No Walls (1988 - 1992)

Here is the download: No Walls

Here is the breakdown:
1-5: from the demo recorded at Electric Lady Studios
6: from The View compilation
7-13: from the self-titled album

Update: Drew Rydberg sent me a recording of the No Walls Live at WREK session, probably from 1991 or 1992, which is excellent and includes some interesting free jazz improvisations between songs. Here are his notes - "First off, credit where credit is due.....this Live @ WREK show was originally recorded directly to cassette from the radio broadcast by my friend Randy Castello. He loaned me that tape many years ago, and at the time I was working at a studio in Nashville, so I was able to clean up/re-master the recording somewhat. It seems like the band didn't have enough material to fill out the show, so there are a few improvisations sprinkled in between the normal songs (I'm not complaining). There was some chaff/banter that was cut out here and there for the sake of making a listenable CD, but all the good stuff is there."

No Walls was the band William "Kip" DuVall formed in Atlanta a few years after returning from California playing guitar in the SST band Bl'ast. Before that, he was the guitarist for the seminal Atlanta hardcore band Neon Christ, coincidentally the first hardcore band I ever heard, probably around 1987-1988. Randy DuTeau from Neon Christ did a great interview/overview of William DuVall's career and personal history here, so I don't need to revisit and try to encapsulate everything again in this format.

I knew No Walls from their song "Never Fall Apart" on The View compilation, which I loved for its loud, noisy quality but also its maturity and uniqueness. It was a perfect song to end the tape, and possibly my favorite. They were definitely mysterious, which only increased as I couldn't get into their shows as a spry 15 year old. Then in 1992, Ted Selke from Full Moon Records and The Seventh Ring of Saturn put out their full length album and as what happens in most cases like these, the band promptly disbanded. I picked up the cassette around this time at Chapter 3 records in Norcross, very excited to hear more of the strange, noisy, melodic music from these guys, but instead it was pretty straightforward and a little too polished for my tastes (especially back then), so it didn't really become a classic for me. However, I recently acquired a copy of the demo they made at Electric Lady studios under the mentorship of Vernon Reid, and this got me excited about hearing the band again after 17 years.

After No Walls was over, William played in several other bands including Madfly in Atlanta and Comes With The Fall, which brought him to Los Angeles and now fronts Alice in Chains, which would make anyone's arena rock dreams come true. As far as the other members of No Walls are concerned, Henry/Hank Schroy has amassed quite a resume of musical adventures over the years, but I'm not sure about drummer Matthew Joseph Cowley. Check the comments section in a few days, and I'm sure someone will let us know.

Here is an article written about them in Rolling Stone, as well as the artwork from their album, which you can still purchase at Full Moon Records, by the way: