Latest News

04.01.12 Happy new year!So, in the end 2011 wasn't that bad a year! I joined Three For A Girl as their permanent double bassist, and have had an absolute blast at the many gigs we've played up and down the country and across the northern border into Scotland. The girls are so so talented and have become arguably my closest friends over the past six months, it's just an absolute pleasure to play music with them.We had a busy December, playing at the Underbelly in Hoxton, London on 17th supporting Audiogold with Texas Radio also on the bill. They're a super tight band - Check them out!We also played three gigs in Tunbridge Wells before the turn of the year as a bit of a homecoming. We were at the Grey Lady on the 28t, then played a strong set at the Forum across the road on the 30th, before possibly our best set of the three gigs at the Trinity Theatre on New Years Eve.Now into 2012 the girls are back at Uni which makes gigging tricky, but we've already got a few dates scheduled for the coming months which are listed on the Tour page of this site. In other news I'm also now playing double bass for acoustic maestro David Mumford and his band the Visitors. Gigs are not as frequent at the minute with these chaps due to work commitments, but we have a February headline gig lined up at the Grey Lady which should be good fun. Details are already up on the Tour page.Lastly, some exciting endorsement news is on the horizon and I may be featured in a catalogue for one of the UK's largest stringed instrument and accessory suppliers, but all shall be revealed in full detail once confirmed!For now I'm taking a small hiatus from full-time work so have a bit more time on my hands to focus on writing. Who knows, work might even start on a new solo album by the end of the year??! :)Take care everyone. Henry x17.09.11 Gig dates announced!Gigs! There are a number of gig dates that have been announced for the rest of 2011 where I'll be folking out on the double bass with Threeforagirl!Two dates in October, one in November and two in December shall see me carting my double bass from Kent to Edinburgh, Buckinghamshire to Surrey, and then through the city of London a week before Christmas.There is also a date announced for August 2012 where we'll be returning to the delightful Little Rabbit Barn near Colchester in Essex, although I'm sure there will be more dates prior to that next year.Playing bass with the girls is an absolute pleasure, and I can't wait for Willow (my bass!) and I to hit that stage again!In terms of solo material, I'm still writing and working on new ideas all the time, and I hope to start getting back on the solo stage sometime in 2012. For now though, I am having oodles of fun playing with Ellie, Immie & C, and can't wait to until the next gig in October. I'll Hopefully see you all on the road!24.07.11 Henry to play double bass for ThreeforagirlI am super excited and extremely privileged to now be playing double bass with the immensely talented Threeforagirl.Threeforagirl are a folk trio made up of three good friends of mine, Ellie Mason, Immie Mason and Cecilia Christophers, who have been writing and performing together for a number of years now with gigs taking them all across the UK and America.Although currently at Universities in Scotland and the West Midlands, we have performaned together on a few occasions in the past, and I am honoured to have been asked to play double bass for the girls on a regular basis.This opportunity allows me to concentrate on writing new solo material, as well as folk out on the double bass with three amazingly talented musicians whenever the opportunity arises - I cannot wait for the next gig!The best way to follow threeforagirl is on the BlogSpot page, found here: http://threeforagirlmusic.blogspot.com/07.05.11 Solo gig announced for 12th MayAfter a fantastic 2010 playing with the band WakeUpTom, I shall be returning to the stage as a solo performer on Thursday 12th May for the first time in approximately 18 months.Band projects have taken a backseat for the forseeable future which has allowed me to concentrate of writing solo material again, and there will be atleast one brand new song debuted on 12th May.I shall be playing a 30min set at the Red Room in Tunbridge Wells, which is a fantastic acoustic venue on the grounds of the Robin Hood pub on Sandhurst Road, TN2 3TD. I'll be on soon after 8pm, Entry is free, and a bar is available. I hope to see you there!Henry29.11.10 New website launchedWelcome to the new look official site of Henry Willard.Since the release of his second solo album, Old Hadlow Road in late 2008, a year of solo shows followed with Henry then entering a new chapter in December 2009, joining Tunbridge Wells based band, WakeUpTom as their double bass player.An abundance of live shows with the band throughout 2010 has seen Henry restricted to only a handul of solo shows over the past twelve months, with limited new material coming to the surface, however whilst WakeUpTom shall still continue to work both in and out of the studio in 2011, Henry is also hoping to start writing a new solo album in the new year with an aim for a 2012 release.We'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for visiting Henrywillard.com, and we hope you enjoy looking around the new site.Please remember to keep popping back for all the latest news right here, and don't forget you can also follow Henry on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace , and a host of other popular social networking sites. (Please see links below or Contact page).
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ABOUT

About Me

About

Since curiously picking up an over-sized classical guitar at the age of eight, Henry Willard has emerged as a profound yet heartrending singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose slow, acoustic based melodies entwined with deep, personal, heartwarming, & often metaphorical lyrics touch the hearts of his listeners, & within the comfort of his songs offer a safe place for his audience to relate to personal experiences.Primarily a double bassist, lyricist and acoustic guitarist, Henry currently plays the double bass with his main band Three For A Girl, as well as side project David Mumford & the Visitors. Increasingly in demand, Henry has also made guest appearances on the double bass with Ben Sales, and prior to Three For A Girl was a founding member of the band WakeUpTom.Henry grew up in the South-East of England and began playing music and experimenting with home recording on cassettes from the age of eight. It was following the release of 'Free as a Bird' by The Beatles in December 1995 that upon hearing the song, Henry immediately fell in love with the track and was soon taking guitar lessons twice a week.Over the next three years, rapid progress on the guitar and numerous live performances in the later years of Primary School led Henry to receiving a music scholarship at the age of eleven to attend Secondary School."To be honest, I wasn't really aware of what was happening at the time", Henry says looking back on his move from Primary to Secondary School. "One minute I was going to a Secondary School up the road, then after performing at a Summer concert I was told that I was going somewhere else. Things were rushed through, i was shown around over the Summer holidays, and there I was at a new School. A lot of the pupils seemed to already know each other, but I'd had no induction days or anything like that because it was so last minute. I just considered myself the musical kid."Involvement in music throughout his teens saw Henry continue to progress as a musician, experimenting with writing from the age of twelve before gaining valuable recording studio experience from the age of fourteen.Early recordings were in the form of simple covers over a drum machine, but by the age of fifteen Henry was writing and recording full length albums consisting of his own material.Willard's initial writing posed similarities to mid-late Beatles pop/rock fused with darker Lennon-esque subtleties, but the final years of School were to prove socially difficult for Henry who soon began exploring a darker element of music and writing in a much more thought-provoked manner."Things ended on a sour note at School. In my final year a few of us made a mistake, but due to a popularity contest I ended up an undeserved victim. I studied for my final exams at home for the last few months. I couldn't attend classes. My final year at School was destroying both socially and mentally. If I did show my face at School, there would be the looks, the whispering, then the silence as I walked past. After five years being surrounded by so called friends, I came out of School with no-one to turn to. My best friend at the time eventually also turned against me as he couldn't be seen to be on 'my side'."With no physical friend to turn to, Henry engaged with his love of music for comfort and relation. His writing turned darker, and the mood of his melodies changed. The music slowed down."I despised heavy metal etc", Henry says. "I'd always been a sucker for slow songs. Even the early Beatles records I'd listened to as a child, I'd always make time to play the slow ones a few more times."Henry was a huge fan of the band Barenaked Ladies throughout his teens, and still is to this day. It was during one of their gigs in 2003 that the name Elliott Smith was mentioned from the stage by Barenaked Ladies' former front man, Steven Page.Unaware of Smith previously, Henry went away and looked the name up, only to ultimately stumble upon the musician who would have the biggest influence on Willard's writing to date.The influence of Smith resulted in the release of two raw, but personal albums from Henry. This One's for Elliott... (2006) and Old Hadlow Road (2008) were written and released during years in which Henry struggled to rebuild burnt bridges from the previous few years, and pave new paths whilst the pain and social strife still lingered.After Secondary School, Henry moved onto College to enroll on a music practice course."Mentally, I didn't last long", Henry said when asked about his College days. "I stuck it out a year, but really my head and my heart wasn't in it after the first term. I came away from College quite bitter. I just didn't fit in."Henry did however leave College having made great friends with a former classmate in Secondary School, Alex Beharrell."I don't think Alex and I ever hung out either in or outside of School before everything turned upside down, although we did perform together once or twice. When we both enrolled on the same College course however, we just struck up a superb friendship and and excellent musical partnership. I think Alex perhaps felt a little bit shadowed by me back then, but he's a great musician who's got a cracking voice and is doing really well with a new album and good band behind him."Since College, Henry has been in full-time work trying to make ends meet whilst still indulging in music at every opportunity.The dark days of social exclusion in the interim of education still linger and haunt several corridors, and Willard has continued to write in the personal manner in which he knows best, primarily drawing inspiration from another side of social exclusion which wreaked havoc on his mind in his late teens;"I can't say I've ever been in a proper relationship", Henry says, looking away to the side. "There were only two or three girls in my entire year at School, and following the incident at the end of my last year there, I've never really been one to go out much and meet people. I'm my own worst enemy really."Henry goes on to talk about the few girls who have ended up inspiring his songs, and in once instance, an entire album; "There are certainly two, maybe now three or four people who haunt my songs. 'Elliott' and 'Hadlow Road' (abbreviating his two albums) are two records just packed with songs about two people. The latter is an entire album about just one of them. I fooled myself into believing that at two different points in my life, these two girls were perfect for me. I'd built my hopes so high, and twice in a row convinced myself of this perfection and certainty that we were going to be together, only for the rejection to drop me from the top of a building."Mentioning two songs inparticular, Henry said "These two beautiful girls inspired some of my best writing to date with songs such as 'You and your insult', and 'This is not me', but mentally the situation I put myself into, and the lies I told myself took me to a dark place. Depression brought some of the best work out of me, but it's hard to listen back to some of those songs and be flooded with reminders of that place."Following the release of 'Old Hadlow Road' in 2008, Henry has since taken somewhat of a hiatus from writing and recording, as a new musical love has come to the forefront; The double bass.Having primarily been a guitarist for twelve years straight, Henry had picked up and recorded with various different instruments including the drums, piano, accordion, electric bass, and banjo whilst writing and recording between 2005 and 2008, but having been inspired by Barenaked Ladies' double bassist, Jim Creeggan, Willard purchased a double bass during the recording session for 'Old Hadlow Road', and began studying and teaching himself to play in his spare time. Early attempts at bowing can notably be heard on a few tracks of the aforementioned album.In the closing months of 2009 Henry was asked to join Tonbridge based band WakeUpTom as their double bassist, and duly accepted. Performing live both locally and nationally for twelve months as well as continuing to study and improve in his spare time caught the attention of extremely popular three-piece folk trio, Three For a Girl. As gigs with WakeUpTom dried up towards the end of 2010 with the band eventually dispersing, Henry found himself appearing as a guest on double bass more and more frequently with Three For a Girl, and in the Spring of 2011 was asked to join the band permanently. Needless to say, the offer was immediately accepted.Already with a big following, a US tour and a full-length album under their belts, Three For a Girl have continued to write and perform regularly across the UK throughout 2011, with Henry and his bass now joining three tremendously talented girls on stage to bring a new dynamic to the girls' already phenomenal sound and cleverly penned songs.Gigs have already taken the new four-piece nationwide to cities including London, Edinburgh, Canterbury and Milton Keynes to name just a few. Continuing to write however, Henry hopes to get to work on a new solo album in 2012; "It would be nice to get back into writing songs and recording an album. I have stacks of paper with lyrics and ideas on them, but just need to piece the parts of the puzzle together."Henry goes on to talk about some of the more recent ascendancies behind his lyrics; "Not a lot has changed. I'm still a fool for falling for someone and convincing myself it could be perfect. I'm a tad more cautious I think, as I know where it led me before.. but only a little. It's how my songs are born. Maybe I'm an old head on young shoulders, but I just want to spend my time with someone. My songs are the result of the failure to find that, coupled with the pain I've inflicted on myself because of it.".

MUSIC

Other Projects

Threeforagirl are an extremely talented folk four-piece from Sevenoaks in Kent, made up of Immie Mason, Ellie Mason, Cecilia Christophers and Henry Willard.The girls have been writing and performing together since 2007, but have been best friends their whole lives and were joined on the double bass by Henry Willard in Spring 2011. Favouring close experimental harmonies and hauntingly beautiful melodies, among their repertoire of other instruments are guitars, violins, pianos, mandolins, drums, various eclectic percussion and occasionally a tambourine called John.Their debut album, 'Remember to Forget' was released in 2009, and threeforagirl have since been featured on BBC Radio Kent, in the Sevenoaks Vine Magazine, and have played at various venues across the UK including London, Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks, Essex, Manchester, and Edinburgh amongst others.In 2010 the girls embarked on a 16-date American Tour supporting Jono Harrison, with gigs taking them up and down the lengths of both the East and West coast.Here in the UK, Threeforagirl have supported a number of high profile artists including Emily Maguire, Smoke Fairies, Edwina Hayes and Katy Lied.To hear Threeforagirl and find out more, please visit the Links page or click here to be taken directy to the band's official website.
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