Nothing to Lose

Ian Wills released his first commercial recording in 2004 when he collaborated with the legendary drummer and producer Trevor Morais and and as Hundred & 3 released on One Little Indian " HIV" which also featured the late Alvin Lee playing guitar riffs and Jean Roussel best known for his work with Cat Stevens, Bob Marley, Sting ( Police) & Vangelis on keyboards In late December 2004 Ian met with Brendon Taylor, Jesse Wood, Jason Knight and Martin Wright for the first time in a garage in Somerset, the meeting was the start of the spoken word collaborative that became known as Wills & The Willing, the concept was to take the poems, lyrics and words of Ian Wills and to bring them to life within the ploughed but uncultivated fields of music. The early seedlings grew in the spring of 2005 and by the June Wills & The willing embarked on series of live gigs in the UK and across the ocean showcasing their first album Kerbside before taking the Edinburgh festival by storm picking up the prestigious accolade of pick of the fringe. It was in the October of 2005 that Janice Long started to champion the band on Radio 2 when she started playing the highly acclaimed single "21st century Love song" by the summer of 2006 the band had enjoyed strong national radio and media support, playing festivals across the UK including the much loved and highly respected Guilfest. The highlight personally for Ian whilst on Wills & The willing second series of gigs in New York was having the great privilege to share a radio show with the legendary Les Paul who live on air said the lyrics to 21st Century Love Song were among his favorite in recent times, with such a ringing endorsement the inevitable happened Wills & The Willing 2004 -2006 was over. In 2007 Wills & The Willing now with new line up of Ian, Sean Genocky & Charlie Morton plus part time members The Adj & John Tills ex of Kubb released the first single Skin which featured Didier Drogba & Michael Essien and was used part of " Kick It Out" which the anti racist campaign in football, and subsequently in 2008 the single " Lipstick featuring the Mercury prize nominated Tom Macrae, In anticipation of the release of the second album Heroes & Villain's Wills & The willing featuring the new line up went back out on the road playing Guilfest and Isle of Wight music festivals, the Royal Albert Hall, live sessions on Radio 2 and as they were to embark on a full UK tour Ian's was hospitalized, the resulting recovery meant that Heroes & Villain's was never commercially released. Late September 2012 Sean, Charlie, Ian and new full time member John Hogg started the recording of the third Wills & The willing album at the legendary "Rockfiled studios" the album produced by Sean has been mixed by Rory Cushnan who not only wrote and performed on such tracks as Amazing & Patience with George Michael has become one of the UK's leading mixers and over the past three years has mixed albums for such artists as The Guliemots, Coldplay, Mumford & Sons pivotal debut album, KT Tunstal, Newton Faulkner, Seth Lakeman, The Maccabees and in between Wills & The Willing third album he mixed Mumford & Sons much anticipated second album. In 2014 after 10 years of teaching himself guitar Ian started recording his first true solo album with "The Adj" producing, Ian describes his sound as " London Country Fused with Urban Grit" the sound is clear, his songs continue to dig deep into the rich vein of the cinematic scope of the continual influences, sometimes brutal, sometimes apocalyptic and at all times personal lyrics that Ian is known for which now have the tears of his own music driven by guitar tunings that have even the best scratching their head coupled with a vocal sound that is unique, understated, never hiding his own unperfect pitched vulnerability that brings the stories to life. Wills & The Willing, Wills & Taylor or Just Wills ( with friends ) what ever the persona Ian Wills never fails to deliver .