Walter Fischbacher
plays keyboards and is a native Austrian. When he founded his band Phishbacher, he thought it would be really fun to just misspell his name a little bit and use the result as a band name, and so he did that.
In Austria he studied a lot, went to the Musikhochschule and the Music Conservatory in Vienna, and worked as a sideman in the smokin’ Austrian music scene. But then danger lurked in the shape of mandatory military service for a whole year, so Walter decided to leave and study some more in New York City. Luckily he got several scholarships from the Austrian government (go figure…) and other organizations to help pay the sky high tuitions of Mannes College and the New School.
He arrived in NYC in 1994 and studied with some cats, and continued to work as a sideman. He also got into tuning pianos and producing and engineering, all of which have either helped pay his phone bill or expanded his musical horizon. Since 2000 he produced several pop/r&b/rap artist, one of them singer/songwriter Tera with the full-length album “Alien Lovers”, which was a nerve-racking and rewarding experience.
Since 2001 he goes on tour to the Czech Republic with trumpet player Laco Deczi. The touring can’t suck, because he keeps on going back to Czech about twice a year.
Finally he went on a long-deserved vacation to Mexico, wrote a big bunch of tunes, got a steady gig with his trio and recorded his long overdue CD Chillin’. And voila – here it is!
“…Walter Fischbacher proved to be a sensitive and
brilliant virtuoso.” (Davos News, Switzerland)
„Walter Fischbacher grooves effortlessly, his playing stays round and smooth throughout.” (Concerto, Austria)
