interview with White Widdow
How was the band formed? I'd always wanted to put together a Melodic Rock/AOR band, but never found the right people, then I met Enzo (Guitars) and that's when White Widdow started, we brought in my brother on keyboards and some friends on Bass and Drums and we began writing songs and playing live in Australia.
Can you tell about your band? We are a melodic Rock/ AOR band that makes music in teh style of the 80's classics such as Night Ranger, Survivor, White Sister and Giuffria! We keep it old school without modern styles!
Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band? All the band members are from Melbourne, Australia. Jules Millis - Lead Vocals Xavier Millis - Keyboards & Vocals Enzo Almanzi - Guitars Ben Webster - Bass Noel Tenny - Drums
What was the ambitions of the band when you started? When we started, we just simply wanted to play the type of music we loved, it didn't matter about a record deal or anything else. Just the love of playing Melodic Rock and AOR!
Could you explain your music to someone that haven't heard you? A throwback to 1980's keyboard driven arena rock!
Where was your first gig? In our home town of St.Kilda in Melbourne, Australia, at the infamous live music venue "The Espy", we were the opening band for 4 other bands.
Where was the latest gig? We recently played the album launch for our new album at teh same venue we played our very first show, but this time we headlined the event! :)
Who writes your songs?/Who writes the music who writes lyrics? The songs are mostly written by Xavier (Keyboards), Enzo (Guitars) and Myself (Jules - Vocals) Then the lyrics are mostly written by myself with some help from Xavier.
Who has the best since of humor in the band? We all have a good sense of humor I think, but Ben & Xav would make us laugh the most, that's for sure!
What's good/bad with the band?/What genre do you feel you are? I think we walk the line between Melodic Hard Rock and AOR, some songs are more AOR and some songs are more Hard Rock. The good things are writing songs, playing live and seeing people appreciate the music we make. The bad things are loosing friends that you started the journey with (Our drummer Georg Kristy passed away in 2013) and being in Australia is difficult because we are so far from the European festivals.
Why did you pick that particular style?/What are your songs about? It's my favourite type of music, that's why I picked it, purely a selfish reason. Our songs are about love lost, love found, betrayal, longing for love etc etc.
Do you write your own material or mainly covers? We write 99% of our own songs, we like to play the occasional cover for fun .
Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they? We have three albums; White Widdow (2010), Serenade (2011) and our new album Crossfire (2014).
Do you have any clips on YouTube?
We have two video clips on you tube Broken Hearts Won't Last Forever (From "White Widdow" - 2010)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gx-1YfrJZmM
Reckless Nights (From Serenade - 2011)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_CK6tmPJHM Caught In The Crossfire Lyric Video (From "Crossfire" - 2014)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL2kfF5a0Fw
And we are filming a new video that will be out in February 2015.
What year was the band started? White Widdow began in 2008, we released our demo EP in 2009.
Best/worst gig you've played? Best gig we've ever played would be Firefest in the UK in 2011, the worst would be a open air gig we played in country Australia that nobody showed up to, so we played to an empty field!
What places will you be playing in in the imidate future? We will play some hometown shows in Melbourne , Australia before we head to the UK for a tour in March 2015.
Where have you played from then till now? We have toured through Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Greece, United Kingdom and our home country of Australia.
Witch band is the best you´ve seen? Night Ranger are the best live band/sound performance I have ever seen. We cant wait to open for them in the UK in 2015!
Is it always the same songs live? No we do change a few of the songs around for sure!
Have you had any bigger tours from start to now? We toured with British AOR band TEN throughout the UK in 2012 and we played Firefest and Heat Festival in 2011, we are looking forward to playing Hard Rock Hell AOR in March 2015 in the UK.
How big crowds do you usually play for? Anywhere from 100 people in a club to 3000 people at a rock festival.
Where do you usually play? Clubs , Bars, Pubs and Festivals. It all depends on what country we are playing in.
How do you get psyched up for a gig? The best feeling in the world is playing our music to the people that come to our shows, so it's easy to psych up knowing that!
What are your goals with your music? Just to make the best music in this style that we can, keeping true to the style of the 80's era.
When did you decide to go all in for the music? Once we got our record deal with AOR Heaven, we were all in fomr there!
Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? Our inspiration is only from the older bands, while there are a few new bands that also play the style we love, our inspiration comes from the classics.
What are your sources of inspiration? We draw from our own experiences and the sounds that we have loved through the years of listening to great classic aor music.
What's the first step when making a new song? Usually a vocal idea or a chord progression, that's teh best way we find the path to a new song.
How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums? I think it takes away for the idea of making an "Album", if we get to a point where everyone downloads, why bother making a whole album. Just make a song or two when you can. An album takes a huge effort to make, so it should be appreciated as a moment in time fro that band, not just a song here or a song there, like Itunes would want you to do.
What would be your dreams for the band? To be able to continue to make the music we love and financially sustain touring through the countries that enjoy the music we play.
Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to? I listen to a lot of the same style we play, melodic rock/AOR plus Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, Hard Rock and a lot of 80's pop music.
Have you been part of any other projects? I also sing in the UK Glam band from the 80's Tigertailz, I replaced their original singer in 2012.
How important are your fans? We are fans just like them, so we know that without them, there is no music scene, no touring, no albums, no t-shirts. They make it all happen!
What's the funniest/most memorable thing a fan has done for you? Tattooed my autograph to their wrist!
How often do you rehearse? We rehearse for a few weeks leading up to a show or a tour.
Name 2 of your own songs you like at the moment? From the new album they would be "Just Another Night" and "Below The Belt".
What drives a band that isn't all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing? The love of the music that you play and teh enjoyment you see in the people that do follow the music you make.
Do you have any webpages? www.whitewiddow.com.au
Any pearls of wisdom for all other bands out there? Be Tenacious.
Do you have anything to add? Thank you for the interview, thanks to all our fans that continue to support White Widdow in any way! We truly appreciate it!
Bra intervju :)
Sv: Tack!