Ian Williams | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Born | Johnstown, Pennsylvania | August 31, 1970
Genres | |
Occupation | Musician |
Instruments |
|
Years active | 1992–present |
Ian Williams (born August 31, 1970) is an American rock guitarist and singer-songwriter. He became noted for his finger tapping guitar playing in bands such as Don Caballero, Storm & Stress and currently in Battles. He is known for his one-handed guitar playing technique, often while playing keyboards or Ableton Push simultaneously with the other hand.
Williams was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and spent part of his childhood in Malawi, before returning to the US in the 6th grade. [1]
He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, where he studied history and political science.
In his teenage years Williams was a drummer and vocalist for Pittsburgh-based band 'Sludgehammer'. [2]
Williams joined Pittsburgh math rock pioneers Don Caballero as a second guitarist in 1992 until 2000. He had also played in the Chicago-based, avant-garde band Storm & Stress from 1997 to 2000. Williams moved to New York City in the early 2000s and formed Battles in 2002.
Williams is well known for his approach to finger tapping on guitar and uses Gibson's Echoplex looping system. His propensity towards guitar tapping allows him to accompany himself on keyboard at live performances, using one hand for each instrument.
Williams made a short cameo appearance in the 2000 film High Fidelity as a customer in the record store (shortly after John Cusack's character announces, "I will now sell five copies of The Three E.P.'s by The Beta Band."). He also had small cameos in Heaven's a Drag and Bloodmoon , a 1997 martial arts action film.
An effects unit, effects processor, or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing.
Peter Hook is an English musician, best known as the bassist and co-founder of the post-punk band Joy Division and its successor New Order. He often used the bass as a lead instrument, playing melodies on the high strings with a signature heavy chorus effect. In New Order, he would do this, leaving the actual basslines to keyboards or sequencers.
Tim Skold is a Swedish musician and record producer who produces solo work and has also collaborated with multiple musical groups including Shotgun Messiah, KMFDM, Marilyn Manson and Motionless in White.
Don Caballero was an American math rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Al Cisneros is an American musician. He is the lead singer and bassist for stoner rock/doom metal bands Sleep and Om. He also was a member of Shrinebuilder and Asbestosdeath and has put out nine releases as a solo artist.
Ampeg is a manufacturer best known for its bass amplifiers.
Ryan Daniel Martinie is an American musician, best known as the bassist for heavy metal band Mudvayne.
Battles is an American experimental rock group, founded in 2002 in New York City by Ian Williams. The current line-up is a duo, composed of guitarist/keyboardist Williams and drummer John Stanier. Former members include composer/vocalist Tyondai Braxton and guitarist/bassist Dave Konopka. The band has released four studio albums to date, with the most recent Juice B Crypts being released in 2019.
Storm & Stress were an American experimental rock band formed in Pittsburgh and later based in Chicago. The band's name is derived from the German literary movement Sturm und Drang. Storm & Stress initially consisted of bassist George Draguns, drummer Kevin Shea and vocalist/guitarist Ian Williams. Eric Emm later replaced Draguns on bass.
Emil John Schmidt IV, known professionally as Acey Slade, is an American musician. He is the bassist and one of the guitarists in the nu metal/industrial band Dope and a former guitarist of the horror punk and glam metal act Murderdolls. He is also the lead singer and guitarist of Acey Slade & the Dark Party and a touring guitarist of The Misfits. Previous to this, he served as the bassist in Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and as the lead vocalist and guitarist in the punk rock band Trashlight Vision, which broke up in 2007.
SVT was an American power pop / new wave band based in San Francisco in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Their bassist, Jack Casady, had played in both Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. Other members were singer Brian Marnell, drummer Bill Gibson, and Nick Buck, also a Hot Tuna veteran, on keyboards.
Eddie Jackson, also known as EdBass and One Take, is an American bass guitarist for the progressive metal band Queensrÿche, which he co-founded in 1982.
Delay is an audio signal processing technique that records an input signal to a storage medium and then plays it back after a period of time. When the delayed playback is mixed with the live audio, it creates an echo-like effect, whereby the original audio is heard followed by the delayed audio. The delayed signal may be played back multiple times, or fed back into the recording, to create the sound of a repeating, decaying echo.
The Echoplex is a tape delay effects unit, first made in 1959. Designed by engineer Mike Battle, the Echoplex set a standard for the effect in the 1960s; according to Michael Dregni, it is still regarded as "the standard by which everything else is measured." Used by some of the most notable electric guitar players of the 1960s and 1970s, original Echoplexes are highly sought after.
Dennis James Coffey is an American guitarist. He was a studio musician for many soul and R&B recordings, and is well known for his 1971 Top 10 hit single "Scorpio".
Lee Payne is the founding bassist and main songwriter of the British heavy metal/power metal band Cloven Hoof. Payne is a self-taught musician and is the only member of Cloven Hoof to feature in every line-up of the band to date.
EOTO was an electronic band consisting of Michael Travis and Jason Hann. On July 22, 2021 the band announced via social media that they would no longer be performing, due to irreconcilable creative differences. The post indicated that the decision did not impact The String Cheese Incident, which they both play in.
Mark Hamilton is a British lead guitarist who played for UK rock band Quench,. He has also played for Warner Bros' Top 40 artist Doug Walker and features on Doug's debut album Fear Together (2009) as well as ex Dum Dums frontman Josh Doyle in the US, Vicky Beeching and Martyn Layzell. He has also appeared with various other artists for TV and recording sessions including Italian superstar Elisa, on the same bill as Destiny's Child at an MTV Live event. He also joined Josh Doyle's band on his UK tour in 2009. Current projects include King Awesome, a tribute to late 80s 'Hair Metal' and rock covers band Inner City Sumo.
Dave Konopka is an American musician who is best known as the former bassist and guitarist in the experimental rock band Battles. A graphic design major at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, he also designed the band's record covers and tour posters. Konopka departed Battles in 2018.
Digital Sound Factory is a sound design company that creates sound libraries, known as SoundFont libraries, for playback on synthesizers and computers compatible with Steinberg Cubase, Cakewalk Sonar, Reasonstudios, Steinberg Halion, Native Instruments Kontakt, Apple GarageBand, Apple Logic, Ableton Live, GenieSoft Overture, Finale, Creative Labs Audigy/X-Fi, E-MU Systems EmulatorX/Proteus X, LMMS, FL Studio, MuseScore, Mixcraft, VSamp, SFZ, SynthFont, Ardour, FluidSynth and more.