The Walkmen are an indie rock band from New York City. The band formed with three members from Jonathan Fire*Eater (which had recently disbanded) and two members from The Recoys in 2000. The group comprises Hamilton Leithauser (vocals, guitar), Paul Maroon (guitar, piano), Walter Martin (organ/bass), Peter Bauer (bass/organ) and Matt Barrick (drums). Four of the five band members attended St. Albans in Washington, D.C. They prefer the sound of vintage musical instruments, most famously the upright piano, and often recorded at their self-designed recording studio, Marcata Recording, which used analog recording equipment before closing in 2006, after Columbia University bought the building that contained Marcata.
The 2002 debut album Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone, released by the independent record label Startime, was well received by critics. The follow up album, Bows + Arrows, was released in 2004 and was listed by many critics as one of the year's best albums. This album was released on the Record Collection label, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Records. Their next album, A Hundred Miles Off, was released in the U.S. on May 23, 2006. The band premiered most of the new songs on a tour of the Northeast in early 2006. The first single to be released was "Louisiana." Peter Bauer and Walter Martin traded musical instruments on the new album with Bauer handling the organ duties and Martin playing bass.
The same year, they released another full-length album: a track-by-track cover of Harry Nilsson and John Lennon's 1974 album Pussy Cats.
The Walkmen are currently finishing up the recording of their next studio album. So far untitled, the album is due for release in the Spring or Summer of 2008.
