Ah, yes — the Royal Albert
Punk author Chris Walter returns home for launch of Shouts From the Gutter
Don Beat

“The book, Shouts From the Gutter, is a collection of short stories about, shall we say, the less fortunate of us. I find that drunks, punks, junkies and whores make more interesting subjects than doctors or lawyers do,” Vancouver-based punk scribe Chris (Punk as Fuck) Walter (Vacant Lot, Missing Children) says via e-mail.

Walter — who’s also a super Winnipeg punk fan, former Pages of Rage punk fan-zine editor, and Nerve mag punk contributor — is gearing up to celebrate the launch of his new book on May 4 at the Royal Albert Arms Hotel, where he’s spent many a night in the pit.

Walter usually had a gluey mohawk and a fresh black eye, and he was always more than ready to yap about music, even when he was sweat-soaked ’n’ drooling or bleeding. Who the hell knew it was all going to end up being research for future books? I’m just glad I was civil to the guy.

“When I do a launch in Winnipeg, there are so many worthy bands to consider that it is always difficult to pick just three or four,” Walter says of the ass-kicking lineup of gutter-spewing punk or punk-influenced acts that are supporting his launch/reading.

“Generally, I stick with the people I’ve known for decades, such as Norm Simm of The Unwanted, or Mark Stretch of The Fabulous Kildonans. This time around, I’m also lucky to have the lovely ladies from Wife and the talented Disappointers as guests. Mitch Funk (of Personality Crisis notoriety) is also slated to make a guest appearance.”

“Chris phoned us and invited us to play,” says shark-spirited guitarist/singer Fat Johnny (Smasher) Campbell of The Fabulous Kildonans. “He’s very well spoken. I usually only talk to him on MySpace.

“We’re playing the last Barrymores show, at the Garrick, and then we’re heading over to the Albert to play this show,” Campbell continues on speakerphone just minutes after attending to his newborn child Luke. “It’s completely nuts right now. I’m moving my office at work. I’m going to have to talk to my kids while I’m talking to you, so if I yell and curse it’s not at you,” he jokes.

“We took two months off. We’ve done nothing,” Campbell continues. “We’re playing a bizarre show at the King’s Head with The Kent Boys — a bluegrass band — on May 11. That should be fun.

“And Honest John (one of vocalist Mitch Funk’s post-Personality Crisis rock projects, featuring Campbell on stun guitar and FKs bassist Mark Langtry on bass) is doing a show in September. It was supposed to be in June, but Mark couldn’t do it,” Campbell reports. “He’s barely in the band these days.

“So there’s really nothing new going on,” Campbell says. “We’re going to get back at it, though. We’re going to record a new album.”

After that Fabulous Kildonans detour I return U to the previously scheduled S-Beat subject: Chris Walter, who’s penned punk books with titles like I Was a Punk Before You Were a Punk and Boozecan.

“Some of the stories are set in my hometown of Winnipeg, while others take place in Vancouver,” Walter writes. “I feel compelled to write about things that I am intimately acquainted with, and I think this is one of my stronger books to date. Sometimes the finished product is somewhat different than I’d originally planned, but I’m happy with the way this one turned out.”

For booking info or more up-to-the-punk-minute info about Walter, hit his site www.punkbooks.com or try www.myspace.com/gfy_press, or tear yerself away from yer master computer control area and get out to the book- launchin’ punk gig!

“I will read (briefly) from the book and, all in all, it should be a fun night,” Walter says. “Despite some of the nasty things I occasionally say about Winnipeg, I’d rather be from here than anywhere else. I just can’t handle the cold and the mosquitoes in my old age.”