Article about Walter Trout - April 2004

Maximum Ink e-magazine - Author: Brett Lemke

Walter Trout has spent his days walking the long path of hardship to find the road of success. He toured and worked under John Lee Hooker and Big Mama Thornton, then as the lead guitar/harmonica side man with Canned Heat for 4 years. After his tenure in the mid-1980’s with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Trout formed his current band in 1989 with bassist Jimmy Trapp. Walter Trout & The Radicals have released thirteen albums in Europe and ten in the United States since 1989, and have been aggressively touring to support each release. An overseas vote recently put him into the top ten guitarists of all time in Europe. Walter spoke with Maximum Ink before the second European tour about his most recent projects.

“For somebody that works as much as I do, I’m still going [strong].” says Trout. “We did about 250 dates in six months last year, and went to Europe twice.”

Coincidentally, the tour was in support of “Relentless” (Ruf Records). The new CD/DVD feature the Radicals filmed live, performing a full album of new material and at The Paradiso, a gothic cathedral in Amsterdam, Holland. Trout’s guitar has the ferocity of a blast-furnace, incinerating virtually every note on his vintage ‘73 Stratocaster (now on its 14th fret job).

“You can see all of the stained glass around the stage; The Paradiso is one of my favorite places to play. We wanted to do it in America, but we just couldn’t find a place that was right. We ended up renting it out for a couple of nights and had a blast.”

Trout’s contributions this year also include a track on Canned Heat’s 2003 release “Friends In The Can,” After performing a 5 year stint in Canned Heat as the lead guitar/harmonica player in the early 1980’s, Trout was asked by manager and close friend Skip Taylor to contribute a song to the legendary blues band’s new album.

“I started thinking about Canned Heat, and I came to this realization that Fito has been on the road for almost 40 years. All of their hit songs like “Going Up The Country” and “On The Road Again” are about traveling. I decided to write an answer. It took me an hour or two of contemplation about the band, and I wrote “Home To You.”

His extensive touring schedule has taken him all over the world, and though his travels have included extensive European touring, he has expressed interest in playing around the Midwest in the future.

“I’m hoping someday to play in Madison at Luther’s Blues. Luther Allison was a good friend of mine; we go back a long way. I remember playing at the Montreaux Jazz Festival with Luther back in 1985. I’m hoping to play that club as soon as we make it to the Midwest.”

The Radicals are Sammy Avila on Hammond B-3, Joey Pafumi on drums and Jimmy Trapp on bass. Walter Trout & The Radicals will begin their 2004 European Tour in April, and will make their way back to the USA by the end of May.