Calgary raised, Vancouver Island-based singer/songwriter, Wil, is returning to Fernie.

In 2004, not long after releasing his 2004 debut album, Both Hands, which earned him three nods including ‘Best Live Act’ at that year’s WCMAs, Wil stepped out for a walk the morning after his show at The Fernie Hotel. He ended up standing in an empty room at the train station and realized he was standing in a beautiful live performance venue. Wil said right then and there “one day I am going to come back and play a show here.”

Tenacity and hard work do prevail – eight years, four albums (with a fifth on the way), hundreds of shows and a myriad of commercial scores under his belt, Wil is indeed coming back to Fernie.

Wil has been performing live since 2004. He began by playing covers of obscure songs in Calgary and has since grown and evolved his career by simultaneously refining his live show and carving a niche within the commercial world by composing music for television and film. Last fall five of his songs were chosen to accompany the stunningly shot video component for Travel Alberta’s 2011/12 ‘Remember To Breathe’ advertising campaign. The flagship video called ‘Alberta’ featuring Wil’s song ‘Roam’ hit a milestone this April by bridging one million views. So impressed, the Calgary Stampede commissioned Wil to compose their theme song (called ‘Ride’) for their 100th Anniversary commercial campaign. Wil then performed ‘Light Up The Park’ kicking off the fireworks all eleven nights at the new Bell Centennial Plaza.

Wil has spent the past several months working on new songs for both Travel Alberta as well as his next album but is taking a breather from the studio to do what he loves most and that is to perform live.

Wil is renowned for his famously intense and thrilling live performances. One review quotes:  the man works a guitar so hard it inched toward igniting during a set. Often times it relents to the strain of such fierce play by popping off a string or two, as if to wave a string of surrender, if only for a moment.”

Wil loves to play solo or with ‘just a drummer’ He says the freedom allows him to immerse himself on stage, utterly and completely. One such performance was written up by The Calgary Sun as “having so much power and soul it could stop your heart.”

Wil is thrilled to be returning to The Arts Station in Fernie on Friday, November 2.

More on Wil: https://www.ibreakstrings.com/ .

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