What is your name?

Walter Campbell

Where are you located?

Richmond, CA

What is your artist's name?

Walter Campbell (solo) book on VHS (two-person project) I've also released solo material under the moniker Dickie Snakedick

How long have you been writing music?

Since I was 14, maybe earlier (I'm 41 now). Not formally trained, mostly a lyricist until my 20s. I would often write my lyrics to other people's music. Now I mostly write music! And when I say "write," a decent amount of it starts improvisational. I've followed a far less structured process over the past decade.

What inspired you to start playing and making music?

It's primarily a deep need from within, legitimizing my main reason to exist. I feel most alive when I create and perform. I want to make something that resonates with others like other people's music inspires and drives me. It's like passing the baton or continuing a dialogue.

How would you describe your style of music?

It depends on the release, but in general: pandemic pop, dungeon synthpop, goblin rock, and electro-industrial. It's choose your own adventure novel you never wanted to read, but keep reading anyway!

How is your personality reflected in your work?

As someone who has shifted from lyrically-driven songs to instrumentals, my humanity, politics, and humor carries over into my album or song titles. I often let a song title help set the mood or message, sometimes in conversation with the larger release's theme.

Describe your creative process when you write new music.

Recently it often starts with the idea that I develop on a phone-based synth app, my laptop, or in my head. I rely much less on other people's music or lyrical roadmaps when writing these days, instead favoring "happy accidents" from putting stems or tracks together, often from earlier and sometimes forgotten recordings. I will usually have a song title in mind that directs my approach and mood with the track.

What is the name of your latest releases?

book on VHS: Thoughts & Prayers (out late April 2023 on both the book on VHS and Humanhood Recordings Bandcamp pages) Walter Campbell: Corporeal Crawlers (out 7/7/23 on both the Walter Campbell and Muteant Sounds Bandcamp pages)

What was the inspiration for that release?

Today's anxieties and uncertainties inspire thoughts & Prayers. Conflicting with a strong conviction that something that needs to change is societal feelings of apathy, fatigue, and complacency as many of us reach our breaking points. Corporeal Crawlers was inspired by Choose Your Own Adventure books and horror short stories, including the countless horror and sci-fi podcasts I've listened to over the pandemic.

What are you currently working on?

Aside from some collaborations and a construction-themed Electronic Cottage compilation I'm curating, I'd like to do a Xuxa tribute EP. Long before Nurse With Wound or AC/DC, Xuxa was my first favorite artist. I still listen to her songs!

How can folks get in contact with you?

Walter Campbell Bandcamp: https://waltercampbell.bandcamp.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/snakedick666/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dickiesnakedick/ Book on VHS Bandcamp: https://bookonvhs.bandcamp.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookonvhs