Scott Wilk + The Walls -

Scott Wilk + The Walls were an American new wave band from Chicago that released a 1980 self-titled album on Warner Bros.

Singer/keyboardist Wilk led the subsequent Bone Symphony with Icelandic keyboardist Jakob Magnússon and Magic Band-drummer Robert Williams. Wilk also played on ’80s-era albums by Charlie Sexton, Peter McIan, Robert Tepper, The Plimsouls, and Harold Faltermeyer.

Members: Scott Wilk (vocals, keyboards), Roger Ciszon (guitar), Bob Lizik (bass), Tom Scheckel (drums)

Background

Scott Wilk + The Walls formed in Chicago in 1979 when singer-keyboardist Scott Wilk recruited guitarist Roger Ciszon, bassist Bob Lizik, and drummer Tom Scheckel through contacts on the local studio scene.

Wilk was born in November 1952 and grew up in Highland Park, Ill., where his mother played piano. He started clarinet as a six-year-old child and wrote his first song as an eleven-year-old student. Wilk attended Highland Park High School and studied composition at Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio. At Oberlin, he conducted the Terry Riley composition In C at Warner Concert Hall on Nov. 11, 1971, and participated in an Oberlin performance of the Steve Reich piece Piano Phase.

Wilk returned to Chicago, where he wrote and recorded advertising jingles through much of the 1970s in local studios. He played piano on the 1976 Geoffrey Stoner album Ain’t Nothin’ Freaky, which includes the Wilk original “Understanding Love.” Wilk also collaborated with Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary on the track “Juice,” recorded by Stookey on his 1979 album Band & Bodyworks.

Bob Lizik grew up in a Polish-American musical family in Chicago, where he started accordion as a five-year-old child. Lizik switched to bass at thirteen and studied with saxophonist Harry Grebb, a former Woody Herman sideman. He worked Chicago club engagements as a teenager and then toured and recorded four albums with singer-songwriter Tim Moore. Wilk knew Ciszon and Scheckel through the same Chicago studio circle.

Manager Mark Wolfe took the quartet to Los Angeles in 1979 for record-company showcases. Guitarist Bruce Gaitsch joined the lineup for the first West Hollywood auditions, where the musicians played repeated sets for label representatives. Warner Bros. A&R Felix Chamberlain secured their contract.

Scott Wilk + The Walls

Scott Wilk + The Walls released their singular album in August 1980 on Warner Bros.

Walls contains ten Wilkes originals and one track (“Instant This, Instant That”) co-written with Motels guitarist Jeff Jourard. Producer Michael Omartian plays the piano solo on “Shadow-Box Love.”

“Radioactive” races through nervy keyboard turns and quick, tightly packed phrases, with Wilk delivering each line in a dry, pointed manner. “Suspicion” broods through paranoid phrasing as Wilk holds each line in a poised, tightly controlled delivery. “Shadow-Box Love” lingers at a slower sway, with assured lead phrasing and ivory filigree.

A1. “Radioactive” (2:50)
A2. “Suspicion” (2:45)
A3. “Victim of Circumstance” (4:12)
A4. “Danger Becomes Apparent” (3:01)
A5. “Man in the Mirror” (2:37)
A6. “Too Many Questions” (2:55)

B1. “Shorting Out” (3:52)
B2. “Careless” (3:31)
B3. “Instant This, Instant That” (3:44)
B4. “Familiarity Breeds Mutation” (2:33)
B5. “Shadow-Box Love” (3:53)

Sessions spanned March 31 through April 25, 1980, at Cherokee and Warner Bros. Recording Studios in Los Angeles, where Wilk co-produced with Omartian, a faith-based recording artist who worked beforehand on the Christopher Cross debut.

Scott Wilk + The Walls features a modernist cover designed by one Thom Glabman, who placed green and red polygons against a black field, with yellow letters across the upper band. The geometric scheme reflects 1980 covers for The Proof (It’s Safe), Split Enz (True Colors), Clive Langer & The Boxes (Splash), and Elvis Costello & The Attractions (Get Happy!).

Warner Bros. issued “Suspicion” in July 1980 (b/w “Familiarity Breeds Mutation”). Chicago stations added the single, and Cleveland playlists followed. The band completed a low-budget promotional clip at a Chicago post-production house. “Shadow-Box Love” followed in November (b/w “Too Many Questions”).

Wounded Bird issued the album on CD in August 2010 with the original eleven-track sequence.

Postlude

The Walls played ChicagoFest after the album release as support for Robin Lane & the Chartbusters, then continued through club and college dates. Conflict between manager Mark Wolfe and Warner Bros. blocked a follow-up album. The quartet separated in 1981 amid the contract dispute.

Wilk next formed Bone Symphony with keyboardists Marc Levinthal and Jakob Magnússon. Robert Williams played drums on a five-song mini-album released in 1983 by Capitol. Wilk later composed for film and television and served as Charlie Sexton’s musical director. His session credits included Harold Faltermeyer and Robert Tepper.

Red Rabbit issued the archival EP The Lost Sessions in 2011; “I’ll Tell You” came from a 1981 recording. Bob Lizik returned to Chicago studio work and joined Brian Wilson’s sessions for the 1998 album Imagination. Scheckel later backed the Buckinghams, while Ciszon continued with Palatine-area bands.

Discography: