When Chad Walsh set out on tour nearly five years ago as a contracted guitarist, he never imagined it would lead him to reconnect with his cousin and eventually form a band with him.

But that is exactly what happened, and now he wouldn’t change it for the world.

Formed in 2015, The Man Who are a three piece alt-rock band made up of Walsh, his cousin, singer David Walsh, and their close friend, drummer Frank Goerz.

Taking their name from the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote “The world makes way for the man who knows where he’s going,” the band originated in Toronto, Canada and are now making their way across the United States on their first ever US Tour- opening shows for Liverpool based BANNERS.

Having just released their debut EP “Bet On You” last week, The Man Who have steadily been gaining streams and attention, with over 200 thousand monthly listeners on Spotify.

Their sound, which is both familiar and unique, brings a sense of nostalgia all while combining the lyricism of folk rock and alternative rock beats into an entirely new style.

And fortunately for us, Second Society Report had the opportunity to sit down with the trio ahead of their debut show in Boston this Wednesday to chat about all things tour, their new EP and what they hope to accomplish with their music.

You can read our full interview below, and get an exclusive glimpse at photos from their set.

Second Society Report: Okay so to start things off, today is the first day of tour, right?

Chad:Yeah, yesterday was an off day, so today is the first show so really it’s the kick off day.

Second Society Report: So how are you feeling? Excited/Nervous?

Frank: I think we’re more excited than nervous.

Chad: Yeah for sure, and we’ve known Mike- Banners- for a long time, so it’s good to be doing a run with him as well. It’s very comfortable for us.

Second Society Report: What are you most excited about regarding tour?

Chad: Probably our show in Nashville. The guy who produced [“Bet On It”] with us, used to live about an hour and a half outside of Toronto, but this past summer he moved to Nashville, so it’s going to be great to get down there. A couple other guys we wrote with on the record also live down there too, so we’ll have a family reunion kinda thing. It’s going to be nice.

Frank: We’re pretty pumped. We just released our EP so it’s going to be fun to play those songs live for every single stop. 

Second Society Report: Are you going to be playing some unreleased tracks?

David: We have some new stuff.

Chad: Yeah, we have some new stuff. I think there’s a couple things scheduled to be put out before the end of the year. I’m not sure if that’s official or not, but those songs are in the set today. It’s nice to sample out some tracks that nobody’s heard before to see if we get a reaction from them. 

Second Society Report: Does that mean there’s going to be another EP coming?

Chad: Just singles, for now.

Second Society Report: Maybe an album down the line?

Chad: We’ll be writing in the fall, so we’ll either be able to take the EP plus the two new songs that are coming out and then stuff we write down the road and package it as a full length album. Hopefully. We’re not really sure- we just write songs and the label tells us where they go (laughs).

Second Society Report: You guys have an interesting formation story where you, Chad, were on tour, and reconnected with David, and formed the band in 2015, is that right?

Chad: Yeah, so I was touring as a hired side guy, playing guitar for another artist, and we were playing out in Newfoundland, Canada, and David, it was his hometown, was back visiting and we just kinda rekindled there. He showed me some songs he was writing, and ended up opening up the show for the band I was in, and then he flew out to Toronto, and we ended up writing an EP together that was just David’s name and it was a folkier- folk rock kind of record. 

David: Yeah (nodding). 

Chad: It was the first time we made music together and realized there was something special there. I started trying to convince him to move to Toronto and it took a bit (laughs) but he got out there and then we started writing towards something that we wanted to be a little more commercially accessible. Something to be a little less folky- I guess. 

Second Society Report: And then Frank, how did you get involved?

Frank: I got in the band one day and then I never left. 

Chad & David: (laugh)

Frank: I was living in Nashville at the time, but Chad and I sort of grew up together and played in a lot of bands together as side musicians. And one day he called me up and said, “Hey, I got a new project I’m working on and I think you should consider moving back to Toronto,” and I was like “Maybe for Chad I would do that.” (Laughs) And now we’re here.

Second Society Report: So what was the most exciting part about writing this new EP? What songs stuck out to you the most?

David: I think the one that stuck out the most was the newest one we’ve put out “Down.”  We did “Bet on You” and “This High” kinda independently and they gained a bit of label interest, and then they were kinda like “these were great, what else you got?” so we kept writing and writing and then once we got in the studio with our producer, that was the first song we wrote together with him. And as soon as the label heard that, they were kinda pumped and they knew they had something. So they were like “let’s keep going and finish the EP.”

Chad: That’s kinda the song that was the pivotal moment, going from a band that had some label interest to getting a record deal and moving forward to writing the rest of the record. So yeah, I think “Down” is the standout for us, for making it all real.

Second Society Report: When you write songs, what is your process? What comes first the lyrics or the music?

David: It usually starts with music first- usually either a bass riff or something on the guitar. Then melody will follow, and usually a word will kinda pop out through melody and then you kinda have an idea of where to steer the song. Sometimes it changes, sometimes it stays the same. 

Chad: Most of the songs start with David in his basement recording some stuff, and then when he gets something that’s somewhat..

David: A solid idea

Chad: Then once it starts to form a little more he usually brings it to me and I help shape it a little bit. Then once we have it in a place that we think it’s good enough, we show our producer. And normally we’ll have five or six of those partially formed ideas, we might just have a chorus, we might just have a verse, but we usually have some general structure and a bit of production ideas, and then he’ll pick which one is the best, the standout, and then we’ll focus that writing session on that song. It doesn’t necessarily mean that is the one we’ll come out with, sometimes we’ll start and it doesn’t work and we switch to another song. But it’s basically a three step process. It starts with [David], goes to me, and then goes to the producer.

Second Society Report: Have you ever had a song that you loved in the beginning stages but your producer told you to scrap entirely?

David: Yeah (laughs) that happens. Sometimes we’ll revisit it later and we’ll turn it into a completely different song, but the base idea is there. When you’re working with different producers sometimes they’ll hear a piece of that and have a different idea for it and help bring it to life.

Chad: I think we’ve kinda learned through doing a lot of the writing sessions and working with producers is that if something doesn’t gel immediately, just completely move on. It doesn’t mean the song is dead in the water, it just means it’s not time for it. 

David: That’s kinda how “Down” came out. We were starting a different song that day but we were kinda stuck so we scrapped it and started over and “Down” came out.

Second Society Report: What would you say are your biggest songwriting inspirations?

Chad: For me, it would be like The Beatles and Fleetwood Mac. I grew up loving stuff like Creedence Clearwater Revival, and very lyric forward stuff. I wasn’t into prog-rock or a lot of jammy stuff,  it was always about the lyrics and melody.

David: I grew up in Newfoundland, so it was a lot of east coast music, which doesn’t really translate to what we’re doing now (laughs) but just the folkiness and definitely the lyrics. 

Frank: The neat thing about this band, too, is that we all have pretty different tastes in music but it all kind of comes together in this weird way that works together. For whatever reason the three of us draw from different places but it all comes together in this one cohesive thing.

Second Society Report: If you could curate your own tour, with a four act bill including yourselves, who would you want to play with?

Chad: Ooh, do you each want to pick one? I’ll take Beck.

David: Cage the Elephant.

Second Society Report: Wasn’t that just a tour?

Chad: yes, we’re just adding ourselves to their tour (laughs).

Frank: Hm.. I’m going to go Queens of the Stoneage.

Second Society Report: Lastly, What do you want your fans to take away from your music?

Chad: I think that music is very subjective, so as long as there is an emotional response from some level- I think our stuff is kinda dark and emphatic, and if you can listen to a song like “Down” and draw what you interpret as the meaning and you can relate in a way, or it pulls your heartstrings a little bit… if we can make you feel a bit then we’ve done our jobs. 

You can catch The Man Who on their tour with Banners coming your way this month. And be sure to stream their debut EP “Bet On You” out now!