Walt Disco’s story originally appeared in i-D’s The Post Truth Truth Issue, no. 357, Autumn 2019. Order your copy here.
Walt Disco met at a house party in Glasgow. It was fresher’s week and the Scottish lads were brought together by a combination of fate and the convenience of their mutual friend Daniel’s flat. James, Lewis, Finlay, Calum and Dave don’t remember much about the party itself, but they’re glad they went. “We decided that we’d be a band,” says Lewis, who plays guitar, “and we kept on saying we were a band for quite a while before we actually started being a band.” Already pretty good at their instruments, it was another six months before they began writing music together, inspired by love, glamour and androgyny, and spurred on by the fact that they’d bagged their first gig.
“We’re very influenced by 80s Scottish post-punk, like The Associates and Orange Juice,” says handsome frontman James, who has already been scooped up by Hedi Slimane for Celine’s spring/summer 2019 campaign. He walked in the Paris show too, and the band played the afterparty drunk, having made the most of the free bar. “We made a little holiday out of it!” they laugh. “Saw some art… ate some baguettes.”
To watch Walt Disco perform live, you wouldn’t think that they’d be shy in person. “We got called feral last week,” Dave says. “There’s a lot of eye contact, we’ll stare you down.” Currently four singles deep, Walt Disco’s music is deliciously melodramatic. Emotional, sure, but very fun. A suitably theatrical video for their latest single “Dancing Shoes” just dropped today, featuring James losing control and a bonus remix by Glasgow producer TAAHLIAH. “Our music has got theatre and glamour to it; it’s never really understated. The best review we ever got was someone saying: Walt Disco should rewrite The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” he says proudly. “I definitely want us to write a rock opera. A concept album would be too Radiohead… a rock opera is much more us.”
Credits
Photography Josh Olins
Styling Max Clark
Hair Cim Mahony at LGA Management.
Make-up Ciara O’Shea at LGA Management using Fenty Beauty.
Nail technician Trish Lomax at JAQ Management using Cnd.
Set design Max Bellhouse at The Magnet Agency.
Photography assistance Jeremy Young. Digital technician Brian Cleaver.
Styling assistance Giovanni Beda, Joe Palmer, Monica Armario and Gal Klein.
Hair assistance Tarik Bennafla and Rohmarra Kerr.
Make-up assistance Jade Smith.
Set design assistance Miranda Latimer.
Production Etty Bellhouse.
Production assistance Molly Senior.
Lawfawndah wears coat Loewe.
Jewellery Jennifer Fisher.