Behind The Scenes: FEAR HIMSELF
- spiralhtx
- Feb 20
- 8 min read
"If you're going through hell , keep going". - Winston Church Hill
Fear Himself , the Houston quartet brings emotive lyricism and experimental genre bending stylings to their undefined sound. Each member working in unison to explore sonic outcomes, while complimenting the skill set and unique attribute of the other. The origin of the band having its roots established as early as 2011 , in its current iteration is a compound of a multi cultural lineup, with an even more complex story of perseverance , survival and the nerve to create no matter the challenge presented. Spiral had the opportunity to deep dive with the founding member of Fear Himself.
Q & A with / Walker S , Multi-instrumentalist and producer
Who are you, Where are you from?
WS: My name is Walker , I'm the producer, vocalist, and lead guitar player of the band Fear Himself. Though I play a little bit of all the "main" rock instruments.
I'm from Rosharon, TX which is a small town about a half hour out from Houston that very few outside of its residents are aware exist. There's very little to do there, so for entertainment even if you have a car, anything of substance is at least 20 minutes from you in any given direction.
What made you decide to become a musician/artist?
WS: Its hard to say what drew me to being an artist for certain, because it always had a draw for me. But I think one of the formative moments for me was waking up before school and seeing the foo fighters music video for "all my life" playing on vh1. I vividly remember getting chills from that song and thinking to myself "THAT!, I want to do that, it looks so cool!"
Then later on in elementary school I was given the guitar foundational learning by a fantastic music teacher I had named Mrs. Meek.
She bought 30 starter acoustic guitars after us as a class made a collective agreement all of us would stay after school for guitar lessons. We held up our end and she taught us that year, which I picked up well enough to play a little recital with a handful of others for the rest of the school, which I think cemented my love of performing.
So I started seeking bandmates pretty early as I got older started listening to rock and metal and picked up electric guitar in high school.
What is the history behind your artist name?
WS: The name Fear Himself came about from a session of spit-balling ideas back and forth with the other members of the band on our former bassist Dylan's front porch while we smoked cigarettes and cracked jokes. The original name of the band was "social assault" and we stuck with that for like at most 3 months before we decided we didn't like it anymore that day because it was too much in the vein of rage against the machine and that wasn't really our vibe musically.
I came to the idea from a combination of two sources. I was listening to "cult of personality" by living colour earlier that day and got inspired from the presidential speech sampled at the end of the song where it says "we have nothing to fear, but fear itself."
I had navigated through a lot of rough waters in childhood that really stuck with me all that time, and some recent personal events during the bands formative period that I felt sort of left me with an odd mix of self aware, but self destructive behaviors.
I riffed off that concept and came to the idea of "well life has thrown so much at me already to contend with, that all that's left to be afraid of is the self destructive thoughts within me that only lead to more struggle in the end."
So the concept became "he had nothing left to fear, but himself." When I pitched it I received some push back, but Dylan and gage agreed to disagree and keep the name to see if it would stick, and it did so like super glue because people found it mysterious, and that it subverted their expectations of what the sound would be.
When did you begin making music and how has your process changed between the start of vs. now?
WS: I wrote what i suppose you could call my first "riff" on my own at like 8 years old while fiddling around with my mother's old nylon stringed acoustic, and from that moment on it became something of an obsession. For a long time it was just playing around until I got to be a teenager and I was taught my first two songs by the eldest son of my mom's manager at the time.
We were cooped up together in their house during a hurricane, and he saw my interest in music and asked if I wanted him to try and teach me a couple things. Those first two songs cemented it all. "Aerials" by system of a down was first and then "Killing in the name" by Rage Against the Machine after. I was seriously inspired and wanted to form a band from that point forward.
I first did so in high school and we ended up playing for our talent show my senior year. We played a song we had written that, despite not having vocals was received very well by all the demographics of kids in there and got me fully addicted to playing for others. I was shocked at how complimentary everyone was of us.
Back in the early days I was writing songs alone on my line 6 spider IV against the built in drum loops. The entire first album actually got its track foundations written against them. I would improvise for hours in my room, stumble across a sound or phrase I liked, and then would repeat it till I had it down enough to expand on.
The process of writing remains similar in a lot of ways though the focus is more directed because i have a more concrete idea of that i want these days, and I have dedicated, wonderful band mates to bounce ideas back and forth between, which really accelerated the writing process.
The thing that really made me want to learn in the early days was it just felt so badass to be able to replicate the songs I loved, and the deeper I dug into my favorite artists techniques, and musical ideas the more I wanted to find my own lane to express myself.
What inspired you to write your catalog?
WS: The material we have was almost entirely inspired by real life events over several years both before and after the bands formation. Its a sonic memoir of sorts, both of my life, and the bands history.
A lot of those events impacted me in ways that I struggled to deal with and writing about them was the vehicle of catharsis I needed at the time to survive and heal.
But as time went on and they grew more of a life and style of their own I knew there was something special here I wanted the world to be able to see, and find something to relate to in my experiences and help them through their own.
If i could help one person keep going, or not feel as alone, then I've accomplished what I set out to, regardless of technical commercial success.
In regards to get the message in particular, its a song about a real life betrayal, and the fallout on me that took a massive, years long mental toll.
What would you say to other artists or creatives who are wanting to create as well?
WS: I would say if you're in the position I was starting out, which is to say, broke, and with no music scene around you and limited musicians to pool members from, then be willing to learn as much as you possibly can.
Learn the best playing techniques you can for your style, study the people you look up to musically, learn mixing and recording basics early on, make sure what you're writing is honest, and people will resonate with it on some level.
And overall be ready to wear a ton of hats along the way. Its a ton of work to get your foot in the door of your local scene and can take a long time without the right people to back you up. But just keep writing and honing your voice. And don't give up.
How has the process been creating your album?
WS: For me it was a decade long journey with lots of different people having come and gone to reach this final shape the band has taken.
Its been pretty much an uphill battle the entire way from living the events that inspired the songs, to building and rebuilding the group, interpersonal struggles, working with very limited gear and the struggle of learning it all piece by piece along the way to do it ourselves as i wrote and sorted my experiences.
You can really see the evolution over time by watching our old youtube videos from the days of us jamming in our former drummer Byron's garage.
Overall its been the most fun, exciting, and rewarding process i've ever seen through, as well as the most challenging, but i'm already excited thinking about what will come next musically after this album and have some heavy ideas flowing.
What are you looking forward to with your album/track?
WS: Honestly, the thing i'm most looking forward to, is just actualizing this dream to be performing, and having the voice I've spent most of my life creating finally heard.
At the show we played at satellite bar in 2022 before it closed, we ended the show with get the message, and people seemed to love it as much as I do.
Having it out there for the world to hear has always been a dream of mine, and to see it come together is surreal and beyond what I can put into words.
What is one track /lyrics/ piece of art in your catalog that describes your work the best?
WS: I would have to say the two tracks we've written that best embody our style and vibe would be feedback loop and likewise. They are very different sonically from one another and are a good representation of the ends of the spectrum of ideas we write.
You can expect to hear those tracks completed in a few months as we release the full album, and see what I mean. We cover a lot of territory on this record.
If you could make a dream tour, Who would be your dream tour mates?
WS: If I got to put together a tour with whomever I wanted, I would love to be part of a tour with some of our peers i've been looking up to in the Houston scene like The Virulent, Bong Wizard, Direlands, and Jono Jono, which speaking of, I would highly recommend you check out all of these artists, they are fantastic musicians and absolutely tear up the venues they walk into!
What do you want the listeners to know about your music and your project?
WS: Hmm, I suppose if there's anything I want the listeners to know, its that these tracks are proof that you can make things happen if you're willing to put the work in and be patient.
This album is ten years in the making, and crafting a sound of our own was an evolution of over time. I also want to tell them thank you all for lending me your ears and supporting what we've been doing all this time.
I know to many it seems like we've just been a presence online with no tangible results. But our collective waiting has finally paid off, and I am beyond excited to share the best version of what these songs could be with the world!
Writing them and perfecting them has gotten me through so much, and I hope if you need it you can find something within my struggles put to tape to keep you going too.
If you like what we're doing and you need more, just hang on a little longer, I promise we have things coming down the pipe very soon, including more online releases, and shows! And you can support us directly by ordering Fear Himself merch from our link tree store link that's found on instagram. Everything you buy funnels directly back to the project and helps us refine things even more.
