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Walker & Royce.
Myles Heidenreich @2ndnaturephoto.com
It’s more than just tech house. It’s more than just quirky beats. It’s more than just funk-filled sounds. It’s playful. It’s multifaceted. It’s progressive.
It’s Walker & Royce.
Gavin Royce, one-half of the project, says they listened to underground music when first starting, feeling there was a need to get “everyone to dance.” Because of this, their music is vocal-driven, appealing to people who typically don’t listen to house music. Royce notes instances where people who don’t even like the genre have said they like the project’s music.
“I’m trying to cultivate an openness and [trying] to bring people in,” he says. “Our music is unpretentious. I think that there’s a lot of pretentiousness in dance music that just doesn’t belong there, and I feel like our idea is to create this open door and be like, ‘Everybody’s invited—no matter what.’”
However, Sam Walker, the other half of the duo, says this creates the challenge of continuously having to impress their audience. Each studio session is a blank canvas for them because they’ve found that copying what they did in the past doesn’t work. In turn, Walker & Royce proves to constantly reinvent itself, a notable feat because it never releases music that sounds the same—something that isn’t frequently done in today’s world of dance music.
“Some people are good at rinse and repeating. I don’t think we are,” Royce says.
Walker & Royce released their debut album, ‘Self Help,’ in 2017.
Myles Heidenreich @2ndnaturephoto.com
Not only is the project’s sound ever-evolving, but it also transcends genres. The dynamic duo may be best known for tech house, but they don’t stop there. From drum’n’bass to deep house, neo-disco and more, they certainly weave a diverse tapestry of sounds. They may look to the sounds of dance music’s past, but they do more than emulate them: They reconceptualize them. Indeed, Walker & Royce continuously shows its ability to craft various sounds, all while sticking to the signature eccentric style that pushed it to the forefront of the scene.
The project did it once again with its sophomore album, No Big Deal, which dropped earlier this year.
However, it is a big deal.
The 10-track body of work, released via acclaimed imprint Dirtybird, takes listeners on a sonic voyage through quirky and funky rhythms, pounding and playful basslines, haunting tunes, percolating and swirling synths, computer-like sounds, drum’n’bass, wonky beats, techno tracks, sharp melodies, chiming soundscapes, festival heaters, progressive elements and sensations of audacity, authority and amusement. Surely, No Big Deal proves to be just the opposite of its naming as the LP exemplifies the project’s ability to create tracks designed for dancefloor domination and its relentless commitment to represent the future of contemporary house music.
According to Royce, the album features more dark and intense sounds, best seen on “Fatalistic Groove.” Incorporating tenebrous tunes hasn’t been as prominent in their past releases, but they do so on No Big Deal by featuring techno, a genre that Walker says is often considered serious. But, in true Walker & Royce fashion, it still finds a way to implement its “weird and silly” personality on it.
“Make techno fun again,” Royce says.
Techno is one example of the sound designers expanding their sonic footprint outside of house music as they also produced two drum’n’bass tracks for the long play. Walker notes that they had previously “never really been able to pull off playing drum’n’bass in a deejay set,” but the two songs show they now have the skills to do it. Taking the risk of creating tunes within that genre, he says, proved to be fun for the duo.
In addition, Royce says artists are told to categorize their albums into a particular genre when they submit them. While he thinks they would usually choose house or tech house, they went with electro pop for No Big Deal because the LP boasts multiple genres. Despite the numerous tunes heard on the album, one thing is sure: Cohesion, allowing the tastemakers to tell a seamless story.
Notably, the LP features several impressive collaborations, including Indian-Canadian hip-hop artist Harm Franklin, South Central vocalist Barney Bones, comedic musician Reggie Watts and Newport Beach native VNSSA.
The album was rolled out in four parts, with the final release cumulating all installments. Royce says streaming has made listeners very focused on singles, shortening their attention span for albums. He adds that not only did the four-part release make the LP more digestible, but it also let the Rules Don’t Apply label bosses to tweak songs that were dropping later, which they did based on how they performed live. This plan, he says, also allowed for more tracks to garner attention, citing how an album release in today’s streaming era may lead to only one record becoming a heater while the others stay cool.
“I think it helped because with the first set of tracks, we put out four things, and that got people’s attention,” Walker says. “Then, when we started peppering out additional ones, I think people were now very tuned in, and when those tracks came out, they actually got a lot of direct attention, which was really good. We like to spread out the kind of tracks there were, so we put out ‘I Don’t Remember’ with ‘Tha Tea’ because we didn’t want two more house tracks to come out at the same time.”
Walker & Royce’s first EP was “Escapade,” released in 2018.
Myles Heidenreich @2ndnaturephoto.com
No Big Deal marks the project’s return to Claude VonStroke’s label, Dirtybird, as its last release on the esteemed imprint was in 2022 with “Feel the Vibe.” According to Royce, the famed record label “saved” the duo because they felt like they “peaked.” While they were still playing shows, people were mainly coming for the headline act because Walker & Royce was billed as support for the concert. Walker adds that they also felt like they weren’t connecting with the audience at this time.
Then, they were asked to play at Dirtybird Campout.
Royce says they felt they were “randomly” booked for the festival. He speculates that they were asked to play because they were on Pets Recordings, a label run by Catz ‘n Dogz, and they are American, so the festival didn’t have to pay for them to obtain visas.
In addition, Royce says Dirtybird was becoming more popular around this time, which was 2018. Walker & Royce, he says, was “onto something new” sonically, while the imprint was looking for fresh and creative sounds.
“It was just this perfect marriage,” Royce says. “We thought we were going to be done for the most part. Dirtybird kind of changed everything. Once we did Self Help, I feel like things really took off for us. It feels good to be back [on the label].”
Since their debut release on the imprint, Dirtybird has changed. Claude VonStoke, the founder of Dirtybird, has gone on hiatus to pursue a bass music-driven side project dubbed Barclay Crenshaw—his legal name. Walker & Royce has become part of the crew to help lead the Dirtybird flock moving forward.
When it comes to the most significant challenge the pair has ever faced, it’s “pure stubbornness,” Royce says. He adds that people even asked them when they would give up on the project. Walker says time helped heal this issue, which was necessary because he was facing problems with his wife because they weren’t making money from the project, so she wanted him to quit. Although Walker was close to giving up, signing with Dirtybird changed everything.
Had it not been for the famed label, the world may have never been able to enjoy the funky, quirky, playful and forward-thinking music that the duo releases. Given that acclaimed artists have supported the project—such as Sasha, Adam Beyer, Eats Everything, Maceo Plex, Gorgon City and Loco Dice—one may question how Walker & Royce giving up would have impacted dance music. However, one thing is for certain: the project’s commitment to its craft pushes the tech house and house music scenes forward, proving it made the right decision to continue making music.
Catch Walker & Royce performing on Friday, October 18, at Caw Palace in California, where they will play support for John Summit. Tickets are available here.
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