Gary Willis...

[TNJ]

...has a new CD out.
Check abstractlogix.com

I've been a fan of his for a long while. Uncle Moe's Space Ranch, and of course Tribal Tech. This guy has Jaco like chops and dexterity with his right hand that boggles my mind. Also, very unique and a great composer.
In a word or two...the total package.

S.
j

[Lucidology]

Gary's one of the best..no doubt!

[diego]

Thanks for the heads up! I love his other disks.

http://www.garywillis.com/pages/audio/audio.htm

[jzucker]

which cd did you get? I bought the slaugherhouse 3 cd but then saw he had another one out too.

[kingsleyd]

GW's first couple of solo CDs were released on my brother's label, Alchemy Records. The first one is one of my favorite CDs ever.

Jaz, one night when Tribal Tech played in Cleveland, mebbe 1997?, I spent a few hours before the show driving Willis and Covington around town. We stopped into Borders in Westlake because I wanted to introduce them to the manager of the music dept who was a huge fan. The visit was a complete spur-of-the-moment thing; he didn't know we were coming. We walked in and what was playing on the PA system in the music section was Allan Holdsworth's None Too Soon -- on which Willis and Covington had played. Not only was my manager friend blown away by the surprise, W&C were as well.

More Willis... a couple of times I worked for Klein Electric Guitars at NAMM, we were across the aisle from Eden Amps. So I got to listen to GW give demos for three days. That was fun. :D

[jzucker]

Jaz, one night when Tribal Tech played in Cleveland, mebbe 1997?, I spent a few hours before the show driving Willis and Covington around town. We stopped into Borders in Westlake because I wanted to introduce them to the manager of the music dept who was a huge fan.

That's pretty cool. Ironically, Bruce Dunlap and Gary were doing gigs at borders before Gary moved to Spain...

[clothwiring]

Why did he move to Spain?

[jzucker]

Why did he move to Spain?

He seemed to be unhappy with the music scene in the US.

[clothwiring]

Do you blame him? :)

[jzucker]

Do you blame him? :)

not at all.

[TNJ]

which cd did you get? I bought the slaugherhouse 3 cd but then saw he had another one out too.

The new one is called "Actual Fiction" and is available at abstractlogix.com

S.
j

[jzucker]

The new one is called "Actual Fiction" and is available at abstractlogix.com

S.
j

You can buy the mp3 downloads directly from www.garywillis.com.

It's a fantastic CD. I like it better than the slaughterhouse3 cd which I also bought from his site.

[Kalalau Hiker]

KILLER player - saw him sev times w Scott Henderson

WHAT a pocket that guy creates!

[Lance]

not at all.

This seems to be quite the trend. All of the great technical players that pretty much refuse to play Brittany crap have had to move to Europe and Japan. I heard that when you perform in Europe you are paid union scale, which is adequate, and surpassing much of what you would make in the States. This is why Scott Henderson never tours the US any more. With what clubs pay bands, the math just ain't there. Which REALLY blows for me. I am a guitar player, and have been for a very long time. I just recently bought an Ibanez 5- string Soundgear, not a fretless like the GW model, and am really digging funkin around on this thing! My most recent band has a very flighty bass player that's been driving me nuts. He's almost never in the pocket, and frequently spends (and I've counted!) upwards of 30 + measures before bringing the low end back around....all while I or the keyboard player are trying to play a solo. I HAVE never even seen another band with a bass player that does, or plays like this for THAT long of periods. Yeah, 2-3 measures, is not a problem, in fact it's encouraged. But it is driving me nuts. Which is yet another reason I am leaving this band at the end of the summer. Is this type of thing acceptable in your bands, or would you have been given the boot long ago? Sorry to rant off topic there, but I simply must ask some other bass players. Let's see Gary Willis, I haven't heard much of his non Tribal Tech stuff, so I really can't comment on that, but the TT stuff is almost unbelieveable at times. All fretless, all the time too!

[Felipe]

I'm a big big TT fan, and very big Scott H. fan.

IMHO, however, the best TT song is this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjPxNb6Rcq8

It's not only a Willis tune, it also happen to NOT feature a guitar solo.
Anyway, the tune is awesome, and as much I like SH, his comping and melody playing here are good enough to me.
Willis is a monster player (my favorite bass player ever) and an amazing composer!

[Kalalau Hiker]

I just had to share this.
I’m a guitarist and don’t venture into the bass land here much – but hit the wrong key and this thread was OPEN – very weird, cool , and NOT a coincidence! I am DEF looking into Gary on abstract logix- my fav lurking site.

I LOVE the T Tech guys (although some of their older stuff is a little too intellectual for me – I liked it better when Scott got to his “post getting into SRV” phase – more ballsy ) I’m an old 60’s Zappa lover. So I LOVE the humor Scott does between songs.
Also – Kingsleyd – I’ love to meet you … great hearing your stories! so …Covington – he’s NUTS right .. I mean that in the BEST of ways. He is a TOTAL badass – he could blow Buddy Miles and other pocket thumpers OFF the stage – Man is he powerful .. those arms are like tree trunks! AND he’s got highest end of fusion chops! Damn!

Anyway – I was at a gig at the OLD Grape Street Pub in Manayunk here in Philly about 6 years ago. T Tech – opened by Greg Davis and Crosstown Traffic – great local fusion group. Greg also had to move to Japan to make a living.

So – the club is SO small that the stage only fit Covington. Scott is standing on the floor, playing about 2 feet from me and my buddy Ron. It’s ALL guys and EVERY guitar player in the tri state region is in the room (according to Ron, who is a producer/guitar GOD and knows every one)

Standing RIGHT next to Scott ,,, is Greg Howe , the former metal shred guy that is now a Shraphnel post metal/Holdsworth influenced fusion player. His eyes are GLUED to Scott’s fingerings.. He is STEALIN everything he can to his quite massive memory! LOL!

Meanwhile .. the ONLY woman in the house… is Greg’s girlfriend.. standing next to him to his right, everyone else in the houses left . She looks like Pam Anderson, is built like a BRICK house, and is wearin a .. Fredericks of Hollywood kind of leather Warrior Woman Barbarella outfit that covers ALMOST nothing! LOL!

ALL the guys in the house are, en masse, STARING at her breasts. So .. EVERY time Greg looks up from his INTENSE staring at Scott’s fingers… the collective heads of EVERY GUY in the house move , ALL at ONCE… SUPER FAST..from looking at her breasts .. to looking at Scott’s fingers!! About a 6 inch jerk motion! ONE group head motion by 50 guys!

Me and Ron (AND Greg Davis) are seeing this, and LAUGHING our asses off!
Greg Howe is TOTALLY in the dark.. as all heads jerk to the right as soon as he moves his head! (we , of course were .. OK .. MOSTLY looking at Scott ) http://www.thegearpage.net/board/images/icons/icon12.gif

A TOTAL Spinal tap moment if I EVER saw one! LMAO!!

I recently saw Greg after years in Japan… and reminded him .. he started laughing his ass off ! One of his funniest in career moments.


That was a great moment in Zappaesque guitar history! Right up there with Robert Planet and his dildo shaped car (200 motels) !

[Pa'ani]

Thanks for the heads up!
Gary Willis is a monster player...

[jzucker]

just wanted to mention that I didn't like slaughterhouse 3 at first but after a few listens it's grown on me and I find myself listening to it quite a bit.

[scottl]

Where was I??? LOL

I missed that show! :Spank

It’s ALL guys and EVERY guitar player in the tri state region is in the room (according to Ron, who is a producer/guitar GOD and knows every one)

[Lance]

That is a very funny story, btw. I have seen similar things happen at a Hellecasters show. Oh, and once I went to see Joe Satriani on Halloween 99 (I think), and myself and two buds had great 2nd row seats. We decided to try Satch out on acid, and see where that would take us. So we hit the beer line, and got two each, were just starting to get, "There," sitting in our great seats with two beers each. What could be better, right? Then these two pretty hot, and quite young ladies came up, and sat right in front of us. A few minutes later they started taking their tops off! But they had the good stuff covered in body paint. You could still see the good stuff, and it was a great experience to have so many things working for your show enjoyment. Oh, and Joe played a pretty great show too!
:drool

[jzucker]

wow...Leave it to TGP to turn a thread on Gary Willis onto one on topless women...

[Pa'ani]

Gary Willis is such a amazing player and composer.