Born & raised on the windswept prairies of north-west coast Tasmania, between lashings of hallucinogenic cheese & Magic Johnson, weened on William Blake & Ribald magazine, Van first heard the music of Bob Dylan around adolescence & began picking guitar & writing songs. Some hundreds of songs later and a hell-bent pick, he moved to Melbourne to form the rocknroll outfit The Swedish Magazines, and sing his unique hillbilly stuff on the side. ‘There aren’t many songwriters prepared to claim the label of bard these days; like other english terms of yore, it’s usage has fallen victim to the rise of contemporary entertainment discourse, with it’s emphasis on personality & self-promotion. Van Walker is a bard in the classic sense of the term; & like a good bush league player, he’s packing plenty of punch.’ Patrick Emery, Beat Magazine