A psychedelic rock band originally from Wollongong, The Walking Who's frontman Rohin Brown was living in Prague (Czech Republic) when the COVID madness first hit.
He was unable to leave due to his apartment block being locked down due to most of the inhabitants contracting COVID, including Rohin. It was while he was 'locked in' that his visa expired.When Rohin managed to submit his new visa application, it was lost and by the time everything was ironed out, he had literally been living there illegally until the end of March this year.
During this desolate and bleak time, Rohin managed to find a glimmer of hope via music.
"Welcome to 'Post-Soviet Hollywood' – a term of sheer endearment that, for me, embodies the charm of this intriguing city steeped in centuries of fractured fairytales," Rohin says.
"My stories are not fairytales, but more akin to my creative legacy taking a free dive through an unsavoury turning point in time.
"I was both locked down in the Czech Republic and locked out of Australia. I became an illegal alien and contracted COVID twice.
"My entire apartment block was locked down and everyone contracted the virus. The lockdown went for 300-plus days.
"Studio Faust Records is beneath my apartment block and is named after 'Faust' Mader – a 70-year-old former Soviet Union bio engineer, unorthodox music producer, and Walking Who godsend, who allowed me to record in his studio for free under one proviso: 'Nothing normal, and nothing polite.'"
The first sample of all that work is the excellent 'Mr. Cornelius' single, which scenestr is delighted to premiere today. Enjoy.
A chugging rhythm section kicks off proceedings, before a bluesy, twangy guitar enters adding texture as Rohin's gruff, raspy vocals detail an anti-fairy tale related to his COVID misadventures.
"'Mr. Cornelius' explores instruments and recording techniques previously unavailable to The Walking Who," begins Rohin.
"I took a dive into the wild world of Russian synthesisers, Gregorian medieval string instruments and KGB spy microphone recording devises.
"I could have never imagined that such tools could ever find their way into Australian hands, but they did.
"In a fair attempt to bring the eclectic nature and production skills cultivated on previous Walking Who releases, 'Mr Cornelius' is what happens when someone like me gets the opportunity take what they know musically and apply it to another planet.
"The song was recorded on cancelled time in a renovated/ decommissioned German army tunnel from WWII.
"For me, each layer of sound reflects the ambience of that space and time. Most of all I am excited to share a looking glass into my bizarre creative labyrinth that I occupied in Prague over the course of the global pandemic."
'Mr Cornelius' is the first single from a forthcoming EP The Walking Who plan to release in the coming months.
