Biography All Music Guide Wikipedia
All Music Guide:
Inspired by '70s and early-'80s punk as well as '60s garage rock, blues-rock, and soul, the Anaheim, CA, garage punk trio the Willowz draw from influences roughly twice as old as they are. The group formed in 2002, when singer/guitarist Richie James Follin, bassist/vocalist Jessica Reynoza, and drummer Alex Willow were all in their late teens. Follin taught Reynoza, who is also a painter, how to play bass; while in New York City that summer, he also recorded some songs with producer Paul Kostabi. Follin and Reynoza met Willow at a party soon after. The trio recorded a 7" for the German imprint Wanker, another 7" for Posh Boy, and a self-titled album, which was released in 2004 by Dionysus. The Willowz also gigged prolifically, playing with bands such as the Epoxies, Dance Disaster Movement, the Mutes, the Dirtbombs, and the Weirdos. The rest of 2004 saw the band maintaining their busy schedule by contributing a track to the soundtrack of Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Gondry also directed the video for "Meet Your Demise." The Willowz also did a split 7" with the Distraction and toured the U.K. that summer. In 2005, the band made its Sympathy for the Record Industry debut with Are Coming, which featured re-recorded versions of many of the tracks on The Willowz, and released the much more ambitious Talk in Circles later that year. The DVD Seeinsquares arrived in 2006. Early in 2007, the Willowz returned with Chautauqua, which was issued by Dim Mak.
Wikipedia:
The Willowz are a garage rock band based in Anaheim, California, formed 2002. The band's sound incorporates influences from punk, soul, and blues from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The band has released several albums on the label Sympathy for the Record Industry and has done a split single with the band Scarling. Their two latest albums Chautauqua and Everyone produced by Paul Kostabi and Stuart Sikes were released on Dim Mak Records.
The Willowz received national exposure (in the United States) as a finalist in December 2005 Yahoo.com's Who's Next. They lost to BarlowGirl.
The band collaborated with director Michel Gondry on their music video "I Wonder" and in turn produced two songs on the movie soundtrack for Gondry's film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Two of their songs, "Making Certain" and "Ulcer Soul" were used in the 2006 film The Science of Sleep. In 2007 Michel Gondry's son Paul directed the music video for "Take A Look Around" collaborating with artists Valerie Pirson, Will Robertson, Owen Levelle, Shoko Komori, Ivan Abel, Hristi Bertelsen, Yota Bertrang and Paul Barman.
The song called "Cons & Tricks" also appeared on the MTV show "Jersey Shore", episode 7 (Ron and Sam).
