back in SF. wow. the U.S. tour went awesome. a bunch of sold out shows, i met so many amazing people, and we drove something like 10,000 miles without any hitch. simply amazing. so many stories to tell and highlights.. montreal and san francisco were maybe my favorite shows; the energy and the ease of performing was sublime. the church in philly, all the cool people in asheville, the MFA in boston, the planetarium.. so many great memories. really excited that the turnout at the shows was so great. there is hope for new forms of music in america. many conscious people out there. thank you so much for listening and just being.
if you have any pics from the shows or videos, or blog posts, please share and i’ll point people to it. love seeing raw documentation..
Next up is finishing new music and videos, a recording session at SnowGhost Studio in Montana, then Japan, China, and Thailand, then a couple dates in Europe this summer.
Here is a video someone sent me.. posted by cmoncomeon on youtube. this is a quick clip from the show in Philly.
MONTREAL, BOSTON, PHILLY, DC, ASHEVILLE - TOUR UPDATE
last tour update here.. thought i would have a few more of these but time is tight and wifi not everywhere. on the way to austin now for my last show of the tour. the shows have been truly amazing. + smooth tour van sailing the whole way.
Montreal was one of my favorites. I can’t wait to get back there again. we played at a masonic lodge. super intense. met a ton of cool people in Ashville a couple nights ago. met luke and his crew that drove up from jacksonville for the show (!).
the church we played in Philly was beautiful and held the sound so well. great show there. Boston was also great.,. they have all been great really..,
it’s all about bringing people together. more soon..
MIDWEST, PITTSBURGH, CHICAGO, LONDON, ON. - TOUR UPDATE
We’re now more than half way through the tour.. going so great. The tour time blur has begun, and time/space is dissolving. We’ve been driving about 9 hours a day and getting to the shows just in time for soundcheck (wait, where are we?). Adam (stars of the lid) is a driving champion. I have no clue how he can drive this much. Minneapolis was sold out and felt amazing. Really great diverse crowd there. Recently played a few cities that i have not even been in; Champaign, Grinnell, Louisville, and it was really great to connect with everyone at these shows. The planetarium in Champaign was definitely a trip. Pittsburgh at the Warhol Museum rocked, thanks for all the support there everyone. The Warhol is sweet. Chicago was another sold out show, and felt solid. Great people. London Ontario last night was awesome. I met so many cool people here ! Headed to Toronto in a few mins.
I’m improvising different stuff each night, so it’s really cool to feel how each city / the energy of the crowd influences my decisions to play different notes, mix things differently, play a different pattern etc. It’s not a conscious process, all in the moment of playing, and i’m always surprised. I love this.
portland was sweet as always. love that city and the venue holocene. + some of my best friends live there, and my cousin blentz even made it out to the show! big props to scott at holocene for creating this space for everyone.
seattle was a awesome. we played the triple door which is this beautiful sit down dinner theatre. got some awesome feedback from the ppl there. thanks to everyone who has been reaching out after my set.. because of you, i feel like i’m always rediscovering the importance of bringing people together through music. there is so much communication, shared experience, celebration.. really loving this.
here are some pics from jessica (paperbirds) who generously sent these to me after the seattle show.
GHOSTLY REISSUES BREATHE (IN SEVEN SECTIONS) - - FREE DOWNLOAD
Ghostly International just reissued my 2004 piece “Breathe (in seven sections)” from SMM vol2. as a limited time free download. Previously this music was only available on vinyl.
This is s unique EP that bridged “Seven Machines for Summer” on EADGBE (12k) and “Surf Boundaries” (Ghostly). It’s fun to look back on this work and see how it has shaped what i’m up to today. There are some very timeless things i feel in this music.. shapes and sounds that i’ll be working on and with for the rest of my life. There is a lot more new music on the way that i’m super excited to share in the near future. !!
(Excerpt) “…Recently Sakamoto recruited San Francisco Bay Area guitarist and producer Christopher Willits to record Ocean Fire (12k, 2008), a many-layered sonic canvas of improvised ambience based on a 4-hour session that took place at Sakamoto’s New York studio in early 2007. “I always have lots of audio files in my [Apple MacBook] laptop for writing,” Sakamoto says. “Some are field recordings — like noises from the street — some are from synthesizers, and some are acoustic or electric piano sounds. I just picked up some of these, and Christopher and I started playing.”
Willits… relied on Ableton Live 6 as a host for his custom-made Max/MSP plug-ins. Using a MIDI foot controller, he manipulated multiple electric guitar loops and created what amounts to an orchestra of processed sound. Eventually he edited and mixed the results of the Ocean Fire session in Digidesign Pro Tools, maintaining a light touch when it came to EQ and additional processing. “This whole project was really a trip,” Willits raves. “When we first got together, I was just floating along with the prerecorded, processed piano sounds that Sakamoto was tweaking live, and before we knew it, both of our eyes were closed and we were diving deep into this whole soundscape. Sometimes things would happen and we’d look at each other like, ‘Was that you or was that me?’ That’s when you feel everything totally merging.”
XLR8R TV - What You Talkin’ Bout Willits ? - Episode 3
The 3rd video in the series i’m doing with XLR8R is now up.. In this one i talk about using a MIDI pickup on your guitar to trigger bass tones in Operator, and i map a sample of wind to the fretboard using an Ableton Live Drum Rack. Fun stuff.
They have a great lineup this year, really excited to play.
about Yuri’s Night :
“Yuri’s Night is a celebration of space exploration—and mankind’s curiosity, scientific ingenuity, technical achievements, and spirit of collaboration that have made it all possible. This year, NASA’s 50th anniversary, the Bay Area will be home to the largest Yuri’s Night celebration ever, with 8,000 people joining astronauts, artists, scientists, engineers, and musicians to pay tribute to our global space heritage and to celebrate how much more is out there to be discovered!”
CHRISTOPHER WILLITS + STARS OF THE LID TOUR U.S. APRIL-MAY 08
SPRING 2008 TOUR PRESS RELEASE
Rarely is there a U.S. tour of this breath, musical depth and magnitude. Stars of the Lid (SOTL), and Christopher Willits, two american leaders of beautiful and innovative music pack up the bus and hit 19 dates throughout the United States and Canada. This tour, hitting an unprecedented range of venues from the Independent in San Francisco, to Masonic Temple in Montreal, to The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, will be a sure shot mind melter. Christopher Willits will be performing new solo guitar work alongside videos he has created from his photography. SOTL will be accompanied by a string trio for the entire tour and Luke Savisky will project layered 16mm films.
Christopher Willits has been instrumental in redefining the guitar in the digital age. Using custom-built software, Willits morphs his guitar playing into warm folded rhythms of texture and melody. Named “the center cell of a complex indie rock-avant-garde-electronic art Venn diagram in the Bay Area” (San Francisco Bay Guardian), and “The Picasso of Sound” (Tokafi Magazine), Willits defies genre distinctions while still defining a sound of his own. His guitar lines fold and weave into each other creating complex patterns of interlocking rhythm, melody, and texture.
Stars of the Lid is a duo specializing in drone-based ambient music. Their songs are largely beatless soundscapes, composed of droning, effects-treated guitars along with piano, strings, and horns; volume swells and feedback fill the gap of rhythmic instruments, providing dynamic movement within the songs. Their sound has been described as “divine, classical drone without the tedious intrusion of drums or vocals”.
My new collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto, “Ocean Fire” is released in the U.S. and the rest of the world today, Feb 12th. We’re so happy to share it with everyone.
It’s a great honor to work with Sakamoto, an artist and friend that i have massive respect for. This music seemed to emerge from a dream-like state. It is unlike anything either one of us has released before. Very intense compositions bluring between noise and music, tonality and dissonance, piano and guitar.
This release is close to our hearts on many levels, and It is dedicated to healing the earth’s oceans. We have no other choice but to change the way we live in order to sustain our planets ecosystems, and our own survival on this planet. This is a positive intention that we share with so many. We can change.
One of the main problems is that many of are not even conscious about what is going on underwater. Please take some time to read this.. it’s an amazing piece by Julia Whitty.
fine press people,
thanks for sending these to me and for listening with such open minds. feb 12th release date. we’ll put this CD in my shop as well. getting ready for NY shows now..
This is the first episode that XLR8R is producing on how I make music with guitars and computers. I had a blast shooting this with Kerry and Andrew. I’m super happy to share this info with everyone. It was the first time I’ve ever talked to a camera like this, and I now fully realize the respect I have for Bob Ross and Julia Child. I have it down now.. bring on the cooking show.
