Bill Waugh
He is a singer-songwriter with his own image, influenced by Rock, Metal, and Stone Sour’s Corey Taylor. With dark clothing, eyeliner and black acoustic guitar played through an all tube half stack, it looks like a front man just stepped off a stage set for a rock band. That’s exactly what he did…
_ _ _ _ _
At thirteen, Bill picked up a worn acoustic f-hole guitar, playing around with simple notes and chords, and then learning some tunes from the radio. He signed up for a nine week guitar course in school, but he always wanted to play by ear and heart. His stubbornness kept him playing without formal education.
After taking the guitar lightly for years, in the winter of 2003, Bill went through a painful divorce and began putting his passive-aggressive emotions on paper while adding melodies. Then it just clicked. Bill realized he had a gift for tying the elements together. “It was like therapy I didn’t know I needed.” he says. One song after another poured out. He got a writer’s notebook, and amongst scratches and scribbles came “…something people need to hear. I know they can relate.”
Bill produced solo album “Passion Seeds”, and gave away about 150 copies. But the “band” were his keyboard and multi-track recorder. He decided to get some real musicians together, who later became Alternative Rock band Craving Dawn. The 5 piece group had some local success in Boise, Idaho, playing over 50 live shows in their first year. They produced as well, album “Learning Curve” and performed in Las Vegas. There were various releases such as the track Altar for Fears on a Midem compilation CD in France, and 6 Strings airing on “100.3 the X Rocks.”
Unfortunately, conflict arose within the group. Along with other issues, there were disagreements on strategy and direction, which at the end led to missed performance opportunities. In the fall of 2011, Bill left the band (who broke up immediately after) to set out solo once more, working on material to record and perform, and has since realized the beginning of his dream. ”The cover songs can go…the fans are now asking for nothing but his original songs at the live shows.”
Boise, ID
Filed Under: Acoustic / Folk
