
In an overwhelmingly image-conscious grind scene, Will Killingsworth stands out as a major player who hasn’t relied on flashy rhetoric and gimmicks – he’s talented and tasteful, that’s all. Perhaps best known as the guitarist of Orchid, Will’s contributions to the common good are extensive. His current band Ampere has put out excellent emotional grind for about five years now. Ampere’s newest release is a split with Funeral Diner, coreleased by Electric Human Project and Killingsworth’s own Clean Plate Records. I recently had the opportunity to see Ampere at Tribeca’s perennially broke mold factory/show space ABC No Rio and…well…you know…asked him a few questions…
You’ve been doing grind for over a decade now. What is it that keeps you interested with this? How has your music developed over the years?
Well, there are definitely similarities in all my bands. I’ve done four main bands in the past ten years. I think Bucket Full of Teeth was the largest departure from Orchid in terms of doing more experimental stuff. I don’t even mean experimental in terms of doing things no one has ever done before, just experimenting for us. Ampere was supposed to be more of a fun band with friends. I think it ended up being a combination of Orchid and Bucket Full of Teeth. It uses things that I’ve learned from both and puts them together. There are times where I wonder if Ampere is too similar to Orchid, but I’m not really one of those guys who go back and listen to their own records. And when I do go back to my older music, I’ll sometimes think that old and new are related to an extent, but very different in terms of playing and song writing. But I think if anything, Ampere is the most focused, hard working band I’ve done so far in terms of honing a specific song writing agenda.
What is that songwriting process like?
Usually it starts with me spending hours writing and rewriting a guitar riff, working on riffs either in isolation or putting them together into a song, and then presenting it to the band. Then comes a long process of planning everything exactly how we want it. We don’t really skip over any detail and it’s all for a forty second long song. We’ll spend four or five practices, each one being like five hours long, just to get to the point where we’re all happy with a song. Everybody brings something to it. And usually I try not to be a stickler with my original idea, as longs as it works or sounds like what I’m looking for. It’s kind of a ridiculous amount of work and it seems outlandish but if I’m happy with the end result then it doesn’t seem like a waste of time.
Yeah, you guys played a really short set today. You probably played for a shorter time than the opening band.
I think the longest we’ll usually play is fifteen minutes. To me it’s really cool to see a band when I’m uncertain if they’re done playing or not but still really enjoyed what I just witnessed. As opposed to bands that are like “two more songs!!!” and I’m like “…uh…really?” I’ve been really influenced in terms of wanting to be fast or quick…I don’t mean fast tempos, but fast as in brevity. I guess with a lot of music I have a short attention span.
(More interview and mp3 samples below)