FUNKY AESTHETICS: Walter Studios, formerly a Native American recording studio, pays tribute to the building’s past while offering colorful touches. (Courtesy Venue)
Walter Studios’ Dr. Kirk Strawn says his new Phoenix venue is ushering in the next era of music entertainment.
In this case, it’s literal. Strawn, founder of Walter Productions, a 16-year-old entertainment production company, is building upon the space’s rich history as a Native American recording studio. It was closed to the public for 75 years before reopening in 2022.
Music fans are now selling out the 4,500-square-foot, 600-capacity concert hall, witnessing bands like Helmet, Polyphonic Spree, the Dear Hunter, Tiny Moving Parts and Midrift. The building is making history while repeating it.
Murals paying tribute to the building’s of Native American music history adorn the walls of Walter Studios, an entertainment group that includes a brewery and two other live music venues. (Courtesy Venue)
A mural of Navajo singer Ed Lee Natay — the first Native American recorded for commercial release — greets guests in the foyer. His music was released on Canyon Records, a Phoenix-based company founded in 1951.
“The Smithsonian had recorded chanting, but nobody had ever recorded the singers, pressed records and sold them,” Strawn said.
Strawn created a performance space that speaks equally to fans, performing artists and crews. The turnkey venue includes projection mapping, an LED wall and a green room equipped with a shower, kitchenette and recording sound booth.
BURNING MAN CARAVAN: Walter Studios’ namesake comes from a custom VW bus built by owner Kirk Strawn.
The “funky aesthetics” lend themselves to Walter Studios’ programming. Spheres hanging from the ceiling were a part of a flame show at Scottsdale’s annual Canal Convergence.
“Those had 30-foot flames shooting out of the holes,” he said.
Walter Studios houses “art-forward communal spaces,” Strawn explained. Those include the Blue Bar, Library and Honey Bar, where guests can nosh on small bites and imbibe on drinks and craft brews from its Walter Station Brewery.
“The Polyphonic Spree (choral rock band) took over the entirety of what we call the Blue Bar back here. They were doing yoga here,” he said with a smile.
Walter Station Brewery and Walter Studios are part of a collective venture, which also includes Walter Where?House and Walter Hive. The project’s roots are in festivals. Strawn got his start bringing artistic cars and “over-the-top” production to the sprawling Bonnaroo, Electric Daisy Carnival and Life is Beautiful music festivals.
“We started as a Burning Man camp and then we grew up into a traveling show,” he said. “For about five years, we toured and we went to Bonnaroo, EDC a number of times, Life is Beautiful. We worked big corporate gigs for Google and SpaceX and Twitter. Then we came back around 2018 and really started to put our roots in the Valley.”
Strawn started renovating the room in 2020, without being concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We knew it would end at some point,” he said. “The pandemic slowed us down from where we thought we would have been, but we just keep chipping away at spaces, gathering spaces here and around the Valley. Now that we have four of them, and they all have art, and food and drink, we’re making sure they’re friendly.
“We have — and have always had — a really long view on the Walter project. We’ve been around for 15 years, and we think of this as a 100-year project.”
“Walter” is named after the first art car that Strawn built — a “giant” Volkswagen bus atop the chassis of a 1960s fire truck made by a company called Walter.
“Now we have three of those Walter trucks — one from the ’50s, one from the ’60s and one from the ’70s,” Strawn said. “One of them is a Volkswagen Beetle. One’s a Volkswagen bus and the other one has big horns and shoots fire.”
Phoenix concert promoters Danny Zelisko and Stephen “Psyko Steve” Chilton are booking shows into the venue, as is Strawn, who counts a total staff of 150 between all Walter properties.
“What’s interesting about this is it shows the breadth of our capacities,” Strain said. “It’s this organically growing entity that’s based upon the interests and the capabilities of who’s in the community. When we started out, we were not music producers. We weren’t event production people. We didn’t know how to restaurants and bars. That’s all grown from this Walter community, starting from a giant Volkswagen bus.”
