William Crighton has hit the ground running in 2017, with an array of live performances (Skyfields Tasmania, Blue Mountains Folk Festival, WOMADelaide and Riverboats Echuca).
This month he will be touring the east coast with his latest release, 'Hope Recovery'. William has nothing but adoration for music festivals and says it's been one of the most welcoming environments for his music to flourish.
“All the music festivals that we performed at this year have pretty much been our first because this is the first album.
“I've only really been touring in that kind of way for about 18 months so it's all very new,” he says.
“[The festivals have] all been awesome and I know it's probably a cop out but they really all have been... it seems like Australia has it right as far as the music events go.”
William says he really enjoys the festivals, not only because he's able to showcase his own music, but also experience diverse music genres all in the one spot.
“We ended up watching a Mongolian speed-metal band that was after our set and wandered around the WOMAD festival to see what we could come across... we did that the whole time we were there,” William says.
“I feel like The Gumball Music Festival at Dashville [NSW] is a really special place as well because it's where we first played as a band,” William says.
“[The festivals have] all been amazing and equally as good as far as our experience goes, but WOMAD was probably one of the biggest highs I've ever experienced.”
Playing alongside some great names like The Temptations, Paul Kelly, Neil Finn and The Beach Boys, it's no wonder one of his live performances was described by The Australian's Iain Shedden as a 'once in a lifetime gig that surpasses all expectations, slapping you in the face with its grace, majestic singing, quality material... stirring the heard and soul'.
William's latest release, 'Hope Recovery' starts with the opening track 'Love Is Hard To Find'. It begins with quiet drumming before slowly moving into more upbeat sounds with a hint of Australian flavour with quirky guitar sounds.
The first line is: 'Good morning, there's more here than meets the eye, deceivers, believers, I've been talking to God', that's sung in a deep but gentle, soothing tone that invites you to listen to the message William's trying to deliver.
“I suppose it's just a song in that in a sense it's just like any other song and the meaning attached to it, you can look at it from different angles I suppose,” William says.
“What I get from it is probably different from what the next person might get from it, but at the same time the intention behind the song is definitely to put together a lot of things that have happened in the last 12 months in my life and maybe what's been going on outside me in the past year in my surrounds as well.”
– written by Emily Oswin
William Crighton Tour Dates
Fri 5 May - Bella Union Trades Hall (Melbourne)Sun 7 May - Grampians Grape Escape (Halls Gap)
Fri 12 May - Leadbelly (Sydney)
Sat 13 May - Smiths Alternative (Canberra)
Sat 20 May - Old Museum (Brisbane)
Sat 27 May - 48 Watt St (Newcastle)
Fri 9 Jun - Mullumbimby Ex-Services Club
Sat 10 Jun - Diggers Tavern (Bellingen)
Fri 23 Jun - The Wheatsheaf Hotel (Adelaide)
29 Sep-1 Oct - Dashville Skyline (Hunter Valley)
