Will Echo interview

It’s really strong at the moment. Bands and artists seem to be taking control of their music and are not too concerned with getting a major deal these days. Everyone seems to be hungry for live music which is great. I think indie artists are really gaining in confidence from the interest they are getting which gives them freedom to do their own thing. It makes the whole scene more interesting and varied.

I usually write from an initial idea which could be a title, a word or a ‘head tune’ that just appears! I love the sound and rhythm of words, and there is always a song going around in my head. If it is something that I can relate to personally I will write from experience otherwise I will recall things that I have seen and write from images. I write a lot of songs from what I see around me, I’m interested in people and their lives and like to write and comment on relationships and life situations, it’s what makes the world go round, so hopefully other people can relate to them too.

All the songs that currently appear on http://www.reverbnation.com/willecho and www.willecho.com were recorded at my own personal studio in my previous house (I’ve just moved so it’s a great chance to re-build the studio again!). I run a fully digital set-up for recording and mixing and try and get a warmer sound by having some valve gear in the pre-recording stage. Luckily I have a background in sound engineering and music technology so I can pretty much find my way around most gear. I like to keep things simple though and won’t use a DAW unless I have to, preferring a digital hard-disc recorder and a separate digital mixer to ‘in-the-box’ mixing and will only go to a computer for drum programming, editing and mastering. A lot of musicians are getting great results from just a computer and little else, but I know from experience that if I’m looking at a visual image rather that listening then I’m being distracted and the results aren’t as good.

No I don’t only release digitally. I’m not a great fan of the digital only format. I think if you are releasing music in a Folk/Rock style, as I am, then the type of people listening to and buying your music are in the habit of buying CD’s and still love the idea of having something solid in their hands. The thing I don’t like about digital only releases is it’s too easy to lose contact with the music you’ve just downloaded – it’s almost as though it’s more about collecting the songs than the actual content. Everyone seems to accumulate as many files as they can and fill up their hard drive rather than view the song as a thing of value to really live with and enjoy. For me great songs become part of your life and you remember them forever by playing them over and over, if you’ve got a physical CD it tends to be on a shelf or somewhere on view where you pick it up and re-visit it, when a digital file is on a hard-disc it is easily forgotten.
The album that I will be releasing shortly will be both physical CD’s and digital downloads as I don’t see any reason to exclude myself from either avenue.

That’s a difficult question as I have listened to so much music over the years and don’t stick to any one genre or era. I will listen to anything from early jazz and blues to the current scene. But if I had to name a few for me it’s about great vocal tone and delivery, so artist such as Bob Dylan, Ray LaMontagne, Otis Reading, Steve Marriot (small faces), Johnny Cash, Jim Morrison (The Doors), Badly Drawn Boy and Connor Oberst (Bright Eyes) etc… artists where the vocals jump out of the speakers and make you listen.

I’m also a big fan of great songwriting bands such as The Beatles, The Who, The Kinks, Cream, The Jam and Paul Weller, Aztec Camera, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, The Stone Roses and Pink Floyd to name a few, but also love The Blues Brothers and the Motown Sound where there’s a great groove going on or the electronic side of things with artists like The Chemical Brothers, Fat Boy Slim and Moby. Bit of a mixture really. I’m just picking names out but could easily be 100 others, basically artists that write lyrics in a non-obvious way and that create moods with their music and vocals. I can’t say if they have influenced me, it’s really up to the listener to say if their styles are present in my work.

Yes loads. The feedback from America has been fantastic, even more so than from within the UK. I think the sound that I have right now seems to be a sound that America is comfortable with and hopefully enjoys listening to. I’ve had so many people get in touch with kind words and support and really appreciate each and every one. I’d like to say thanks and please carry on staying in-touch as the biggest part of creating songs for me is in knowing they are enjoyed. The song “I’ll Call You From The USA” is my way of getting over to America in my minds eye, although hopefully I’ll be there in person one day. I’ve had so many offers of hospitality and a stage to share, it’s been really overwhelming.

There’s nothing planned in the immediate future as I am just finalizing the final song for the forthcoming album. The albums track listing is finished and the artwork is nearly there so it will be just a matter of slotting in the final song and going to production hopefully next month. It will then be full-on promotion for the album, so watch this space and any dates will be posted on http://www.reverbnation.com/willecho and www.willecho.com when available.

Thanks. Yes I do sound different on early recordings. I think if you look at any artist’s career you will hear changes and obviously change is a big thing for many, if you think of people like David Bowie then part of what they do is develop and change to remain interesting. I think also from the listening point of view that people will get bored of one sound so you can get away with two or three albums but then to keep the listeners ear you will need to change something, even if it’s a subtle change. The songs remain the same but the way they are presented changes.

In the past I’ve dabbled in Brit-pop and electronic styles but am very comfortable with the sound I have right now and would love to be able to write songs in this style forever more, it will just depend on how long people continue to enjoy listening.

With regards to the ‘unique sound’ you mention, it is something that I’ve consciously worked on. I wanted to create a sound that was ‘unique’, enjoyable, real and intimate and not over produced. So I use the usual instruments and mics but perhaps not in the normal way - for example the mic I use for my vocal sound is not a vocal mic but a mic used mainly on guitars. I then have to look then at other less obvious mics for the guitars so they are not in the way of the vocals. The guitar mic therefore won’t be the usual mic people put on their guitars. Other things contribute, like I use a certain brand of Folk strings on the acoustic guitars which aren’t too bright and are more ‘mellow’. I’ve also borrowed a few techniques from the past such as filtering and delaying the send to the reverb and using vocal delay settings from the Abbey Road handbook. I think the combination of all of these things makes the sound a bit different and if you repeat them on all your tracks it becomes ‘your sound’. The main thing for me is that the vocal tone jumps out the speakers, the lyrics are interesting and that it’s something I would enjoy listening to if I heard it by another artist.

Yes definitely. I can write to demand in any style and it’s something that I’ve done in the past. I am still happy to do this and do enjoy collaborating with other artists so please get in touch if I can be of any help. But if you think of an artist like Bob Dylan, all of his songs are written in one style which hasn’t really changed over the years but his songs cross over all genres and are re-recorded in many styles by many recording artists. I would like to think that my songs are capable of crossing over genre limitations. From the feedback and the stats that I receive they are certainly listened to and enjoyed by people who listen to folk, rock, blues, country, alternative & pop music to name a few and I like to think anyone who enjoys these types of music will enjoy mine.

Well, as mentioned earlier the forthcoming 10 track studio album will be released shortly, hopefully next month. Then it will be time spent on promoting the album and taking it from there. I would love for the album to be well received and hope that people continue to enjoy listening to my songs. It’s been a great year so far musically and I’ve been as high as #2 on the national Reverbnation folk charts and #19 on the global folk charts. This has been helped in a big way by the support I’ve had from Hardcoremix listeners, which is fantastic. I really enjoy writing and love the intimate format of just acoustic guitar and vocals so expect an ‘Unplugged’ album somewhere along the line. Also I’d like to develop the website www.willecho.com to include other artist’s music and to make it the best possible visiting experience.

Can I just take this opportunity to say thanks to everyone who has listened to my music in the past and to everyone who may look me up in the future and thanks too for the continued support of Hardcoremix.com who made this interview possible.

Also all my songs are currently free to download from my Reverbnation profile, but this won’t be the case when the album is released shortly so download them for free while you still can, if that’s your thing, if not please buy the album next month.