Electric guitarist Eddie Willis has proved that a rock artist from the Pacific Northwest can impact Austin's southern Blues scene in a big way. Willis along with his band mates from Wideawake moved to Austin in the spring of 2002 two months after releasing their debut CD in Seattle. The affable note bender has twice (2004, '05) been selected as the city's top electric guitar player by the SXSW Austin Music Awards. His peers included Eric Johnson, the fabulous Henry Garza of 
Los Lonely Boys and acoustic guru Monty Montgomery who received the honor for 2006.
When Willis sat down to speak with me the rockers were preparing for a full blown summer tour of America and had just announced the I Tunes release of "Maybe Tonight Maybe Tomorrow". Proceeds from downloading the single are being donated to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Wideawake's songwriter and lead vocalist Scott Leger was inspired to write the song when, "Back in '04 he found out one of our friends had been diagnosed with cancer," says Willis. "From the moment of diagnosis the Lance Armstrong Foundation provides the practical information and tools people with cancer need to live life on their own terms," says the LAF website.
The band has made like a bandit in nabbing eight Austin Music Awards in recent years including Leger's selection as top male vocalist and songwriter. On July 19th Wideawake headed out on a cross country tour that they hope will transition them from being a popular regional band into one with some national clout.
Even before Wideawake really hit their stride their music was well received on the cinematic scene. "Hey John" a track from the Bigger Than Ourselves CD was selected for the movie The Ring nudging aside a submission from the rock band Smashing Pumpkins. The producers of Dawson's Creek selected the title track "Bigger Than Ourselves" for the 100th episode of the television series. Another Wideawake tune "So Simple" found its way to a made for television movie.
"Everyday Rockstar" a popular Wideawake tune pokes fun at the struggles of an imaginary rock band's career but in a lot of ways reflects Wideawake's own journey. The group originally formed in Seattle and was known as Threads. Willis explains the band's move to Austin, "It was actually a pretty practical choice (coming to Austin). We do a lot of touring and it just never seemed practical to tour from Seattle. You would have to drive four to six hours just to get to another piece of civilization or another major city. It was three hours to Vancouver (Canada), three or four hours to Portland and a six hour drive to Spokane. It just wasn't very cost effective. Our (former) manager lived in Austin. He encouraged us to move here so we could be more centrally located. Within a two hour radius (of Austin) you can play all month long without ever leaving this area. Some of the major cities in the US are right here, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. Not to mention this is just a music town. There is an overall love for the arts."
Leger's vocals for the song "Mariposa", "It's hard to say goodbye to the memory of the way it used to be," seem almost reflective as shortly after the five rockers moved to Austin the bass player and drummer left the band and returned to Seattle. The band could easily have folded their tent and dispersed but the remaining members Leger, Willis and rhythm guitarist Nate Navarro hung in there. In 2003 they picked up the Incubator Award from the Austin Music Foundation. The financial and people resources that accompanied the award provided stability for the group.
The Incubator Award is what Willis refers to as an eighteen month boot camp for emerging musicians. Wideawake had entered a battle of the bands competition and were selected for the award based on their performance. Willis refers to the Music Foundation as "the mother hen taking you under her wing and helping you grow up." He goes on to explain some of the ways Wideawake benefited from the experience. "They help you with the marketing side so you can take that creative side of what you do and get it out to more people."
Willis still extolling the merits of the Austin Music Foundation says, "We were at a weak time when our bass player and drummer left. We were trying to decide whether we were going to be a band. We had new songs that we were writing and we demoed. They helped nurse us along. We had already made two records before that. They were full length records that we sold thousands of copies of. We were in a place where we knew how to do that. Now we were in a weak state. They nurtured us back to health. When we began our term at the Foundation all we had were a few demo songs but by the end of our term we finally had a couple of new members that we believed in. The band was healthy again."
Those new members turned out to be bassist Chris Heerlein and drummer Matt Fletcher. Of the new additions Willis says, "We picked up a couple of guys that added some muscle to the band. We feel the band started all over again here in Austin." With the new birth of the band came a new name, Wideawake.
Despite the accolades heaped upon Wideawake and upon Willis he remains modest. He also continues to strive to bend better licks from his Fender Telecaster. "I am still a music lover. When I listen to music I listen to guitars and how guitars make a song better. What they do and how they are doing it. I still get off on that. I still love listening to that. All that helps you grow."
