yeah. That’s just, that’s how it goes. that’s how it goes.

Yeah. But yeah, I wanna, I wanna talk about too wolf, it’s a really exciting thing seeing this, this kind of, this blend of. Of, the your roots, in, in Southern Rock, but also kind of going in a newer direction, and specifically, working with Lance Lopez. how’d you guys meet?

How did this all come about?

Greg T. Walker: I formed Two Wolf in 2015 and the drummer we had at that time knew Lance and got a hold of him because we were three piece to start out with. We wanted that second guitar. So that led to. Getting Lance to come in and, we did a few rehearsals, but at that time he was very busy.

He had some shows booked with his, his own little three piece band. And so we brought Chris Bell in after that. And same thing, Chris had some shows to [00:02:00] fulfill some obligations, so he left and we went back to three piece for, I think it was three years. And then. All the cards fell into place and I got Lance and Chris both in the band at the same time, and that was the true birth of Two Wolf.

It’s been heaven ever since.

John Harrison: That’s, yeah, quite the story of, he’s in, he’s out, he’s in, he’s out. And he know finally getting. Getting the group together and, and, and really going strong. Um, and, that must be so much fun getting to write and play all this new material and, and everything.

Um, have there been any tracks, you started back in 2015, but, since your new album that just released back in June two Wolf, any tracks that really jump out to you?

Greg T. Walker: I cannot pick a favorite. I get asked that a lot and I really cannot say what my favorite track is.

John Harrison: It’s like how you, you can’t have a favorite kid, right?

Greg T. Walker: Yeah, pretty much. I never thought about that. I’ll have to borrow that from you. [00:03:00] But, Lance has some material on the record, as does Chris and myself. So, we all had a hand in submitting songs for consideration. And we came out with a, the best 11. oddly enough, we did three Blackfoot songs on our debut album, and I was kind of against that in the beginning.

I thought, I could see maybe doing one mm-hmm. Two at the most. And they said, man, we, we really want to do three. So we wound up doing three and the majority rules kind of thing. Yeah. And we’ve got nothing but positive response from day one. So no complaints there.

John Harrison: Yeah. Well, yeah, no regrets.

I, and I’m sure the fans are happy to hear a little bit of old with the new and, and kind of an updated sound too with that. and, you know, when you guys are playing live, I, I imagine you’re, you’re playing all, all originals, or do you throw a cover in, here and there, an old Blackfoot song or, or, or something?

Greg T. Walker: Yeah, [00:04:00] actually we do. I, I was looking at my set list yesterday. I printed up. And we do normally seven, sometimes eight Blackfoot songs in the set.

John Harrison: Oh, wow.

Greg T. Walker: And then I think there’s 18 songs total on our set list. And then the rest are the new two Wolf songs.

John Harrison: Yeah. All right. So, so still, still majority two Wolf with, which is good, I’m always looking for that, that new sound.

But it’s, something that can really harken back, ’cause mm-hmm. We’ve had, we, we’ve had the classics for, 30, 40, 50 years. it’s nice to get the, the newer stuff out there and, and to get to hear it and, but yeah, I’m, I’m looking forward to the show on, on, September 19th.

That’s coming up in just a couple of days this Friday. Yeah. have you, have you played up here in, you know, in the Syracuse, Liverpool area? have you played up, up this far north before?

Greg T. Walker: Oh yeah. some years back, Rochester, Buffalo? Oh yeah. Syracuse, quite a few times. Actually. I had Blackfoot, I reformed it in [00:05:00] 2004.

Yeah. Through 2011. And I remember playing all three of those cities I just mentioned, and that version of Blackfoot. Of course, when that ended, that’s when I, I, I spent a few years doing some all star lineups. Not a lot of heart in that for me ’cause I’m not used to playing somebody else’s music, I guess.

John Harrison: Right? Yeah.

Greg T. Walker: But um, yeah, we always loved it up there. Always had great response in the northeast. And the Blackfoot, the band, we lived in New Jersey from 1970 to 1979, so Oh yeah. We played a lot in that part of the country, with just. just one album. Well Strikes came out in 79. That’s what put us on the map, but we had two before that.

But yeah, I love it up there.

John Harrison: Yeah. Yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s beautiful up here and looking forward to having you up here, you know, starting to run outta time. But, Greg t Walker of, now with Two Wolf, founding member of Blackfoot, thanks so much for joining. any, any last [00:06:00] minute, anything about the show you wanna preview?

Any, anything at all you want to say to the fans up here?

Greg T. Walker: I, all I have heard about is the, the, the first band on Friday night is, Todd Hogan. Mm-hmm. And, or Hogan, I think it is. I know that he is a New York State Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, and I hear he’s got a great ban. I’m looking forward to that.

And of course, we can’t wait to get on afterward. And, I think we played like eight 30 to 10:00 PM I believe is what my sheet said wherever I put it. I don’t know at this point. Yeah, we’re really excited. It’d be nice to get back up in that part of the country. It’s a good time of the year weather-wise.

Because having lived in Jersey all those years, we saw some very cold weather through the winters, Oh, yeah. As you can imagine.

John Harrison: Yeah. So, it’s kinda the best time of year right now. The, the leaves are changing. Well, great. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Thank you so much for, for calling [00:07:00] in and, giving the time to talk with me today.

Greg T. Walker: Well, it’s been my pleasure and we are looking for a great turnout. We hope to see a lot of, friends from the past that we stay in touch with, oddly enough, all these years. But also looking forward to making a lot of brand new friends. We’ll have merchandise for sale, with the table set up. We’ll do a meet and greet after the show.

We’re very approachable and we’re very fan friendly. That’s. It shouldn’t be any other way, in my opinion.

John Harrison: Yeah,

Greg T. Walker: we’d love shaking hands and kissing babies.

John Harrison: Well, glad to hear it. I, I hope to see you at the show this, this weekend. If I can, if I can make it up there. And, we’ll be giving away a pair of tickets here on, on X101’s.

So some of our listeners are definitely gonna be there. Shaking your hand, maybe they’ll bring a baby for you. I, I dunno.

Greg T. Walker: Yeah. Well, fantastic. Yeah. I hope you make it. If you do, come up and say hello, for sure.

John Harrison: Yeah, of course. Well, Greg, thanks so much for talking and folks, go see them at, with Two Wolf, playing [00:08:00] Sharky’s in Liverpool this Friday night for X101.

It’s been John Harrison.