'Amazing.Incredible.' City TV Breakfast show, Canada
'.within seconds of Dale hitting the stage the crowd was electrified. His acoustic guitar work was simply incredible.' Soo Today, Canada
'A fascinating blend of tap style playing and dexterous finger picking.Dale is a captivating performer that is making his mark' Paulette LaFortune, Sweet Spot Productions
His award winning guitar skills are contemporary and innovative. His songwriting and lyrics are intelligent, self-reflective and at times brutally honest. His music is best described as guitar-driven Folk/Roots grooving with elements of Funk and Soul. Either as a session musician in the studio or on stage, or as a solo performer with his Australian-made Maton or Cole Clark Acoustic Guitars and Ellis Stompbox, one thing is certain – Australian-born, Dale Willis works hard to deliver a livewire, heartfelt and memorable performance.
Dale first picked up a guitar at age 7, but music was always a predominant part of the Willis household from day one. His formative exposure to music was through observing and listening to his father’s country/rockabilly band rehearse and perform in rural Australia. By the age of 11, Dale’s father was shaking his head, claiming that there was nothing left for Dale to learn from him. By the age of 14, Dale was teaching his first students.
During his teenage years, Dale discovered the music of many fine musicians, playing folk, funk, rockabilly, blues, country, classical and anything that caught his ear. He was also beginning to mess around with his dad’s 4-track recorder and keyboard, programming, writing and recording ideas. But it wasn’t until a student introduced him to the music of Australian guitar legend Tommy Emmanuel that Dale really took flight as a guitarist to be reckoned with. Dale continued to explore his skills and songwriting through high school, developing a unique fingerstyle technique that combines percussive elements of slap bass notes with the thumb and rhythm and melody with the fingers. His first real paid gig was as lead electric guitarist in a country rock outfit called ‘Country Party’. He was the only one in the band not of legal age and other members consistently had to lie about how old he was to avoid getting Dale booted from the bar.
Fascinated with the ability to record and shape sound, Dale graduated from high school and moved to the city of Brisbane to study at SAE – the School of Audio Engineering. He cut his teeth on many artists and bands there continually learning and honing his skills as an engineer and producer. “I was just fascinated with the whole recording of sound deal. My dad was an artist, he owned an art gallery and I guess the whole concept of creating a picture with textures of sound and music really appealed and seemed familiar to me – music became my canvas and I wanted to work on both sides of the glass as a musician and producer.”
In the years following, Dale gained an Arts degree in Communications and Music Performance. During this time he co-wrote, performed and recorded an album with an Acoustic Rock outfit called ‘FraYed’, worked a 1-year internship as program producer and engineer at a radio station in London, and was commissioned by the university to design and co-build a 32-track digital recording facility. That studio, called 3T media was where Dale produced/engineered and session played guitar, bass and drums on at least 12 independent albums over a 3-year period. He was also working as a guitar instructor to over 50 students in schools and local music shops gaining a well-respected reputation as a performer, teacher and nice guy.
2004 was a great year for Dale. He won the Australian Fingerstyle Guitar Championships at the Frankston Guitar and Music Festival, performed in the US at the Walnut Valley Music Festival and released his first solo album - ‘Scatterfingers’, the title track of which took out ‘Best Instrumental Song’ in the USA Songwriting Competition and runner-up in the International Acoustic Music Awards in the same year receiving limited airplay on Australian and North American radio stations. ‘Scatterfingers’ would also win an Australian Dolphin Music Award in 2005. Around the same time Dale dove deeper into songwriting, penning lyrics of life and merging them with his recognized guitar ability to create songs. That coupled with his experience as a producer/engineer really ignited Dale’s creative mind.
Through a series of unforeseen events with US customs officials, Dale unexpectedly found himself taking refuge in Canada in late 2005, meeting key people who would be influential in the decision for Dale to sell all of his possessions and make the move to Canada mid 2006 to pursue a full time music career as a performing and recording artist.
To date, Dale has played countless shows and festivals in Canada, including the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, North Bay Heritage Festival, the Toronto International Beer Festival as well as numerous Molson Intimate Session tours across Ontario. In the U.S, he’s performed at the Walnut Valley Festival and volunteered his time and talent in several benefit concerts for Easter Seals and Hurricane Katrina relief. More recently he is endorsing Cole Clark Guitars and Ellis Stompboxes of Australia doing various clinics and demos for these companies in Canada. He has also performed in New Zealand, as well as his native Australia at the Illawarra, Woodford and Yackandandah Folk Festivals. He has worked with, jammed and shared the stage with the likes of Our Lady Peace, Dala, Pat Robitaille, Wild T and the Spirit, Big Dave McLean, Jason Webley (Seattle), Sheena Grobb, Johnny Williams, Tommy Emmanuel, Richard Clapton, Ross Wilson (Daddy Cool), Gina Jeffries, Rod McCormack, Eric Bogle, The Audreys, Anita George, The Little Stevies, Jessica Paige and Kamahl, as well as various live Radio and TV appearances on City TV, Shaw Cable TV, University of Manitoba Radio in Canada, and in Australia on ABC Radio and Homebrew Radio.
With a second album due for release in mid-2007, Dale continues to build a following and develop his music through constant touring, performing and songwriting. His reputation as an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and songwriter is securing him a place as one of Australia’s up and coming talents. He is presently garnering and seeking agency, label and management interests both within Australia and North America.
For more detailed information as well as video and audio samples, please visit www.dalewillis.com
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