Interview with:
Walden Avery
Powderfinger Promotions
Tell us a bit about the career path that led to where you are now.
I’ve been surrounded by the music industry since I was a kid. I’m a second-generation radio promoter, and Powderfinger is blessed to remain a family business at its core to this day. Appreciating and performing music was a very important part of our family culture. I sang in multiple choruses, my sister was constantly writing and playing music in her room, my mom was always singing.
At around eleven or twelve is when I became fixated on music as an industry, and how we tell the stories around that industry. I was hooked. I spent hours and hours watching music documentaries, reading Spin, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, anything I could access really. I wanted to get involved as soon as I could, so I’ve been a part of Powderfinger pretty much as soon as I was legally able to. I’ve worked other jobs and pursued other opportunities along the way, but Powderfinger has always been an important and passionate part of my working life.
What is your favorite experience you’ve had in your career? Perhaps a musical idol you got to meet or work with? A project you were involved with promoting?
It’s hard to narrow it down to just one. That Sting and Shaggy album was really special. I was so excited that it hit in the way that it did and when it won the Grammy I was ecstatic. That whole night was amazing. It was an electric feeling.
Bear Grylls, Luke Nichols, and Tenzing Norgay. We’ve got to survive out there. King Charles III so they’ll be motivated to search for us and Jon Krakauer so he can write a book about it. What aspect of your job gives you the most satisfaction?
I love writing radio one-sheets. The process of learning about an artist’s work and career, and then being able to share their story and their vision with the world is so rewarding. It’s even better if I can speak to them one on one because that gives me an insight to their process and personality that would be difficult to access otherwise. You learn how artists want to be understood, and I get to be a part of it. Plus, you get to talk to really interesting people.
What band/artist or style of music outside the realm of your college/community radio promotion would people be most intrigued to hear you love?
I love what’s coming out of the heavier end of underground hip-hop right now. There’s this whole generation of Haunted Mound and Opium acolytes who are making very eccentric and intense stuff. Che, Osamason, and Rocket Rese have all put out incredible releases in the last year. This wave is so fearless, so unashamedly uncommercial. It’s like hip-hop’s answer to black metal.
What job do you think you would have if you weren’t in this industry?
Probably project management or event planning. I think I’d also enjoy being an EMT.
2026 is here! Do you have any fun plans or a vacation scheduled this year? Maybe just a daydream so far of a place you’d like to visit? Speaking of time off, what would be your dream vacation?
Aside from conferences no big plans for travel just yet. I have always wanted to go to Alaska though. The landscape looks so beautiful.
You just won 10 million dollars. What are you going to do with it?
Pay off my parents’ mortgage, buy a modest house for my sister and one for myself, buy two nice suits, give a reasonable amount to charity, and whatever was left I’d put in index funds. I could say something funny like “buy an elephant” but that’s the real answer.
Entertainment Time: What is/are your current favorite TV obsession(s)? What’s a great movie (new or old) you’ve watched recently? What is your current favorite album?
Barry on HBO is so good. I saw Park Chan-wook’s new movie No Other Choice recently and really loved it. His visual choices are so striking, and he’s brilliant at balancing tone between humor and darkness. My current favorite album has got to be Deathconsciousness by Have a Nice Life. I’ve seen other people call it “the most depressing album in the world” but I feel practically giddy listening to it sometimes because I can hear the band transcending their limitations through sheer force of will. It’s a high school teacher and a real estate agent recording songs together in apartments and now people have that album cover tattooed on their arm. I love hearing people push themselves to the next level like that.
Do you have a favorite restaurant in town you love to go to and would recommend?
Lotus Blossom in Sudbury is great. Best scallion pancakes you can get.
You’re stranded on a desert island. What five well known people (dead or alive) would you like to have there with you?
Bear Grylls, Luke Nichols, and Tenzing Norgay. We’ve got to survive out there. King Charles III so they’ll be motivated to search for us and Jon Krakauer so he can write a book about it.
