Walt Cronin met Zander Schloss when working on a now cult film called “Repo Man” by Alex Cox. Walt's friend Peter McCarthy from Chicago was one of its producers. He had just moved to Los Angeles and helped out videotaping the auditions with his interest in video production just beginning.

      Zander of course played “Kevin” and went on to pursue his true passion of music, writing some of the soundtracks of Alex’s other films, "Sid & Nancy,"& “Straight To Hell” as well as acting in them. He is the bass player for one of L.A.’s founding punk bands “The Circle Jerks” still on tour after these many years.

         Zander has also written with the late Joe Strummer and Scott Weiland. Zander, originally from St Louis moved to California as a teenager. Having become friends while working on “Repo Man” in 1984, they reunited when Zander rented the studio apartment in 1999 over Walt's garage. This was a home he and his wife were renting in Los Angeles. This old Spanish home built in the 1920s  had what is very uncommon in L.A. “A basement”

        This is where they spent countless hours recording analog tracks onto an eight track reel to reel. Zander’s command of musical instrumentation and the help of his many friends who contributed both instrumental and vocal tracks over a period of 3 years evolved when they brought the reels to Brian Susko’s Westside Recorder Studio.

        It was there, that editing, mixing and dozens of more tracks were added digitally over the next few years with Brian’s fine ear.

        Walt moved to Crestline, CA in the San Bernardino Mountains where he and his wife had bought a cabin on an acre of land. Walt was seeking some peace of mind having been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress. He had served as a Navy Corpsman ( medic) with a Marine platoon in Vietnam in 1970.

       After the wildfires in the fall of 2003, Walt was never able to regain a sense of safety living somewhat remote in the forest and returned to urban L.A. He finally has completed what had been sitting on those back burners these many years.. The Gousters. The origin of the name is what is perceived as pre-dating the “Grunge" look in Seattle.

       It was a term he referred to he and his friends as of the similar style or “non-style”of the way they dressed growing up in Chicago in the mid-1960s based on black street slang on the south and westside.

Walt Cronin collaborated with his former, fellow songwriter, on their debut CD "The Gousters" in 2005. It remained in the top 50 alternative country category on Roots Music Report for 60 weeks. Walt is a former navy corpsman (medic) that served with a marine platoon in Vietnam in 1970. His songs are memoirs of the heartache of war and it's aftermath with a beautiful love ballad thrown into the mix. Staying true to the folk history of societal woes with some bright new tunes finish off this eclectic blend of strong lyrical content and melodies.

                                                                Walt Cronin The Gousters CD  Release

October 21, 2008  Walt's New CD is now available for shipping. 12 new songs CD listed at $9.00 each plus S/H

The songs will be uploaded within the next week  to hear.  Samples on Radiosubmit  Search under The Gousters

I'll find a brand new day like a day like today flowers in her hand the rift hittin' the road turn myself around she's on her own that's how it all oughta be lapsed in blue ageless dreams wishin for awhile you are the light (Vio's song)

Walt Cronin The Gousters on CDbaby homepage

      click below

Free Download From Walt's New CD:  I'll Find A Brand New Day

Click above on Myspace Music to download free song !

REVIEWS:

We have a real variety in new items added to NeverEndingWonder Radio this time around. Would you expect anything different? We start off with an outstanding independent release: Self-titled: Walt Cronin The Gousters
This is the second album in a row Walt Cronin has released titled "The Gousters." Last album was a collaboration. This one is a solo effort: The couple of years in between releases has found Cronin polishing his sound yet maintaining the depth of emotion in his lyrics. It's a worthy successor to his debut release. Top of the line Americana: Walt Cronin The Gousters
Uncle Ozma
NeverendingWonder Radio

alt.coun·try / ˈôlt ˈkəntrē/ (also alt-coun·try) • n. a style of country music that is influenced by alternative rock.

folk-rock or folk rock   (fōk'rŏk')
n.  A variety of popular music combining elements of rock 'n' roll and folk music.
folk'-rock' adj.

John Lennon said “Todays’ folk music is rock and roll…..folk music isn’t an acoustic guitar
with a singer who talks about mines and railways”. Ironically, he later cites Bob Dylan as
probably his greatest influence. Paraphrasing John Lennon, you could say, perhaps,
that yesterdays’ rock and roll is todays’ folk music…….
 

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K05hz4rptag  Youtube video of song "The Rift"

Walt Cronin

13428 Maxella Avenue #611

Marina del Rey, CA  90292

NOTE: $3.00 FROM EACH CD SALE IS BEING CONTRIBUTED TO DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS.

Walt Cronin, half of the duo named The Gousters and the principle lyricist, displays an infectious enthusiasm about his music. Scattered across the web are numerous postings, blogs, notes and comments from him that celebrate, in a surpised kind of joy, the independent success of his self-released album. He seems thrilled that anyone even noticed The Gousters. But then again, how could you not notice them?

The energy of Walt, the perfectly loose composition of the songs, the stark poeticism of the lyrics and the fact that the other half of the duo is Zander Schloss, made famous by his founding of the seminal punk band The Circle Jerks and less famous by his role in the cult film Repo Man, would seem to make this point moot. And, in the interest of coming full circle, their rapid climbing of the music charts without a label, promoter, publicist or manager seems to prove the point.

As for the music itself, Walt loosely defines it as alt-country, with the caveat that the term has become a catch-all description, like jam or indie rock. Listening to it at a distance, it reminds me of the gritty folk of Neil Young (“Trickle Past”), the deadpan somberness of Leonard Cohen (“Only Eighteen”) and the tumbling melodies of the classic 60’s folk groups (“If It All Goes Well”).

Listening to it up close and personal still reminds me of those artists but also helps give a sense of, mainly, who Walt Cronin is. His experience as a combat medic in Vietnam, love, lost friends and the realities of living a rough life permeate the songs that are strummed on an acoustic guitar, frantically picked on a mandolin and tapped out on a small basement drum kit.

From the beautifully rough and tumble rockabilly-tinged “Make Me A Kinder Man” with it’s straightforward tribute to a loved one, the down home picking of “Bottlenecked Confusion” and its yearning for a simpler life to the melodic folk of “Showered in Blue” with it’s CSNY-esque vocal harmonies and the Civil War tale built into the rollicking country rock of “Wheatfield” Walt and Zander create music that sounds like wood, dead leaves, oil, dirt, tears and a just a bit punk.

It is an album that deserves the notice it is receiving and worthy of many more accolades. So let’s all keep surprising Walt Cronin and spread the word about The Gousters around the scene.

Dave Terpeny

KyndMusic

Walt:  I got the CD yesterday and have listened to it twice.  Stunning, really extraordinary.  It has hints of everything  -- bluegrass and country, blues and folk, music and lyrics that could have come from Neil Young, CSN, and the Byrds.  The rhyme and cadence and massaging of the words, the pauses and emphases, are pitch perfect. I also want to make special mention of the song, "Only Eighteen."  It was beautiful and should become the anthem of all of you who served in Vietnam and the horrors that the experience still visits upon you.

God bless you, buddy.

Robert J. Callahan
Diplomatic Fellow
School of Media and Public Affairs
Suite 428
George Washington University
805 21st St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20052