Walter Mitty and His Makeshift Orchestra
By: Mitchell Mendoza
Walter Mitty and His Makeshift Orchestra is a band located out of Portland, Oregon. Though the lineup of musicians is always changing, the group currently consists of lead singer and guitar player Dustin Hayes, acoustic bassist Jake Lee, and Kris Schobert and Milk who play an array of strings and percussion. Hayes, a former Newport Beach resident and Newport Harbor High graduate, took some time out of his day to discuss the band and the shenanigans that come along with it. Q: How long have you and the other guys in the band been together? A: Kris, Jake, and myself have been playing in bands together since we were in 5th and 6th grade. We met Milk in San Luis Obispo in 2010 and he taught me how to play lots of Modest Mouse and Slayer songs. Q: If you were to describe your genre of music, what would you categorize it as? A: We often describe it as the music written by a kindergarden genius who peaked in 3rd grade, then never really got any better. The whole makeshift living room sing along jam sesh sound, we call it Slop. Q: What is the CRAZIEST thing you have seen while on tour with the band? A: Well we are a pretty mellow group of guys who often get put in ridiculous situations. The craziest is a tie between flipping our truck off the side of the highway in the Rocky Mountains, and the crowd literally bringing down the house last time in Isla Vista. All apologies to the home owners... Q: Can you explain the origin of the name of your recent tour, "The Quest for Iris?" A: We picked up this beautiful hitch hiker somewhere in Northern California and spent the day driving through the mountains talking with her. She was uniquely wise and we became very close in the short amount of time together. Being a good hippie, she didn't have a cell phone. When we parted ways, it was most likely we'd never see her again. So, then, the whole purpose of our two month summer tour was a quest to find her, and extract her divine knowledge for our own well-being. According to folklore, we found her on the last night of our tour on the beaches of Arcata, Ca, hula hooping. Q: What can people expect to see at your live performances? A: People can expect me to be obnoxious and making fun of myself and our band. Kris usually thinks the whole song is his drum solo. Milk whips out weird dance moves that often involve the tambourine and his abs. Jake Lee usually looks really handsome and gets the girls. The crowd is either stoned and concentrating or drunk and breaking everything. Always a lot of singing. Q: What do you and the guys enjoy doing in between shows on tour? A: Most of our time is spent in Esperanza, the van, but when we do have some hours to kill we tend to locate the nearest hipster cafe and go read and look for girls. Sometimes we'll go on a hike. I like to surf new places if I can find a board to borrow. Otherwise it’s just a lot of getting stoned and exploring new cities like stray dogs. Q: Where can people listen to more of your music? A: All our music is for free download via mediafire. The link for each album is on our facebook page. Also makingnewenemies.com is where we store all of our music projects. You can donate to the band by a name-your-price download system on the makingnewenemies bandcamp. To download free music go to http://waltermitty1.bandcamp.com. |