This site is about a little band I was in way back in the mid-1990s called The Willies.

Some people have expressed an interest in our old music and to be honest, I was very proud of the stuff we did back then and want to get it out there for people to listen to.

So here is is, in all it's anti-climactic glory. The Willies.

Goings On...

07/18/2004:
Happy Birthday to me....
In other news, Joe and I had lunch (thanks for paying, Joe!) and drank a whole bunch yesterday afternoon. He also gave me some stuff he had.

Two words: Gold Mine.

More to come....

06/11/2004:
Last year I was performing my semi-annual Google search for people I know and finally came across one extremely elusive character...Joe Bates.*

His name popped up as the bass player for a band in NYC called Marty's Invasion (CAUTION: Bad graphics and bad music that will autoplay upon entering pages will ensue if you click the link). I'd missed their last listed gig by about three weeks. Every once in a while I'd brave the horrors of the web site in hopes that they were playing and that Joe was still with them. I don't believe they've played since then. However, a subsequent search for the enigmatic Joe Bates has him turning up as the bass player for a new NYC band: Elroy (www.elroytheband.com). Well, last night they had a gig at The Continental in NYC and I showed up to check them out and surprise the hell out of Joe. Which I did. The band was great and I ended up staying out until after midnight with Joe and his band mates (PHOTOS). It was great to see him again, to see that he's still playing and to talk about the old days. He tells me he has some additional gigs on tape and video which I look forward to getting my hands on and adding to the collection.

*In case you're wondering why Joe Bates is so difficult to locate on the interet, just try it sometime. There are a hell of a lot of "Joe Bates" out there. Think you can limit it by adding "bass" to the search? Turns out there is a very well known bass fisherman, an Irish drummer and an audio engineer who's worked with the Backstreet Boys named Joe Bates. There's also a whole slew of transgender/transsexual stories who's main character is Joe Bates (though, I have to admit, at first I thought I might have been onto something there....) and an incredibly interesting site at www.joebates.com (which also could have very well been mistaken for something this Joe Bates would create). When Joe doesn't want to be found he can pretty much make himself blend in and not be found.

06/19/2004:
Added scans of "Get The Willies" CD and additional reviews to Stuff section

06/17/2004:
Added cassette insert for "The Christmas Single '91" to Stuff section.

06/13/2004:
Added "Opportunity Day" and "Under My Thumb" to the music section; added new "Stuff" section which includes scans or our press kit and "Screek" cassette insert; added links to Joe and Cave's current bands to the links section.