An Interview with Willie J Healey

Meet Willie J Healey, a new 21 year old solo artist putting his own spin on hazy surf-rock. He's recently been signed and has two EP's out so far, one of which he supposedly recorded in his garage at home.

Photo credit to Itunes

I went down to The Sunflower Lounge last night to watch Willie support Beach Baby in Birmingham and having seen him play live once before, I knew that I was in for a good show. His highly enjoyable and tight performance consisted of all round chilled vibes including the upbeat and high energy 'Dude Like Him', producing a feel-good atmosphere alongside his clear enthusiasm and cheeriness throughout. His easy-going tone continued with the much welcomed and more laid back 'Subterraneans', channelling Mac Demarco and The Beach Boys vibes throughout the room. I would definitely say he's one to watch and I'm expecting big things from him  in the near future.

I caught up with the man himself when he came offstage after his performance to ask him a few questions, have a read below on what he had to say.

First of all well done, I really enjoyed your set. The crowd seemed to like it too, how does it feel having people reacting like that to your shows?

Thank you! It was really fun. But it's nice; it's kinda weird to see people singing a long because I don't really have that much of a fanbase at the moment so it's kind of rare but when people do, it does make me smile.

I noticed that you mentioned on stage that this was your second time in Birmingham, how do you like it here?

Yeah it seems pretty cool. It's nice being able to go to all of these places but I never get to spend much time anywhere though, so all these cities seem the same in a way cos you're just in and out. So I have been to Birmingham but I haven't been to Birmingham, I've only been to The Sunflower Lounge - twice. I like this place though, It's so loud in there, you guys need ear plugs too I think.

I first found out about you after seeing you support The Magic Gang at 100 Club in London. How was that show for you?

It was really cool! It was our first show with them as I didn't really know much about them before but it was really nice. But 100 Club is pretty legendary, isn't it? All of the big dogs have played there so it felt nice to be there. The crowd was really cool too. It's nice to play to younger audiences 'cos they seem to move and dance around a lot more.

How has 2016 been so far for you musically?

Pretty cool so far. I've just been recording a lot and gigging; not too many gigs yet though, but I think we're gonna have a few more tours coming up soon. I signed a deal just before Christmas and that was wicked so I guess it's business time now, well kinda.

Have you come across any obstacles yet?

I'm kinda lucky cos I used to work for my dad and I think the biggest obstacle for people starting out is making money. But no not really, I guess the whole getting signed thing usually results in a lot of outside opinions so that can be an obstacle; like when someone says "Go and write a three minute song instead of a four minute one" but no-ones really said anything to me like that. I guess the only obstacle would be not gigging but that's not really an obstacle, is it? That can be achieved.

I think it's quite rare to see many solo artists these days as a pose to groups of people in bands, do you have any words of wisdom for other aspiring solo artists out there?

I guess to try and write a load of songs; you can't make all of your songs excellent but I just try and  make as many as I can whenever I can and try and record it all. Also try and be in as many projects as you can and I think just enjoy it too, really; cos if you're just aiming for Wembley then you're not gonna enjoy anything so just enjoy it as it comes.

So if you could start a band project alongside your solo stuff, who would you choose to be in it with you?

Well I really like the band I play live with now so this is hard but if it was a super-group then I'd have Willie Nelson upfront with me so there'd be two Willies. On bass I'd have my bassist that I have now - Alex Train cos I'm quite lucky with him, he has the sweetest bass too have you seen it? It's like a tear drop; I think that's been the highlight of the set for most people.

I quite like the music video for Subterraneans, did you set out aiming to approach the meaning of the song with it or was it just a bit random? (click here to watch)

It was all a bit rushed to be honest with you, not to make it sound shitty or anything. I just had to come up with something quite quickly and my industry folks told me that I needed to make one so I just went straight into it. I did it twice actually cos the first one was really really really boring, even more boring than the one I have now. But I thought that I'd at least need to try and have fun with it so I brought the cake into it. It seems like so long ago now though like I'm not really that into it myself anymore but I'm glad you like it, there's some funny moments in there.

My photo of Willie J Healey and his band 

Have you found a common theme so far when writing music?

Not really no, I guess I watch a lot of films so they influence me. I live in a town that's lovely and all but it's a bit dead. So really I just use films and my imagination and just try not to get too cheesy; that's my regular thought like - is this sounding too cheesy? but hopefully they don't.

I read an article about you where you'd written a massive apology letter to your neighbor about the chaos you caused involving his fish, wife's clothes and your limosine. What was that all about? (you can read what I'm talking about here)

Ah yeah, that was all made up. Cos you know how with most bands it's like "This is Willie J Healey from Oxford, he's 21 years old and he's been playing guitar since he was fourteen" So I just tried to do something a little different and more interesting. I just think who really cares about that stuff? When I first find out about a new artist I don't immediately think "I wanna go and read their bio" so yeah I just tried to be different and a bit more light-hearted. I know it's not extremely different but it was fun anyway.

Of course there's been the sad news about Prince, did that effect you in any way? Was he an influence to you?

In all honesty, not really. It's of course a shame though when someone as influential as himself dies and I totally get how good he was so I got it when everyone in the van was sad. But I haven't really had my Prince phase yet. Cos you know how there's a few obvious bands like The Smiths, Prince and a bunch of others who I'm sure at some point I will be into but at the moment I'm not. It was a real shame though like we played a gig on the same day and it felt a bit wrong.

So who would you say was your biggest musical influence?

Probably Neil Young. He's a bit of a 70's rocker but I really like the the way he deals with everything and his mindset. My friends and family are obviously influences too. And films as I said; I love old films and sci-fi ones a bit. Mostly just American films.

And Finally, you said earlier that you'd be doing more shows so is there any chance of you coming back here soon?

We haven't got anything booked yet but it's on the circuit so we'll definitely be back cos I'd like to but I'm just not sure when yet. Hopefully soon.


You can listen to Willie J Healey on Spotify here
Or check his music out on iTunes here

Written by Rosie Mulhern