Community Voices has a new theme thanks to the Micah Walk Band dusting off the masters and stripping the vocals from their song Last One Home. The band shares what they have been up to since playing together.
Randy Eccles: This is Community Voices on NPR Illinois. I'm co-host Randy Eccles. What you're hearing behind us, right now, is the theme we've had since we started the show back in 2021. It is Bill Laswell's Work Song, a piece from the eighties — very cool. Bill Laswell (born in Salem, Illinois) worked with Material and lots of different bands.
We're going to change that up. That's what we're all here to talk about today. We're really happy that The Micah Walk Band has provided a new theme for Community Voices. This is really exciting, thanks guys. We've got members of the band with us. Micah, hi, good to see you again.
Micah Walk: Hey, how's it going?
Randy Eccles: Good. We also have Dan Hartman.
Dan Hartman: Good to meet you. Pleasure to be here.
Randy Eccles: And Darin...
Darin Holthaus: ...Holthaus.
Randy Eccles: You were all in The Micah Walk Band when this was recorded. When was this recorded originally?
Micah Walk: It was released in 2006.
Darin Holthaus: All done in Champaign at Pogo Studio with the great Mark Rubel.
Randy Eccles: We're thrilled that it's going to be the new theme for the show. Why did you think to offer to help?
Micah Walk: I listen to the show a lot. It was, shoot, maybe like a year or two ago. You put out some feelers for a locally produced theme we talked about some options, it got put on the back burner and everybody kind of forgot about it. Then I remembered this song and I thought it would be a cool theme. I went and took my terrible vocal check out and sent it over to you guys.
Randy Eccles: We were very excited. I remember Vanessa and Bea all listening to some different things you threw over to check out, and this is what emerged. The original song is called...
Micah Walk: ...Last One Home.
Randy Eccles: Last One Home. What was that about originally? What were they supposed to think when they first heard that song?
Micah Walk: One of my favorite songwriters said, "If you can't describe what a song's about, it's probably not a good one." I can't describe what the song's about.
Randy Eccles: It makes a great instrumental.
Micah Walk: Yeah, back then my songwriting was more about phrasing and just trying to sound cool, to be honest. It kinda worked. They were not great songs, but performed by a great band very well. That's where that song is at as far as the theme. It just sounds cool because it's played by some excellent musicians coming right out of music school. They were in their prime.
Darin Holthaus: Ready to impress.
Randy Eccles: We'll play it at the end of this segment. When you hear it, the primary piece that we'll hear is the first 60 seconds which is bass heavy. Weren't you the bass player on that?
Dan Hartman: That'd be me!
Randy Eccles: That's Dan. Dan Hartman. That sounds really good on the drums.
Darin Holthaus: That was me.
Randy Eccles: There we go with Darin. Then there's just a little guitar jangle in there at times.
Micah Walk: Yeah.
Randy Eccles: Not so much jangle, it's electric, right?
Micah Walk: Yep. That's John (Cardoni). That's the guy that couldn't be here today. Excellent guitarist. He's a professor at Belmont in Nashville. That's why he couldn't be here. That's him playing guitar. There's a little bit of acoustic in the background. That was me. That's honestly why I wanted these guys to come is because once you take out the vocal track, it's just them sounding really good. I didn't want to just do this interview by myself after taking my part out.
Randy Eccles: You guys don't play together anymore. Have you moved in different directions?
Micah Walk: Yeah. I mean, pretty much.
Darin Holthaus: Yeah.
Dan Hartman: Yeah.
Randy Eccles: Darin, what are you up to?
Darin Holthaus: I teach music every week. I have about 50 students every week that I teach. I have a semi-professional recording studio, production studio at my home. Doing some fun things with that.
Micah Walk: Your lessons are private lessons, too. people can reach out out there.
Randy Eccles: Do you have a contact or a website?
Darin Holthaus: You can contact me at boomcrashmusic.com. Or, at my email, boomcrashedu@gmail.com or Holthaus.Darin@gmail.com.
Randy Eccles: Dan, tell us what you were doing these days.
Dan Hartman: I am a platform engineer. I got into the software development space. I've been telling computers what to do for about five years now, and sometimes they listen.
Randy Eccles: We like it when they listen.
Dan Hartman: Yes, sir.
Randy Eccles: Pretty soon they'll be telling us what to do.
Micah Walk: We also had a wedding band called The Shenanigans that we all started. Everybody kinda left at various times.
Randy Eccles: It's still a going concern, it's just some different personnel?
Micah Walk: We've slowed way down. We're not playing a whole lot.
Randy Eccles: Not into the wedding scene as much?
Micah Walk: Still a great scene. Love weddings. That's not really happening too much anymore. But, this trio here was three of the founding members.
Randy Eccles: When you say a wedding band, it means mostly you're playing songs people know, as opposed to original music.
Micah Walk: That's why we started the band. We had The Michael Walk Band that did mostly the original stuff. The covers we did weren't popular. They were the ones that we wanted to do, ones that I wanted to do a lot of times. Then we decided we've got some of these dates. We're not busy. We'd like to work, so let's start another band that does cover songs, popular cover songs. It accidentally turned into a wedding band because somebody asked us, "Do you do weddings?" And we were like. "Sure." Then we did one, and then two couples from that wedding booked us for their weddings, so it turned into that.
Darin Holthaus: It snowballed.
Micah Walk: Yeah, big time.
Randy Eccles: Was it fun?
It was a blast most of the time. Yeah.
Darin Holthaus: Guys, I loved playing Love Shack.
Randy Eccles: That's a good one for a wedding for sure. Micah, I have to ask, or any of you, do you have any fresh music in the pipeline?
Micah Walk: Yeah, I'm pretty much always writing. Whether or not it's stuff that will end up getting released or not, I don't really know. It's just something I do.
Randy Eccles: You did your solo thing a couple of years ago, and then you perform in The Deep Hollow on a pretty regular basis.
Micah Walk: Yep.
Randy Eccles: I heard there is a special event coming up, The Shenanigans and The Deep Hollow: CANCER SUCKS BENEFIT. Tell me more about that.
Micah Walk: Dan here has been battling cancer, and luckily, he is winning. We're very thankful for that. High five. We're having a benefit concert on June 1, at the Blue Grouch, 1-5 p.m. We're gonna do The Deep Hollow, and then we're also gonna do, we're calling it Shenanigans and Friends, because we're basically having anybody who's been in The Shenanigans ever is gonna be there. So, we'll be playing some of the old, maybe there will be nine or 10 people on stage at one time. I don't really know. Maybe they'll just be shuffling it and out. We haven't really talked about exactly how it's going to happen.
Darin Holthaus: Interpretive dancing?
Dan Hartman: It could be anything.
Darin Holthaus: Multiple drum sets.
Micah Walk: I'll be the worst guitarist there. So I'm actually hoping I don't have to play too much and then maybe I can do some of the dancing.
Darin Holthaus: You'll be on the shaker.
Randy Eccles: It's great that you're able to do this. Dan, I'm sorry to hear that you've had make that fight. Anything you'd want to share about that or how this is all working?
Dan Hartman: Anybody else who's in the fight, I see you. I'm here for you. If you wanna come out on June 1, and party with us, it's absolutely for you too.
Randy Eccles: Thank you so much and congratulations on your path to this point. Continued good fortune there.
Darin, when you are thinking about this song that you guys have introduced as the new theme for Community Voices, what is it that stood out to you that makes this a piece that, you want to get out there some more,
Darin Holthaus: It's a song that everybody can honestly dance to. It's kind of a dance song, it's funky. It's got a sick groove. That's what brings people together more than dancing, that's what The Shenanigans were about. By about halfway through the night of a Micah Walk Band show, that's what it was about.
Micah Walk: This was the song we played when somebody came up and said, can you play something with a beat?
Darin Holthaus: Think feel good music
Randy Eccles: We're excited to have what was The Michael Walk Band with us right now giving us the rights to use this new theme for Community Voices. We're talking with Micah Walk, Dan Hartman, and Darin Holthaus. How did The Micah Walk Band come together? Were you looking for musicians and found them, or were you friends already?
Micah Walk: Randy, this was 20 years ago.
Darin Holthaus: Can't remember.
Dan Hartman: I don't remember it. It wasn't yesterday. Me, Darin, and the other guy in Nashville (John Cardoni), we all graduated from Millikin University out of the commercial music program. We've been playing music and just living, breathing, and eating it for years with each other. Darin and John moved to Springfield and got jobs at the music store. I think they call it Samuel's Music. And they meet this gentleman, Micah Walk. I moved back to Champaign where I was from, and about three weeks later, Darin calls me and says, "I met this guy named Micah. You need to get over here. We're starting a band." We show up to the music store. We were doing a lot of rehearsing after hours. Still, I swear on everything holy, you (Micah) were 40 years old at that point.
Micah Walk: He thought then, I'm about the age I am now.
Dan Hartman: We are, I cannot stress this enough, I think, the exact same age.
It was heaven. To go through what life looks like with a college degree in music. Then just months later, find somebody who's generating original music and wants to move with it. It literally fell out of the sky and then we just became really good friends.
Micah Walk: Yeah, it was fun. We spent a lot of time in a van. If you can do that with people. then you're pretty good buds,
Randy Eccles: Millikin and the music program, a lot of folks dream of making that their life, their studies, then somebody talks to them and says, "You need to go make money, do something else." I hear Millikin has a really great program.
Darin Holthaus: Oh yeah, it's incredible. The classroom is the real world. You have classes and you do your theory 100 and 200 and all that, but they immerse you in real world scenarios. T hey also hire you to go do actual gigs. Not only are you networking, you're learning how to be a professional. That's why a lot of students from Millikin and the music department, as well as other majors, go on to lead successful music careers.
Randy Eccles: They teach you a little bit about the music business, also.
Darin Holthaus: The tracks. You can do your traditional tracks of performance, but the commercial music track was a mixture of both performance and music business. You could also just do music business. There are several music Millikin alum down in Nashville and out in L.A., that are literally agents for CAA and some of the big agencies, that we went to school with. It is a wonderful place to go. Nothing against UIS.
Micah Walk: At UIS, there's not that kind of a music program here.
Randy Eccles: Right, they've got something going, but not like that.
Darin Holthaus: When we first , got there, there was two recording studios. There was the old building and they had the brand new one that they were still finishing our freshman year. We were incredibly fortunate to be there when we were. Just experience, experience, experience. That's what they, they really harked on.
Randy Eccles: They do some sort of annual music business convention or fair. About once a year they're pulling people together for a weekend to talk about music business and how to promote yourself.
Darin Holthaus: On location as well. They would do that down in Nashville. I remember at one point I was sitting there at the Grammy headquarters in this huge U table and there's just a bunch of Millikin alum that are all in the industry. Some in bands trying to, make it. And then you have Kyle Lehning, who's got purple gold records with Randy Travis and many others, sitting next to me. I'm just going, "This is nuts."
Micah Walk: Funny that you mentioned Kyle because we worked with him a little bit. We didn't track with him. Did he just mix it?
Darin Holthaus: He did your Deep Hollow thing.
Micah Walk: No, he did something for us, too. Maybe on that EP. This album was our first one. Then another full-length album, and then a little EP. So, he mentioned Kyle Lehning, who's a Millikin alum and has produced stuff like Randy Travis material. He's a big deal. I remember going down there, I think we had to retrack something. I went down there and sang something. It was pretty nerve-wracking. It hits you that you're in this guy's home studio, beautiful home, and it hits you that, "Oh man, this guy's a big deal." But he's so down to earth. It was a few months ago, sitting there watching CBS Sunday morning — because I'm an old man — and he popped on the screen. All of a sudden, I'm watching this story about Randy Travis. Of course, Kyle Lehning is a big part of it. I'm watching it as it's airing. I was like, "I got his number. I'm just gonna text him."
"Hey man, I'm watching this Randy Travis special and it's really cool." He replies back almost immediately, "Thanks a lot, Micah, it was a really cool experience."
Darin Holthaus: Man, that's cool. So down to earth.
Randy Eccles: It sounds like it was a great networking opportunity in itself. That's a big part of being successful.If somebody wanted to hear what you guys sounded like, is that still available through streaming services?
Micah Walk: This album (Change) is not, but the one that came out after it is, it's called Brightside Fantasy. We recorded that one in Darin's house and Dan engineered it. That's a fun memory, too. That one's available. Then there's an EP that's called State of Affairs. That's the one that Kyle Lehning had a little hand in. Who produced that one or engineered it? Was that Talbot? Yeah. Hum. Yeah. I'm not sure if you're familiar with Hum, but they're a hard rock band.
Darin Holthaus: Does that studio still exist? Earth Analog?
Micah Walk: Yeah, he's got a studio over by Champaign in Tolono. That's where we recorded that one.
Darin Holthaus: Yeah, I've heard of other folks going over there to recording. It's a beautiful sounding room. Just incredible.
Randy Eccles: Is there one of those songs available on streaming from the band that you'd recommend as one of the ones you had the most fun with, or that you had the most response from?
Dan Hartman: The title track from the State of Affairs EP.
Micah Ealk: Solid. Cool.
Darin Holthaus: It is a great representation of how this guy's songwriting has evolved and matured.
Micah Walk: Another thing I like about that track is the percussion,
Darin Holthaus: Is that the chain song?
Dan Hartman: I used a chain on a recording on a big box.
Micah Walk: Forgot about that. Yeah. That one didn't get released.
Randy Eccles: Anything you want us to know before we wrap up, guys? The new theme is great. We really love it and we're looking forward to being able to use that.
Micah Walk: We're just thrilled that you like it and glad it's working out.
Randy Eccles: We want to thank the members of The Michael Walk Band — Michael Walk, Dan Hartman, and Darin Holthaus. Thank you for coming in today to talk about the song, Last One Home, which you stripped down for us to make an instrumental to use as the new Community Voices theme. As always, Micah's around town playing, and you're doing this fundraiser coming up June 1, at Blue Grouch — CANCER SUCKS.
Micah Walk: There will be performances by the bands, but The Deep Hollow is going to auction off a house concert. People can come and bid on that. Then we're gonna add some other things to the silent auction, whatever we can get some donations for.
Randy Eccles: We're thrilled to have you guys in the community. Thanks for doing what you're doing, and thanks for helping out here at NPR Illinois.
Micah Walk: Thanks for having us.
