This past Saturday (4/7), I and another 12,500+ people attended the KLOS Sabroso Craft Beer, Taco & Music Festival at Dana Point’s Doheny State Beach seeking entertainment, craft beer, and tasty tacos. Generally speaking, festivals thrive on providing beer, music and food. Hence, festivals can serve as a launching pad for up and coming artists/musicians. Naked Walrus, the lead in band for the Sabroso music lineup, is a great example of a group seeking such a launching pad. Currently the band’s core consists of Dakota Gartner (Rhythm Guitar, Vocals) and Hayden Bush (Lead guitar).

Naked Walrus performing at the KLOS Sabroso Craft Beer, Taco & Music Festival in Dana Point’s Doheny State Beach 

 

While at the Sabroso Festival, I met and talked with Dakota Gartner, lead singer for Naked Walrus.

Q & A with Dakota Gartner

How did your band get its name?

It started with us in college while trying to think of a ridiculous name. But then, little by little we developed and applied a specific meaning to the name. So Naked Walrus is the thought of being comfortable in your own skin.

How did you all meet?

Hayden Bush, our guitar player, and I went to high school together in Phoenix, Arizona. While in college, I met our initial drummer. We started Naked Walrus while in college, but Hayden joined about a year and a half later because he attended college in another state. We’ve had band members change from time to time, but really Hayden and I are the core of the band. Its been almost ten years since initially starting our endeavors.

Describe your band’s musical sound and influences.

We like to say we’re Alternative Rock with a Punk Rock mentality. Our influences include The Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age, but if you go back before them they also include rock bands like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. And as we have refined our preferences, we’ve just thrown in a lot of things that have inspired us.

To us, it has always been about applying the mentality of punk rock. Punk rock is about getting it done, the way it needs to be done and not a lot of bullshit. That’s how we like to be.

How can fans-to-be gain access to your music?

Go to our website – www.nakedwalrus.com. A lot of people listen to us on Spotify and streaming platforms now. And we sell vinyl records at our merchandise booth at concerts.

What’s it like being the lead-in band for the Sabroso Festival in Dana Point?

It’s amazing. John Reese, Synergy Global Entertainment, and Cameron Collins, Brew Ha Ha Productions, have created a fantastic community event that highlights genre-specific passions for people. For us to be a part of that and highlight our artistic passions means the world. This is the biggest show we’ve ever played.

What are you working on now? / What’s next?

We’ve got a new EP that we’re working on now and will be out next year. And we’re playing a lot of shows, but less than last year. Last year we played 75 shows but we decided to take a step back to focus on events like Sabroso.

Also we’re really lucky that there’s a hot, emerging band named PVRIS that will be appearing at Coachella this year. They are also doing a couple of off-day shows (outside Coachella). We’ll be opening for them on April 17th at Velvet Jones in Santa Barbara.

Are you a beer drinker?

I’m a beer drinker. We also perform at a lot of breweries. For example, we’ve played at Hangar 24 Brewing several times. We’ll be performing at Barrel House Brewing in Fresno soon.

What beer do you drink during or after a performance?

When it comes to craft beer, I prefer to drink beers from Firestone Walker, Hangar 24 or Barrel House brewing. I also drink Mexican lagers from time to time.

If you could design a beer that best represented Naked Walrus, what would it be?

That’s hilarious for you to say, because I have an idea for this. And I’m ready for someone to pick me up on this. It would be called The Tusk. It’s a red sour with a higher alcohol content.

 

A big Thank You to Dakota Gartner for spending some time with me. I’m hoping someone picks up his idea to collaborate and produce The Tusk red sour soon. I’d love to try it.