From the California sands of the Pacific to the Mississippi delta of Louisiana, this upcoming rocker has been performing for audiences for the last 14 years in different bands across America. William’s playing style has its roots in hard driving rock and roll, tempered with signature licks of delta blues and fusion jazz.
To accomdate this wide range of style and sound, William uses a Pod Pro amplifier emulator as well as a few analog effects. He swings an Ibanex RG series ax with a Floyd Rose Tremelo system.
“I get versatility with the Pod Pro. SuperVibe covers allot of ground musically and I need to replicate allot of different amp and speaker combinations; the Pod allows me to do just that. As for guitars, the Ibanez is my main axe. Although I have other guitars in the arsenal; the Ibanez is item number at showtime.”
At an early age William (Wild Bill as some of his older friends call him) took an interest in playing guitar. Watching his uncle play with local musicians, it wasn’t long until William strumming away with his uncle on the front porch. Learning mostly Country and Western, William was schooled by his uncle on the hits of Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and many other stars of the time.
“I can remember playing my Uncles’ Conn. I could barley get my right arm around the sound body of the guitar to reach the strings. My Uncle and his buddies got kick out of watching this 9 year old kid play House of the Rising Sun on this big body acoustic guitar.”
In his teenage years, William started forming local bands to play at high school dances and teen night clubs. At the age of eighteen, two weeks after his high school graduation, William went on the road with Mark Channing and First Class, playing the playboy club circuit across the US.
“It was like a dream come true - on the road with a band. I anticipated nothing but ‘fun and games’, but that bubble soon burst. The reality was that it was allot of work keeping up with a changing playlist and learning material that I really didn’t care for. I soon learned the work side of being a professional musician.”
Later he entered the local club scene in Omaha, Nebraska. William sharpened his chops with groups like Jack Ransom, Violation, and Breathless. Leaving the Mid-West for the comforts of the South, William hooked up with the Contenders in Memphis and joined them on their tour of the South. Playing in venues throughout Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee gave William a taste of the delta blues, which he has incorporated into playing style.
“Working with the Contenders was a big step in my career. I grew up allot with them. We were a multifaceted band; there was a core of four guys (Bass, guitar and drums) that we would use for the local rock clubs, but for the bigger shows we would bring in three female vocalists and a horn section to perform allots Motown, Funk, and Jazz. It forced me to rededicate myself the instrument again and focus on being ‘on’ all the time.”
After becoming disillusioned with the business side of his musical career, Will packed away his axes and settled into a career electronic engineering, which required him to relocate often. Although the work was interesting, he still found time to seek out local bands to play with weather his was living in Texas or California. William’s latest move to the Phoenix metro area has landed him a job as the lead axe swinger of Claire’s Trick. After a year of playing out with CT, he formed SuperVibe; a high energy, dance/party band.
“I wanted
to incorporate a female vocalist that could bring allot of energy and flash to
the show. I found this energy in
Christine. Shortly after, we were
able to complete our line up with Dave and Chris; a superb rhythm section.
Working along side the players in SuperVibe has challenged me to take my
playing to a new level. They boost me to a higher energy level and inspire me to take
the instrument into new directions that I haven’t been before.”