Tommy Walter

Tommy Walter
Origin	Los Angeles, United States
Genres	Alternative rock, Indie rock
Years active	1996–present
Labels	Extasy Records, Universal Records, Visionary Music
Associated acts	Abandoned Pools eels (band) Glacier Hiking Oliver the Penguin
Website	www.abandonedpools.com [1]

Tommy Walter (born October 30, 1970 in Thousand Oaks, California) is an American musician and songwriter, best known for his Alternative rock band, Abandoned Pools, as well as being the former bassist and one of the founding members of Eels.

Early Years and the Eels

Tommy Walter was born in Thousand Oaks, California on October 30, 1970, and he was raised in Westlake Village. His father was an airplane pilot; his mother a stewardess 20 years his father's junior. Tommy's father was almost 47 when he was born. He grew up in a modest, middle-class household. He began playing bass at a young age, and was formally trained on the French horn in college. He attended the University of Southern California, followed by Pacific University. He began teaching classical music theory, and worked with local Los Angeles area musicians.

He met with singer-songwriter E, and John "Butch" Norton and officially formed Eels. Prior to their founding, E had already released two records by himself, under his single-letter pseudonym, and their name was decided upon so that their music would be placed next to E's solo works. However, it was in retrospect that they realized that there were bands that would be placed in between, such as The Eagles.

Their collaborations led to refining songs that E had previously written, as well as creating new material. They released their debut album, Beautiful Freak, in 1996. However, after a year of touring, Tommy quit the band. In an interview, he stated his dissatisfaction with E's personality, and the loss of the amount of creative input that both Butch and himself had prior to the success of Beautiful Freak.

Soon after, he formed a band called Metromax. They shortly changed their name to Tely, and released an album over the internet. However, the band didn't garner much success, and it soon evolved into Tommy's solo project, Abandoned Pools.

Humanistic (2001-2004)

Tommy, using new material, as well as several songs he'd worked on beforehand in both Tely and Metromax, composed, recorded, and released his solo album, Humanistic, in 2001 on Extasy Records. While being the creative force behind the project, other musicians contributed to the project, such as Angie Hart of Frente!, who sang backing vocals to "Start Over," "Ruin Your Life," "Sunny Day," and "Seed."

Although a solo project, he recruited a touring band, featuring Leah Randi and Bryan Head filling out the ranks of bassist and drummer, respectively. They had several successful tours, going across the country and headlining with acts such as Garbage, A Perfect Circle and Lenny Kravitz. They also appeared on Craig Kilborn and two videos, "Mercy Kiss", and "The Remedy", were released. Monster, another video, was composed of shots taken while on touring, but wasn't released for years, via MTV's website.

In 2002 they performed the theme song for the short-lived Teletoon (also broadcast on MTV) animated series Clone High. Many of their songs can be heard in the background during the show. Tommy also voiced himself in a brief appearance in the final episode. After Clone High was dropped by MTV, however, the band stopped its touring (largely due to the dissolution of their label, Extasy Records).

Armed to the Teeth (2005-2007)

While keeping in touch with his fanbase and caring for his sick cat, Iggy, Tommy began working on material over the next few years, preparing to release another album. After a relationship of his came to a rough conclusion, he was picked up by Universal, and wrote several new songs for his next album, citing his personal life, as well as politics, as his main inspirations.

Teaming up with Bryan Head once more and bringing in guitarist Sean Woolstenhulme, Tommy started work in 2004 to record his next album. In June 2005 they released an EP, consisting of a few songs from the new album along with b-sides and demos, called The Reverb EP. This was followed by the full album, Armed to the Teeth, in September 2005

In January 2006, Walter wrote in his online journal that Universal Records had stopped promoting the album. He subsequently quit the label, also noting that Abandoned Pools is once again a one-man project. He has since created two side projects—Glacier Hiking, an alternative rock band, and Oliver the Penguin, an electronica project. He also collaborates with several other artists and friends in the Los Angeles area, such as Charlotte Martin and Graham Colton.

A little known fact about Tommy is that he worked as a Mac Genius at the Grove in Los Angeles while on hiatus. No doubt oblivious casual fans may have had their Macs fixed by him at the Genius Bar, without ever knowing who he really was.

Tommy Walter recently added the song "Legionnaire" to his Myspace and iLike page for free download along with confirming that a new "Abandoned Pools" LP is in production.

Sublime Currency (2011-Present)

On May 3, 2011, Abandoned Pools released the song "In Silence", available in all digital stores, as the first single from the upcoming album "Sublime Currency". On June 7, 2011, the second single, "Marigolds" was released in all digital stores. "Sublime Currency" was slated to be released sometime in 2011, but has now been pushed forward to 2012.

On January 30, 2012, Abandoned Pools revealed that they had signed onto a new record label, Tooth & Nail Records, and that Sublime Currency would be released under this label. They also mentioned that the release date of the third album will be revealed "soon".

Discography

Album information
Humanistic Released: September 25, 2001 (U.S.) Label: Extasy Records/Warner Bros. Records Singles: "The Remedy", "Mercy Kiss"
The Reverb EP Released: June 7, 2005 (U.S.) Label: Universal Records
Armed to the Teeth Released: September 27, 2005 (U.S.) Label: Universal Records Singles: "Armed to the Teeth"
Sublime Currency To be released: 2012 (U.S.) Label: Tooth & Nail Records Singles: "In Silence", "Marigolds"

See also

• Clone High
• Eels
• Glacier Hiking

External links

• Abandoned Pools on MySpace
• Abandoned Pools at LastFM
• Abandoned Pools at Facebook
• Abandoned Pools at Bandcamp