2022 has been a breakthrough year for Glasgow’s experimental art-pop clan Walt Disco. Their album Unlearning has been shortlisted for Scottish Album of The Year, nominated for Best Independent Record at the AIM Awards and has been included in Rough Trade, Gigwise, The Skinny and Dork Magazine’s ‘Top Records of the Year’.
The world welcomed Walt Disco with their arms wide open and the gang have taken their futuristic new-wave show all over. They’ve thrilled audiences at festivals like Glastonbury (UK), Best Kept Secret (NL), Bebop (FR) and SXSW (US), to name a few. Their BBC Introducing performance from Glastonbury sits on iPlayer alongside their BBC Radio 1 live session at Maida Vale Studios. After one of their nine SXSW performances, they were immediately booked for Austin City Limits Festival (US), sparking their first US Headline Tour in NY, Austin and LA. Walt Disco made Brooklyn Vegan, Austin City Chronicle and Rolling Stone’s ‘best bands of SXSW’ lists.
Walt finished the year by releasing a covers EP, Always Sickening. This gave fans a chance to come even closer to the band as they perform songs by artists they respect, and give an intimate look at the inspiration behind Walt Disco. The EP follows a beautiful experimental journey with songs from Dusty Springfield to Aldous Harding.
In 2022 Walt Disco has certainly ticked off some bucket list moments; be it playing with Duran Duran, being invited by Bobby Gillespie to support them for Primal Scream’s Screamadelica Tour, or turning to the side of the stage to see Tilda Swinton watching their set at Connect Festival. Not to mention the band’s singer Jocelyn Si, starring and performing in their first short-film which has so far made it to Venice Film Festival and Cannes…
This year has well and truly propelled Walt Disco on their mission to push musical boundaries, celebrate the outsider, free audiences from an uncertain world and inspire people to be their favourite selves. You might expect a year like this to amount to some well-earned down time for a band, but they are already back in the studio recording new music.
2023 will kick off Walt Disco’s second album campaign via record label Lucky Number (Dream Wife, Hinds, Sunflower Bean, HMLTD). Walt Disco’s spaceship has only just come into view, and it’s not going away any time soon.
The band are currently part of a campaign for Christian Louboutin that seeks to challenge the gender binary applied to clothing and footwear. There will social posts and a video across Louboutin and i-D socials the next few days/weeks – which am sure you’ll see band share. In addition the band just returned from performing in Paris at the Louboutin event for Paris Fashion Week
