Interview with Chris Wills: ‘I love music from the 1950’s, songs about cars and driving, and I think my subconscious somehow fed this into my song!’

LA-based singer songwriter Chris Wills brought out his eponymous EP last month, offering us four immensely catchy songs blending indie pop with sweet 50’s doo-wop vocals.

The album marks the culmination of his journey from New Jersey to LA resident following his spontaneous decision to jump city three years ago. ‘It wan’t a drawn out decision to move here,’ he laughed. ‘I just decided to do it, I thought, I just gotta get there. I thought that leaving was the hard part!’

One of the tracks, ‘LA On My Mind’ was actually written on the same day that he booked an Airbnb for his first week in LA. ‘After I booked it, I had a panic attack about it,’ he said. ‘So I took my dogs for a walk and during the walk, the song floated into my head. I like that with songwriting, when the songs and melodies are happening at the same time. It’s weird when you think about it. I love music from the 1950’s, songs about cars and driving, and I think my subconscious somehow fed this into my song!’

The lyrics really reflect that: ‘Well I’m going to California, with the wind blowing through my hair, it feels so good, just look I’m almost there, I’m gonna put my foot on the gas, I’m leaving ain’t looking back, ’cause I’m gone you see, leaving with LA on my mind.’

‘I wrote the bridge melody by accident but I didn’t think it was very good!’

However, his early days in LA were a challenge, and he spent the first few months living in his car, crashing occasionally with friends. ‘The main problem was just how hot it was in September, it was impossible in the car,’ he said. Some time later he moved into a home, got ‘sucked into an intense relationship’, and battled being the person others expected him to be versus the person he is. Nonetheless, there was an upside: the tumultuous relationship inspired him to write ‘Pyro’ about being addicted to a woman, which he describes as ‘the most immediate song, the catchiest’ on the EP: ‘It’s an interesting song because I wrote the bridge melody by accident but I didn’t think it was very good! Then I sang it to my friend Louie, who liked it better than me! He ended up emailing me him playing it with his guitar, with more of the melody, which he’d come up with. When I listened to him I thought, actually, this song should be written, so I wrote the lyrics. I’m proud of that process, it just shows you that creativity can come from all kinds of sources.’

As the lyrics go: ‘Oh I’m addicted to you, blame it on each other, ’cause it’s what we do, playing with fire’s never good for me but baby I’m a pyro and you’re wood for me.’

‘Payphone Love’, the second track on the EP is about people marrying for money and being used: ‘That’s just a turn off, I’d rather have a meaningful connection with someone. I guess the ‘payphone’ reference is to someone only using me when it was convenient for her, like a payphone.’

‘I went through a long phase when it was so overwhelming that I couldn’t really write anything’

Lockdown was tough, from a creative standpoint. ‘I went through a long phase when it was so overwhelming that I couldn’t really write anything,’ he said. ‘Then after a few months, I found a peace with it and wrote some songs.’ He has already recorded another three as-of-yet unnamed songs ready for release, with an additional 4-5 ready to record.

He is inspired by a number of local artists, including his friend Louie Diller, who plays on his EP but is also a solo artist, who he describes as having ‘old skool Weezer kinda vibes’. He also likes Rett Madison and Doe Paoro, who duets with him on ‘Carry You Home’ and Baby FuzZ, which fuses a number of styles from emo to rock ‘n’ roll and soul ballads. He is also a big fan of Bruce Springsteen and Jade Bird. If he could collaborate with one artist who is no longer with us, he goes with Tom Petty: ‘Oh man, that guy, I don’t even understand how he has so many great songs!’ He’d also love to collaborate with Ezra Koenig, Vampire Weekend’s frontman: ‘I would love to collab with Ezra because I just feel he’s so creative and we could def get into a room together and make something cool, even if it wasn’t for our own projects.’