Jeff Walls

Jeffrey Kermit Walls (1956 – May 29, 2019), an American guitarist and rock and roll musician, was a founding member and guitarist of the Marietta, Georgia, 1980s’ alternative rock band Guadalcanal Diary.

Guadalcanal Diary was from Marietta, Georgia, a northern Atlanta suburb. Following their initial collaboration in Strictly American, a high school punk band, Walls and Murray Attaway (vocals and guitar) formed Guadalcanal Diary in 1981. Guadalcanal Diary released Watusi Rodeo, an early EP, and the full-length LP Walking in The Shadow of The Big Man on DB Records, before signing with major label Elektra Records in 1985. Elektra subsequently re-released their LP.

Following Guadalcanal Diary's break up in 1989, Walls formed a rockabilly band Hillbilly Frankenstein. Hillbilly Frankenstein was featured in the documentary Sleazefest: The Movie from No Place Like Home Productions. The documentary chronicled the 1994 two-day music festival in Chapel Hill, North Carolina that celebrated rockabilly and garage rock music. Hillbilly Frankenstein disbanded in 1995.

In 1988, Jeff Walls and Rhett Crowe, bassist for Guadalcanal Diary, married. Their daughter, Lillian, was born the following year.

Walls and Crowe later divorced, and Jeff married Phyllis Walls.

In 2003, Walls joined The Woggles, a garage-rock band that formed in Athens, Georgia in the 1980s. With the Woggles, Walls played guitar and performed under the moniker The Flesh Hammer. Walls recorded multiple albums and singles with the Woggles and toured the United States and internationally, including multiple tours of Japan.

Guadalcanal Diary reunited briefly in 2011 to celebrate their 30th anniversary. Recently, several Guadalcanal Diary songs were featured on the television show Billions.

In addition to his ongoing work as guitarist for The Woggles, Walls formed the group Bomber City with his former Guadalcanal Diary bandmate Murry Attaway and his wife, bassist, Phyllis Walls.

Bomber City's music included many collaborative songs written by Attaway and Walls, music from Attaways’g solo album In Thrall, as well as some fan-favorite Guadalcanal Diary songs. Joining Attaway, Jeff, and Phyllis in Bomber City was Pat Patterson on drums, vocalist/percussionist Diana Crowe (Hillbilly Frankenstein) and Doug Stanley on keyboards & guitar (Love Tractor, Black Label Orchestra, the Helium Kids, the Glands, the Nairobi Trio).

Walls’ other musical endeavors included the bands Blasting Cap and the Nairobi Trio, an R&B and soul project.

Walls died May 29, 2019 after battling Pulmonary Veno-Occlusive Disease and while awaiting a double-lung transplant. Following Walls’ death, numerous fund-raising concerts have been announced in Athens and Atlanta, Georgia to help raise money for Walls’ widow and surviving family.

Upon Walls' death, Steven Van Zandt stated: “What a shocking great loss. One of the most talented Guitarist/Producers I’ve ever known. Our deepest love and sympathy to his family and friends from his other family here at Wicked Cool and the Underground Garage."

Guadalcanal Diary albums

Woggles albums