What does it mean to be finished, yet unpolished? Does that mean that the work is incomplete or lacking? Or perhaps, could it be that the piece of work is actually more complete. More true to life due to it’s gritty rawness. Consider that when listening to The Will who craft high energy rock with all the edge and grit that rock deserves.
Your music has a very authentic punk-rock sound, unlike so many of these new “punk” bands today, who are some of your major influences?
Well, we don’t necessarily consider ourselves a “punk band”, but punk rock did influence our playing in the early years. We’re heavily influenced by many different genres of music over many decades, such as metal, country, jazz, and classic rock. But when it comes to our actual sound, our biggest influences are Foo Fighters, Hot Water Music, Nirvana, Alkaline Trio, Queens of the Stone Age, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and The Who among many others.
It’s clear from your band photos and songs such as “Whiskey” that you like to drink, what is your favorite poison?
We’re all in to drinking craft and microbrewed beer. Pretty much anything from breweries such as Stone, Lost Abbey/Port, New Belgium, etc. We’re also a big fan of whiskey and scotch; with Maker’s Mark, Jack Daniels, MaCallan and McClelland’s being a few of our favorites.
Who in the band has the strongest ‘will’?
All three of us moved from the Midwest to Southern California to follow our dreams, so it’s safe to say that we all have a strong will. No matter where we live, no matter what our “day jobs” are, we’ve always made music. We started in a garage in single-digit temperatures, with hand-me-down gear. Now we’re in a house that has an isolated three room recording studio, but our drive is still the same.
What is the concept behind the name “The Will”? How about the album art?
It’s essentially the will, or the drive, to follow your heart and do what you love to do. High energy was a big theme when we were writing the music, so we felt that is was only fitting to have our artwork reflect that. It also didn’t hurt that our backyard was filled with high-tension wires and it was something that we looked at every day while writing the record.
With three-piece groups, band members are usually like family, tell us about some family feuds?
Well, it all started with Richard Dawson, then Ray Combs came along, but Dawson eventually came back in the mid 90′s. After he left, Louie Anderson took over. Then Richard Karn and John O’Hurley each did four year stints. The current show is hosted by Steve Harvey.
But seriously, we’ve been in bands together since 1999, so we’ve fought about anything and everything you can think of. But the feuds obviously weren’t that serious or else we wouldn’t be still be playing music together.
If you won “The Lottery” what band would you pay to stop playing music?
The song “The Lottery” is kind of the exact opposite of the name “The Will”. It’s about the people that spend their whole lives waiting to win the lottery, before they would consider pursuing their dreams. But if we ever did win the lottery, we’d never telling anyone to stop playing music for any reason.
What song on your new album has the most energy live?
“The Lottery” is always a great way to kick off a show and get the crowd going. “Whiskey” is the most energetic for both us and the crowd. It follows somewhat of a free-form structure when we play it live, determined by the rowdiness of the crowd.
Find The Will on MySpace and The Sixty One
