Today we’d like to introduce you to Luke Walker. They and their team shared their story with us below:
Uncle Kunkel’s One Gram Band was a formulation of three friends at Salisbury University. The founding members were Luke Walker Wyatt Graham and Jake Kunkel. A trio comprised of Guitar Bass and Drums.
The first years of the band’s arc was spent practicing in grimey basements and getting gigs at as many of the local college bars as we could, playing cover songs and writing original music in our free time – that we eventually would sneak into our cover sets. We were the only band in our college town that was playing “jam” music, that is, playing well-known classics and jamming on them for extended periods of time. Sometimes people would mutter “when are they going to sing again?” Lol.
Over the course of college, we gained a nice little following of friends and family, and eventually began to gig at local places on the western side of the bridge. That is when we connected with Sam Cochran, who had us play some house shows with his band Seven Teller, extending our range to the illustrious Baltimore scene. Not soon after this, we were invited by Sam to play at the legendary local venue ‘The 8×10,” which really had us jazzed. It was then we knew we wanted to pump up our sound with a keyboard player, and Sam recommended we reach out to Jeff Roden of Diamond Canopy who to our surprise said yes, and stuck around for the long game. It is rare to find a road dog like Jeff, he is really down for anything.
Playing The 8×10 was one thing, getting invited back was even cooler. It was then we decided to make Baltimore our home for our music, noting that the scene in Baltimore was really “happening”, wholesome & diverse, filled with players who wanted to collaborate. In just the past few months, we added Matthew Grube of Diamond Canopy to the group on drums, and all of a sudden we are a five-piece band, with a big sound.
Around this same time of change, we connected with an incredible human being, our manager, Will Gibbons, who really believed in our sound and wanted to help us book more. With Will’s help, we felt like we had a team, and from there were able to play bigger and better gigs, becoming more of a family each week. We recently were lucky enough to sign on with Philadelphia based music company Lost Compass Productions, who we are working with to ensure a great year in 2024. We thank them for their interest in our project.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road is never smooth! Looking back some of the first challenges faced was having a band where almost half its members went to school 2.5 hrs away across the bay. For a period, Wyatt and Jake would take it upon themselves to drive 2.5 hours to Baltimore each week for a single day of practice, which was crazy, but they did it for the group and we thank them.
Another challenge, when we were a trio, was finding a keyboard player who would stick around. It is very easy to scare off a talented keyboard player after one gig, but luckily Jeff said “do you guys want me to keep playing with you?” to which we gave a resounding yes.
Other challenges often surrounded the idea of “are we doing this right?” and kind of figuring it out on our own, until Will Gibbons came in and helped us form a clearer path, helping us set goals and get our name out. There’s still plenty to figure out about the path we are on, which we face with excitement for the unknown future.
The greatest challenge is always putting out music/recording it. As band in the jam scene, live performances are often prioritized over putting out music on platforms. We have an album and are working on recording it, but the challenge is making sure the music is done right and delivered correctly, which takes time.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
As a band, we try to deliver music to people’s ears in the live setting. We are a kind of glorified party throwers. Our goal is to make people dance, and we provide the music. If the music is good, we know because people are letting their souls loose on the floor and dancing hard. If we can get some people to zone out and forget about their surroundings for a couple hours or even a minute, then we are doing our job.
We are most proud of our circle of amazing friends and “fans” whom we prefer to call The Nieces and Nephews, as they are like family to us. More so, we are proud of our amazing network/team. Being a team comprised of elder-Gen Z and elder-millennials, we have formed a great network of showgoers who have either been on the scene for a long time or are just discovering it. Watching everyone mingle and connect, forming small-world friendships, and dancing alongside each other is why we do this. Music is a form of unity like none other.
What sets us apart from others is that we are unforgivingly ourselves on stage and in the music. It is so easy to be in a music scene and think that you should be matching some other group’s energy, or that your sound isn’t “happening”. Our sound is wholesome and full of all of our personalities, you can see it in the performances and hear it on the soundboards.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
The biggest risk taking we do is believing in ourselves, sounds corny but it is hard at times for any creative entity.
A risk we all take is finding the time to do this and wondering what will happen down the line. Some of our members have full-time jobs they have to take off from, and some of us are holding off on applying for full-time jobs to pursue this project. It’s always a question of – time wasted? or time well spent? It is always worth the memories and experiences.
Simply putting yourself out there and not knowing what will come of it feels like a common risk, and makes pursuing any creative field a challenge in our highly structured, success-oriented society. Some of us just wanna be musical nomads ok?!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.onegramband.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onegramband/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085466781593
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM2QFWkWMxae5_bJMG7wPng?app=desktop
Image Credits
Liz Pappas (Barleymoon Photography) and Chris Gamber
