May 5, 1997

Not just your ordinary, run-of-the-mill band

By Crayton Harrison

s James Ashcroft talked about Walter Mitty, he looked off toward the horizon, as if he expected the band's future to rise in the distance like a bright new sun.

"The goal of this band," said Ashcroft, the band's pianist, squinting across the flat, green landscape from the back porch of the band's Waxahachie farmhouse, "is to write good music and to have people come see us. We'd love to go out of state and have people follow us."

The members of Walter Mitty dream of playing the music they love for the people they love, creating an atmosphere of fun and friendship whenever they play.

"We don't ever want to play the same show twice," guitarist Chris Holt said, perched on a water cooler on the porch. "If people are going to come see us, we don't want to bore them. We definitely want to have something fresh to play."

The band has spent the past nine months aggressively seeking gigs, hoping to build a following in the Dallas area. Walter Mitty will continue playing Wednesdays this summer at Home on Dyer Street, near the SMU campus.

"We're trying to start something that people can get into," Ashcroft, a Cox Business School graduate, said, "not just the music, but the whole scene."

On May 9, Walter Mitty will present a special show at Home. The atmosphere will be that of a festival, featuring jugglers, merchants and a few surprises. Austin band Larry will play inside the bar, and Walter Mitty will play outside, opening at dusk and playing as long as possible.

A three-piece horn set, including SMU Adjunct Instructor Kim Corbet on trombone, will accompany Walter Mitty at the May 9 show.

"We'll do anything to make it so it's not just a gig, to make it fun, a festival feeling," Ashcroft said, his eyes animated with excitement.

Ashcroft said the band had done a similar "festival" show last year, but that the upcoming show would be more elaborate.

Walter Mitty began with a January 1995 meeting between Ashcroft and Holt.

"I put out an ad to see if I could find anyone to play with," Ashcroft said. "I knew I wanted to play with people my own age, to write songs about us, about being our age."

Ashcroft said teenagers and older musicians answered the advertisement, but that Holt shared his ideas and his vision.

"Chris came over, and we sat upstairs and played on the keyboard for a bit," Ashcroft said. "We just got along. We went to happy hour and cemented the fact that we had gotten a band together."

Ashcroft and Holt recorded some jams with the help of former SMU student Derek "Deeger" Williams, who would eventually become the band's drummer.

Bassist Sean "Cheupster" McLary, who said he began playing bass at the request of space aliens, joined Walter Mitty last year, moving from Las Vegas to Texas to play for the band.

SMU graduate Brian Gerhardt became the group's manager last year, and senior Ralph Miles assists with sound engineering.

Band members said they found inspiration in the music of The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Grateful Dead.

Holt said that the band's focus is not on imitating music of the past, but on creating and innovating.

"There are a lot of times when we like to think that we just kind of goof off, but we do take it seriously," Holt said. "I think we're more serious than we are goofy. We try to come up with something fresh that people haven't necessarily listened to before."

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