While it may have not been an easy path, Chicago’s The Walters have found their way back to each other on their debut LP ‘Good Company,’ a record full of love for each other and a reminder of the experiences faced along the way.

Stream: ‘Good Company’ – The Walters

Change is nothing new to indie pop quartet The Walters.

The group has broken up, reunited, and most recently released their long-awaited debut full-length album, Good Company. Their journey has been one of transformation – navigating personal and professional changes, and learning what it means to grow both individually and together. Ten-plus years after they first came on the scene, The Walters are back and better than ever, sharing a record that means just as much to them as it does to their fans.

“Good Company is the album we’ve always wanted to make – a reflection of our story, our friendships, and the highs and lows along the way,” say The Walters – comprised of singer/guitarist Luke Olson, guitarist Walter Kosner, bassist Danny Wells, and drummer Charlie Ekhaus.

“We grew up on albums. They’ve shaped us as individuals and musicians. In today’s music world, albums may not carry the same weight they once did, but to us, they remain the purest expression of an artist and an era.”

After releasing their now-viral single “I Love You So” in 2014, The Walters quickly caught the attention of music lovers across the country. Facing such a rapid switch in popularity, from local sweethearts to a nationally known act, the band felt this new sense of pressure all at once. Dealing with all of this, along with touring and their personal lives, eventually took its toll. Not long after their Lollapalooza performance in 2017, The Walters called it quits.

“There was just a lot of immaturity and failure on our part to realize we were on the up and up, that things were really successful,” Olson reflects. “We just fell apart.”

But The Walters’ story didn’t end there.

In 2021, seven years after its original release, “I Love You So” unexpectedly went viral on TikTok – introducing The Walters to a brand new generation of listeners. The song’s sudden popularity reignited conversations among the band members, sparking a realization that their music still resonated deeply, even in their absence.

With widely respected hits “I Love You So” and “Sweet Marie,” The Walters realized the influence their music holds in society. The unwavering support shown by fans everywhere was unexpected. If anything, it’s the reason the group decided to give music another try.

“There’s definitely no way we could have made this record even a year or two ago,” Walter Kosner shares. “We needed to go through this process to be able to finally get to a place where we can just make the best music we can.”

Adds Olson: “We’re in a much healthier place, and the creativity is really flowing. Some of my favorite songs on the album are ones the other guys wrote. I just love singing them, and to be in that space is incredibly exciting.”

As the four matured, they realized what truly matters: Their fans, each other, and the music.

After stepping back from music, the band noticed they couldn’t live without it. This transformative experience led them back to their roots, and to one another. When surrounded with Good Company, a person never wants to leave the side of those around them. The Walters are tethered together, an inevitable pairing. They embrace this and their rediscovery as a group, fueling their return to music.

The Walters tell Atwood Magazine, “Good Company is a reflection of who we are – whether it’s playing in someone’s car on a road trip or discovered in a crate of vinyl decades from now. After ten years as a band, we’re proud to finally share our first full-length album.”

Long-awaited and deeply felt, Good Company is the return fans have been dreaming of. The Walters didn’t just reunite — they came back with purpose, crafting a debut that’s dreamy, nostalgic, and richly reflective of who the’ they’ve grown to be. It’s a portrait of who they’ve become, the result of hard-won growth and renewed connection. More than a comeback, this record is a rebirth: The Walters’ authenticity bleeds into each and every song, reaffirming their voice and vision as a band reborn.

The Walters are currently on tour with half•alive during their “Persona” tour. Good Company is making its debut, alongside the reintroduction of the beloved band to longtime fans and new listeners alike.

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:: stream/purchase Good Company here ::

:: connect with The Walters here ::

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A CONVERSATION WITH THE WALTERS

Luke Olson: It’s a bucket list moment for us as a band. We started in 2014, and then we were broken up for a while. We never were able to really make an album that we considered an album. It was kind of like six or seven song EPs. I think we’re just really proud that we were able to see this through. Obviously we love the music, but it’s like more of just showing ourselves that we can do it. Everybody loves a good album, and we just have never had that. So hopefully this can be a start of us making many of them.

Luke Olson: Well, it shapes it a lot because there’s a lot of love songs. I guess all the good and the bad that comes with relationships. You almost subconsciously write about it, like broken hearts, it can’t be tied to one relationship. It comes from experiences in all of them.

Charlie Ekhaus: It’s all in there, one way or another. It all comes out in music.

Walter Kosner: We played a few shows already and it’s been so nice. I can’t tell you how nice it’s been to play different songs. Whenever we were touring we played the same two albums, same singles and now half of our set is all new music. It’s been really fun and it’s exciting to see if some people react to the new music, or if they’ve heard the music before the concert.

Luke Olson: We were broken up for a little while, our band has always kind of been like a rollercoaster. There’s something beautiful about that, all of us are in a position now in our lives where we can do this band in the right way. We can be good to each other and not take it for granted. Maybe when we were in our early 20’s it was a little harder to see what the scope of this means to our lives. Now we’re fully aware that this band is a very essential part of our livelihoods so we’re taking it seriously.

Walter Kosner: There were different times over the years that some of us wanted to do the band, or we weren’t ready. In 2021, the band started trending on TikTok with the first song we made I Love You So. When that happened, we started getting a lot of calls from record labels and it got us all back in conversation, talking about the possibilities of what we could do if we started the band again. Everyone was feeling inspired, and it felt like a good time to do it.

Danny Wells: As far as missing parts of the industry, we missed playing live and recording. But I’ll speak for everyone and say, we don’t really miss the industry side of it.

Walter Kosner: As long as you can keep it between your friends and make music that you love and perform, that’s all that really matters.

Luke Olson: This band is just important, we all probably have thought about it every day of our lives in some way or another. I Love You So going viral was the universe, it pushed us even if we didn’t ask for it.

Danny Wells: Everyone learned different stuff on the hiatus, like Charlie got really good at drums. Luke started shredding on guitar more, I learned how to write songs. Walter became an even better writer than he was. The time off helped in a lot of ways.

Walter Kosner: I got into driving Uber and doing deliveries. As you get older you kind of realize what matters to you. The whole time we were gone, you’d always see fans saying they wished we were still together, and how much our music meant to them. Once you hear that enough, you realize that it is kind of important not just for you, but for your fans. Being able to make music that people actually hear and it actually mean something to them is so hugely important to us.

Luke Olson: That’s a hard one. I guess a lot of the classics, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, and The Strokes are important. I would say those are the tops, it’s just all the nostalgic classic music, we try to blend and make it kind of modern.

Walter Kosner: Oasis, The Chili Peppers, we all just really like what we consider to be really fun, good pop music. We listen to a lot of the same things, but we also branch out a lot. I think that kind of helps our sound. Charlie produced all our music pretty much up until this point. Him and Danny definitely have more of a R&B background and I think that helps with the production. It just kind of changes our sound, it doesn’t make it just this one thing.

Danny Wells: We’ve been doing stuff more remotely, which has been cool. A lot of stuff together too, but we kind of have our own studios at home and we’ve made some of our best stuff. Each one of us would start individually and then we brought it to the band. That’s been a new thing since COVID.

Walter Kosner: It’s been collaborative. There’s a song on the album that Danny sings, and he’s never sang a song before. Songs are coming from all different directions, it’s not just the same. We used to just write chords, and a melody and lyrics, and then bring in the instrumentals. It was kind of the same thing every time, and this time it’s kind of all over the place.

Luke Olson: Well, we also used multiple producers and writers for this album. Instead of just the band writing each song, we brought multiple people to help and it shows in the songs.

Walter Kosner: White Lotus, Succession. Dark is my favorite show. It’s a German psychological time travel show, it’s one of my favorites of all time, highly recommend.

Danny Wells: I’ve been watching Yellowjackets, that’s a good one.

Luke Olson: I’ve been watching Peaky Blinders the most, for like the last few months.

Danny Wells: Currently coming out though, White Lotus rocks.

Luke Olson: Yeah I need to watch the new White Lotus. I’m happy you liked that song, it’s one of my favorite ones too.

Luke Olson: Wow. That’s a good question. It’s probably different for everybody, but I guess it’s just the years when you were oblivious to the world. When you were throwing eggs at Dairy Queen drive thrus. Having the cops called to your parent’s house.

Walter Kosner: Yeah, when you were living in a bubble. I was throwing slushies at a gas station, the same time Luke was throwing eggs.

Danny Wells: I was running into the woods, throwing snowballs off a bridge.

Charlie Ekhaus: When you didn’t have responsibility. Maybe we’re in the good ole years right now too, you know?

Luke Olson: Yeah that’s kind of it, right? It always is changing what the good ole years is, in ten years we will look back at this time.

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:: stream/purchase Good Company here ::

:: connect with The Walters here ::

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 © Rachel Briggs

Good Company

an album by The Walters