The Walt Lariat

1996–2000

originally published November 8, 2006

Like so many other bands, The Walt Lariat was formed by old friends who had a history of playing music together. In 1996, Damien Schafer, previously of Atlanta’s Levelhead and Athens’ The Pullouts and The Mike Douglas, formed the band with Ray Sullivan, Gino Zahnd (Pullouts) and Jay Neubert (Levelhead), and the two were the group's core through a revolving door of other performers.

“I wanted to do something new that incorporated the poppy feel and beautiful melodies that I loved so much," Schafer says of his musical goals, "with some darker, more nut-crushing, guitar-heavy rhythms.  Ray was way more into straightedge hardcore bands, and, as you can imagine, his love of the more aggressive music was just the ingredient I needed.  We ended up getting a house and set up a practice room in it that we would play in all hours of the night.  The best music I have ever written came out of those late nights, because we were just playing music that felt good.”

Still, the sound of The Walt Lariat, named after a particularly brutal wrestling move, was not born out of thin air. Time spent in The Pullouts and Levelhead had honed Schafer’s pop sensibility and short-lived band The Mike Douglas  was among the first of a few Athens bands that would explore the melody-driven, expansive type of rock music played by The Walt Lariat.

At The Time

The house-show scene circa 1996 was incredibly healthy in Athens, and The Walt Lariat soon found itself playing every available living room and basement in town. “Locally, we played at houses a lot. The Dead Body House, The Ultramod Compound and The Boba Fettucini House were the favorites," says Schafer.  "As far as bars and clubs go, we played at the 40 Watt, the Engine Room, Tasty World and the punk-rock bookstore [Above Bookstore] on Baxter Street that our friend Robert Newsome set up years ago, which is now no more.”

Sharing bills with Atlanta’s At The Price Of The Union and Athens’ Jet By Day was a common occurrence for the band, but The Walt Lariat also played some memorable, semi-high profile gigs, including one memorable night in 1997 when the group played with The Promise Ring at DIY venue the Ultramod Compound. The band was also a regular at the Caledonia Lounge and Atlanta’s Under The Couch.

Although the band shies away from certain descriptions of its sound, The Walt Lariat can best be summed up as second-wave emo, which was defined by the exploration music as a aural-textural device and exemplified at the time by bands such as Christie Front Drive and Mineral.

“I never really thought of it as an emo band," Schafer says. "It seems like emo became the new name for what happened to punk rock during that time, though, so in that respect, I would say that we would fall into that category.  I simply thought of us as a rhythm-heavy punk rock band with interesting rhythms and beautiful melodies.  We loved the dynamics of crazy heavy guitars and crashing cymbals flowing immediately into a complex lullaby-esque interlude. I still love that stuff!”

Ray Sullivan says, “We never viewed it as 'emo.'  We sort of hated that term.”

Why the Split?

Flush with initial success, The Walt Lariat nonetheless fell victim to boredom and writer's block. “I would say that the band ultimately broke up because of me," says Schafer.  "When Ray and I first started playing, it was out of our sheer love of writing music. It was such an exciting time and it seemed like we didn't have a care in the world.

"At that time, songs just 'happened. ' It seemed so natural and easy.  Of course, we did also want to tour and record.  I started booking shows on the East Coast and we recorded the Clockside Vigil EP.  We started writing more music and it seemed like good things were happening, until I slowly realized that I could not force myself to write 10 to 13 songs with no real inspiration.  I think the minute we decided to try to force the music out of ourselves was the minute the band started to fall apart.  It was an amicable split, though, and we are all still good buddies.”

Sullivan remembers it slightly different by saying, “ We split because people's personal lives were taking over and the band wasn't a priority for us. It sucked.”

These Days…

Bassist Josh Lott was in multiple bands during his tenure with The Walt Lariat and went on to form popular local band Paper Lions; he currently plays drums with Teenage Meth Lab and Elf Power. Jason Neubert lives in Atlanta and plays in the band The Paper Champions. Spencer Davis wound up moving to Portland, OR with his other local band, metal-hardcore act Avalauncher. He now plays in a Misfits cover band called The Misfats in which all the members are self-described "fat guys who sing about food." Time and distance, unfortunately, rendered many of the members unreachable for this article.

After The Walt Lariat, Sullivan moved to New York and has played with a number of bands since, including The Amverts with former members of Atlanta’s Hal Al Shedad and Year Zero. Schafer moved to New York to explore his already significant interest in graphic design. He says, “I studied graphic design in school and I wanted to get away from music for a while and explore other things I loved.  I started a design studio in the city called Herosion that I am involved in to this day.  Ray and I talk a good bit and I have started writing again.  We have chatted about trying to write some music together again.  I am excited about the prospect, but we'll see what happens.”

Gordon Lamb

That Beat in Time is a biweekly feature examining dearly departed local acts worth digging up. Next up: Mercyland. Is there a band you'd like to see covered? Email music editor Chris Hassiotis at music@flagpole.com.