Will Lawton and the Alchemists
Ever since the recording and release of 'Fossils of the Mind' the band has been growing. What started out as 'Will & Weasel' has recently undergone a name change to 'Will Lawton and the Alchemists' to accommodate the ever growing cacophony of musicians. Hence, we needed a new name to accommodate the fluid line-up. Since much of the music is born from songs that I have written on the piano, I rely on others to sprinkle their magic on the music and it seemed apt that we call this band of magicians, the Alchemists. Let me introduce them.
Weasel Howlett (drums) Weasel needs no introduction. We started playing together in 2015 when I was first looking for a drummer to work with . We hit it off instantly when we jammed 'Abraham's Theme' - the first time we ever jammed together can be seen HERE. We went on to write, record and release our debut album 'Fossils of the Mind' and have never looked back.
Buddy Fonzarelli (upright bass) Buddy first played with us on our album launch night at the Pound Arts Centre in Corsham in January 2018. There was bass on the album 'Fossils of the Mind' and Weasel and I realised that to perform the album live we need a bass player. Strangely Buddy and Weasel's lives had crossed over many years ago and when they realised that they had both relocated to the same town, they got in touch. Buddy plays upright bass and has become a permanent band member, writing, recording and performing at all our gigs now.
Ami Kaelyn (guitar and vocals) We all knew Ami before she started playing music with us. She is an outstanding singer-songwriter in her own right and has recently started to write, record and perform with us. She brings an ethereal sound to the music with ghost-like vocals and atmospheric guitar. Ami will be featuring on a lot of our new, soon-to-be-released music and is also starting to appear at our live shows.
Harki Popli (tabla) We first met Harki when we were looking for a tabla player to session for us on Dharma on 'Fossils of the Mind'. We all love the sound of the tabla and blends in beautifully with several of our tracks. Whilst it is not practical to have Harki along for all our gigs, we save him for special occasions. He has recorded on several tracks now and when the gig warrants the full five-piece line-up then it is always a pleasure to invite Harki along to grce us with his sound and presence.
A couple of weeks ago, Helena Hawkins visited our rehearsal studio to interview me, Weasel and Buddy to talk about where we currently are with our music. The video can be seen below....