Walter © Tracey Ganapathy	Walter is the seventh of ten children. He first got interested in music when he was 14 years old and his elder brother bought a guitar. He was so taken with it, that when his brother went off to work Walter would take the guitar and try to play. He had seen his brother playing the chords to Neil Young's "Heart of gold" and although his brother had loosened the strings Walter had seen enough to know where to put his fingers for the first chord. He tuned the guitar around this chord and continued to work out the rest of the song. A short while later Walter asked his brother if he could play his guitar. His brother said "You can't play" but his brother's friends said "Let him have a go". Walter surprised them by playing the song. I asked Walter what it was about the guitar, and he couldn't find the word, "It was just a love" and wanting to get the emotion he was feeling out in the form of music.
From his family he received a good mix of music, with each brother enjoying a different sound, from Rod Stewart to the Rolling Stones; Santana to Jeff Beck. His favorites being as diverse as Grand Funk, Deep Purple and Jimi Hendrix In the Moluccan community in which he lived it was normal for people to play music. Walter started playing along with friends who he grew up with. They played, learnt and taught each other and started to play for people in and around the community (weddings, celebrations etc.) At this point Walter was playing guitar. When one member of the band left Walter said he'd play bass. So at the tender age of 19 Walter switched to the bass guitar. ln his eagerness to learn he took private bass lessons for about a year and then he stopped them as he was working full-time and playing in 4 bands in one week. In 1992 Walter decided to quit work to become a full-time musician. He was by now teaching both guitar and bass and playing as a freelance. His lessons were created from playing live on stage/own experience. He has a passion for music which is not only apparent when you see him play but when you hear him talk about music. He has invested himself in different bands and styles and is, as he says, still learning and trying to understand it.	Walter © Tracey Ganapathy
Walter © Tracey Ganapathy	In 1992 Walter was playing in the Dutch rock band Backbone and was thinking of giving it up to study music full-time. At that period Juan van Emmerloot and Walter were asked as a freelance rhythm section and they went invited to play at a Jimi Hendrix festival and there Walter first met Snowy. I asked him about this first meeting with Snowy and he said "I was drunk, Snowy was sitting by himself in the dressing room and I walked in and was like fucking hell Snowy White". Walter really liked the song 'Bird of paradise' and started talking with Snowy, Juan came in and kind of dragged him away but Snowy was happy chatting. Snowy took notice of this rhythmic duo and later when he was due to play in Holland they were asked to back him. They worked well together and became the rhythm section of The White Flames Band. During his professional career Walter has played (along with Juan on many occasions) for many various bands, with differing musical directions, these include - Steve Lukather (toto) Walter Trout, Popa Chubby, Bernie Marsden and Mick Moody (Whitesnake), Pat Travers, Mick Rogers (Manfred Mann) , He has also been featured on the CD's for Ambeon "Fate A Dreamer" (Arjen Lukassen) , John "Rabbit" Bundrick (The Who) "The wind cried" , Jan van Oort "The voice inside me"