Walter Meego frontman, Justin Sconza, talks Wondervalley, “The Social Network,” film composers and leaks two tracks & the album art from their upcoming album.

So, Walter Meego is a now a Los Angeles-based band with new members and more live instrumentation. How’s that working out?

It’s good. We have a five-piece band now. It’s exciting. It’s the first time we’ve ever had a drummer and a bass player playing on stage with us. It’s really fun.

What do you miss about the Chicago music scene?

I never really felt like there was a unified “scene” happening. I don’t really think they happen anymore. The scene’s on the internet i guess.

Tell us a little story about the recording process of Wondervalley. And why the name?

Around January of 2009 we finished a tour of Australia and afterward went to Beijing of all places to start recording.  We went to China cause that’s where our manager was living.  We realized pretty quickly that it wasn’t working out, mostly because we couldn’t find simple things like a bass amp or a rehearsal space. So, we moved back to California. We didn’t want to record in LA because we would be constantly distracted.  So, we rented a house in an unincorporated valley East of Twentynine Palms, past Joshua Tree out in the Mojave Desert.  It was literally in the middle of nowhere, if nowhere has a middle. There was nothing around us but space and mountains in the distance. We lived there for six months recording every day and night.  We set up a studio in the house and dedicated the whole place to making the record. It was great. I think the landscape actually influenced the sound of the record.  It’s very big and sweeping. Locals call the area Wondervalley and we just felt like that was perfect. So, that’s how we got the name.

You are a pretty tech savvy dude. What excites you in the tech world right now?

I’d like to get one of these guys.

I like the warbly quality tape recording can lend. But, the equipment is unreliable and expensive.  This seems like the perfect solution. If I build a studio, that’s gonna be a must-have.

iPhone, BlackBerry or Android device?

I used to have a BlackBerry but i switched to the iPhone in ’09. For me, it’s better. So, I’m iPhone.

Twitter or “The Social Network”? Explain.

I think they both have good qualities. I’d say probably Facebook if I had to choose though. There’s a lot of white noise on Twitter.  Just endless blog chatter sometimes.

What is your take on the future of record labels?

I think they’re gonna be alright in the end.  Once places like YouTube, iTunes, Pandora, official.fm, etc, start to track everything more closely and pay royalties to the labels/bands/artists, there will be more money going around. Who knows. The Internet’s got something to do with the future of labels.  That’s for sure.

You’ve had music placed in a few Ugly Betty episodes and a Heineken TV ad. Are you a TV or Film guy?

Yeah, it was exciting to see our music on TV for the first time. That was fun. I actually like movies as much as I like TV.

Any films inspire Wondervalley?

None specifically but I love film scores.  Composers like Nino Rota, Ennio Morricone, Vangelis, Bernard Herrmann, etc. All those guys have been inspiring Walter Meego music since the beginning. But, it’s not really specific.

(Album Artwork for Walter Meego's upcoming album, Wondervalley)

If you could re-score any film, which film would it be and how would you approach it?

Wow, I don’t know. I don’t think a movie can be considered great if the score isn’t also great.  I thought the score to Inception wasn’t as good as the actual movie. So, maybe I’d do that one. I really like the direction Hans Zimmer took but i think it was a little too ambient.  It maybe could have found a way to get in a memorable melody somehow. Not something too overt though.

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