Discovering Their Inner AC/DC

Martin-Brown had been gigging with a four-piece called Lilly Rouge, toured Australia three times and released several EPs when, as she explains, “I got noticed by some people over in the USA. So I went over and was working on some stuff and met my lead guitarist, CJ, and a few others and we started Evol Walks from a concept I had over here [in Australia] that kind of blossomed over there.”]

“I was originally writing stuff that was kind of metal-y but it wasn’t really me anymore, and I absolutely adore AC/DC… I can’t think of many bands that are girl-fronted that do that kind of sound"

Within four months of landing in LA, Martin-Brown got to debut Evol Walks at the Global Rock Summit, part of the prestigious annual Musexpo industry conference. Over the next few months, she and the band went into the studio with producer Brian Howes, whose CV includes albums for Simple Plan and fellow Australians Airbourne, releasing a debut single, Heartbreakin’ Woman.

“I’ve wanted to work with Brian for many years,” she continues, “and never thought it was an option, but the people who kind of found my work and invited me over, they teamed me up with a manager, Victor Murgatroyd, who is good friends with Brian and just thought we’d be a perfect fit. Everything he does is wonderful and his ideas are just great. We’ve finished an EP but we’re not releasing it until September, because we’ll be back in Australia for the Mitchell Creek Music Festival.”

Right now they’re focusing on the second single, Buzzed, while Triple M is currently playing Heartbreakin’ Woman, released in September last year, the song also getting thrashed on Hong Kong-based internet radio station HKG-FM.

“I was originally writing stuff that was kind of metal-y but it wasn’t really me anymore, and I absolutely adore AC/DC, I love Led Zeppelin, I love Black Sabbath, and I can’t think of many bands that are girl-fronted that do that kind of sound. So I kind of wanted to strip things back and make it very Australian pub rock, very unique to who I am, because I think I was just going in the wrong direction. I wanted something a bit raw and a bit more bad-arsed!”

The band now has two Australians in the line-up with rhythm guitarist Zac Bentley joining a couple of months ago. “I actually posted an ad in a musicians’ classified,” Martin-Brown admits, “and I met him and it was one of those things – he didn’t even audition, I just knew that he should be in the band. And then he did audition and we just get along like a house on fire.”