Rocket boys: 20 years and counting for Doc Walker

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This article was published 29/10/2021 (1626 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On Nov. 5, Chris Thorsteinson and Dave Wasyliw of Doc Walker will take the stage at Club Regent for their first live concert in Winnipeg in months. 

After taking time to start a campground, spending time with family and delving deep into songwriting, the duo is excited to be on the road again.

“It’s been a long year-and-a-half, just about two years, you know,” Thorsteinson said.

“Dave and I actually recorded the single She Wants What She Wants just before COVID. We were lucky enough to be in a studio with some friends and be able to be normal recording it. Once COVID hit, we just put everything on hold because nobody knew it was gonna go on. And what was the point of releasing a new single if you can’t tour?” 

Thorsteinson said the duo is excited to return to Club Regent as the venue has provided many fond memories, including a 2019 show with Canadian country legends Charlie Major and George Canyon.

“To be able to go back to the casino, I mean the staff there, the stage backstage, everything, is absolutely amazing,” Thorsteinson said. 

“I’ve got so many friends coming from Portage la Prairie and around here and family coming out. So it’s gonna be a pretty special night.”

Released to Canadian country radio this fall, She Wants What She Wants, is a return to what Thorsteinson and Wasyliw know best — songwriting with a story and purpose. It’s the first new music released by Doc Walker since 2017.

“It’s been a long year-and-a-half, just about two years, you know.”

“We had a lot of time to mess with the single and have fun with it, which is a luxury we have,” Thorsteinson said.

“Usually it’s record and get it mastered and get it out as soon as you can. But we had a lot of time to work on this one. So we’re really happy with the way it turned out.”

After more than 20 years in the business, Thorsteinson and Wasyliw continue to find inspiration in past recordings and family life.

“The idea of this girl, who’s in a sort of a really horrible relationship that gets the nerve one morning, to basically just get up and drive away and go find what she wants was, was sort of inspired by all those different stories that we’d had over the years,” Thorsteinson said.

“I sent it to Dave and he’s pretty amazing at taking my crazy ideas and turning them into a song. That’s why we’ve always worked well together.”

Thorsteinson said the past year-and-a-half gave him time to appreciate how far the group with Portage la Prairie roots has come in the music business.

“It gave Dave and I a bit of a chance to reflect on the past and think like it’s gonna be 20 years since we released Curve, our first record,” Thorsteinson said. 

“It gave Dave and I a bit of a chance to reflect on the past and think like it’s gonna be 20 years since we released Curve, our first record.”

Nov. 20, 2021 marks the 20th anniversary of the Juno and CCMA nominated album that launched the group to the top of Canadian airplay charts with the singles Whoever Made Those Rules, Call Me A Fool and She Hasn’t Always Been This Way. 

Thorsteinson recently discovered the original recordings of the album on two-inch tape while going through old material found at the school in Westbourne where they used to record. Thorsteinson said the band has a plan for the recordings if they can survive the transfer to a digital format. 

 “I hope they’re not degraded too much, but I just shipped them off to Toronto and they actually baked them,” Thorsteinson said. 

“They put them in an oven, baked them and then they put them onto their old reel-to-reel to see if we can get the tracks off of them. If we do, I think we’re gonna remix and remaster Rocket Girl and re-release it for the 20th anniversary.”

Originally written by Canadian country star Jason McCoy, the group’s seminal track has become inspiration for kids’ names in Manitoba and even the names of racehorses in Toronto, according to stories picked up by Thorsteinson.

“I think that was a big turning point for us in our career, you know, recording Rocket Girl was never intended to be a big life-changing single,” Thorsteinson said.

“It was so different than anything that was on the radio at the time that we never really anticipated releasing it. When we recorded it, we got to record it the way that we wanted to and it really appealed to a lot of people. It showed the industry and fans that we kind of stepped out of the boundaries of a country song with those kind of in-depth lyrics.”

“We just fell off the turnip truck, the food was good and the beer was cheap.”

Looking back on the roots of the band, Thorsteinson laughed as he recalled how the group got its name. 

“That’s such a dumb story,” Thorsteinson joked.

“You’d think over the years we would’ve thought of something better, but really all it comes down to is a good friend of mine, J.J. Walker. When we were about 13 or 14 and I had just started a band, my mom would always send my cold medication (to me) because I always had problems with my sinuses. So she’d send all the Sudafed and whatever it was with him… he forgot it one day and I said, ‘Oh, good going Doc Walker.’”

Thorsteinson said they have thought about changing the name over the years, but found over time that the band made the name. 

Asked to recount some highlights, Thorsteinson said the group’s first trip to Nashville always stands out. 

“We just fell off the turnip truck, the food was good and the beer was cheap,” Thorsteinson laughed.

“I’ll never forget that. You go to a gas station, I remember Dave and I got a 24 Natural Ice beer and the guy said its $9.20. Dave’s like what? He goes, that’s with taxes. It was a lot of fun. I think the people in Nashville that we wrote with could see that we really loved what we were doing and we had a pretty good handle on it. They took us under their wing and they were really nice folks.”

Over the past few years, Thorsteinson has enjoyed opening and expanding a summer campground to more than 56 lots after purchasing some lakefront property on the west shore of Lake Manitoba at Vakker Beach. 

Wasyliw continues to plug away at songwriting for the band’s next release and the two have enjoyed a gradual return to the live stage this year, including performances at the Calgary Stampede and Teepee Creek in Alberta and trips to a few Manitoba First Nations including Lake St. Martin and Berens River. Ahead of their return to Club Regent, the duo is itching to get out of the gate and perform once again.     

“We’re like a bunch of caged, thoroughbred horses, it’s gonna be a lot of fun and we’re happy to see everybody again,” Thorsteinson said.

Doc Walker will head to Weyburn, Saskatchewan for another performance on Nov. 8 and is looking forward to a big tour planned for 2022 including a stop at Dauphin Countryfest in July.