7 Walkers

Across the ages, the Eye of Providence, the Eye of Horus or the All-Seeing Eye has been used by the occultist royals and the esoteric elite to signify their pervasive power over numerous aspects of human life. From the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt and the sacred devotees of Lord Shiva to through the various Greek and Roman regal upheavals, the religious and imperial powers have asserted their oppressive and suppressive shenanigans through symbols heavily featuring the overtly optical orb. Since the onset of the last millennium, the various members of the illuminati/freemasonic order, namely those of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, the Knights Templar and the Bavarian Illuminati, have occupied the royal and political seats of power. As if trooping out from Necropolis itself, the infamous Egyptian City of the Dead, 7 Walkers arose from the remnants of the Grateful Dead in 2009 and started scratching out an identity of their own in the musical landscape. Collect some 7 Walkerstickets now to take part in a séance with these musical mummies.

Contrary to their numerically ordained moniker, the 7 Walkers band does not in fact comprise of seven members. The current quartet of Bill Kreutzmann, George Porter Jr., Papa Mali and Matt Hubbard stemmed from the roots that spread out in 2008. Taking a cue from his girlfriend, Kreutzmann lent his ear to one musical compilations of guitarist Papa Mali and was hooked to his eclectic style and effervescent playing. After the two met in a festival in Oregon, 7 Walkers soon started to assemble, first initially with Reed Mathis coming on board as a bassist and then following his early exit, witnessed the arrival of bass player George Porter Jr. and then instrumentalist extraordinaire Matt Hubbard on the scene.

Since their formation, 7 Walkers have been influenced by various mystic and tribal traditions and totems. Their sole studio offering, a self titled record released in 2010 is heavily inspired by the musical effluences of the Indian tribes of Mardi Gras collectively known as Tchoupitoulas. Even guitarist and songwriter Papa Mali's Louisianan heritage, stemming from the city being the tributary "Crescent City" to the moon goddess Isis, has been incorporated in the band's sound through their nascent record. Hubbard's prior experience with having played with the legendary country crooner Willie Nelson also held in good stead in defining the album's soundscape. Papa Mali aka Malcolm Welbourne ,also used his co-writing credits on Bob Dylan's album Together Through Life  released in 2009 and combined it with his lyrical prowess that developed whilst working on his previous pair of solo albums Thunder Chicken and Do Your Thing to contribute to the 7 Walkers album.

7 Walkers, released by Response Records, peaked at the fifth spot on Billboard's Top Blues Albums charts and features guest vocals and guitar playing from the likes of Willie Nelson such as on the track "Cotton Blues" as well as John Bush, Jane Bond and Steve Johnson on the tracks "Chingo!" and "New Orleans Crawl" respectively. With Robert Hunter fulfilling the primary lyrical duties on 7 Walkers, the albums musical mash-up is best described by Kreutzmann , who terms it as, "'swampadelic,' a natural meeting point between his West Coast psychedelia and Welbourne's voodoo-funk". The band's debut studio offering has also been critically hailed as having been right on the money for 7 Walkers, launching them front and center in the blues and folk rock arena.

Before putting together 7 Walkers, Bill Kreutzmann had been part of the main Grateful Dead lineup throughout the band's three-decade history. His drumming was a definitive driving force behind's the band's phenomenal success that pitted it with some of the best acts of all time and is ranked at the 57th spot on Rolling Stone's ‘100 Greatest Artists of All Time.’ The band's impressive repertory more than a dozen studio albums and more than 9 dozen compilation albums, live albums, Dick's Picks, Retrospective Live Albums and Digital Download series that have clinched more than two dozen gold and platinum certifications. So latch on to some 7 Walkerstickets now to show your melodic necrophilia to the spawn of the musically undead band.