Matt Willis is a competition piper with the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association and has won awards at Highland Games all over the US. He has also had the opportunity to compete at the World Pipe Band Championships with the Silver Thistle Pipes & Drums in 2001 (where they received 7th out of over 40 bands in their grade).

Matt started playing with "The Killdares" in 2004--just in time for the State Fair of Texas and joined the band full time in early 2005. He is very excited to have the chance with "The Killdares" to use pipes in a new and different way then they have been used by other celtic rock bands.


HOMETOWN:METOWN:

Born Mtn. View, CA; now Austin, TX

Highland Bagpipe


  OTHER INSTRUMENTS:

Scottish smallpipes, flutes, whistles


  FIRST GIG AS A MEMBER OF THE KILLDARES:

The State Fair of Texas 2004


  FAVORITE MUSICIANS:

Non-pipers: Ian Anderson, Bruce Dickinson
Pipers: Jack Lee, Mark Saul, Willie McCallum


  MOST MEMORABLE MUSICAL MOMENT:

Standing on Ben Nevis in Scotland and playing the pipes in their native highlands. Truly amazing.


  HOW DID YOU EVER BEGIN TO PLAY MUSIC? WHO INSPIRED YOU?
It started at age 7 with a flutophone (a cheap recorder-like instrument) in second grade--my second grade class was doing a rendition of the Little Drummer Boy. I knew from that moment I wanted to play music. I jumped from instrument to instrument for years (from violin to flute to sax to bass guitar) until I found the pipes. Now I had wanted to play the pipes since I was very, very young, but had no idea how to go about it.

My folks actually got me a set of pipes on my 18 birthday--talk about a surprise! I spent the next few years trying to teach myself to play the darn things before I met piper Tom Campbell (then with the Scottish Rogues). He took me under his wing and got me started on the right path. I soon found an instructor and began unlearning all of my bad habits. Many, many years later, here I am--a competition piper playing with a rock band. Everything works out for a reason it seems!


  WHO TAUGHT YOU HOW TO PLAY MUSIC?
I'd say I am largely self-taught on my various instruments, with some small bouts of help from instructors along the way. I had to learn many things the hard way--if I could do it over again, I would have taken more lessons and let other with more experience guide me. Live and learn.


  MOST INFLUENTIAL BANDS
Jethro Tull, The Offspring, Iron Maiden, Bruce Dickinson, Simon Fraser University Pipe Band, Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band.


  DO YOU RECALL THE FIRST CONCERT YOU EVER SAW?
Jethro Tull, Catfish Rising tour, Dec. '91 in Berkeley, CA.


  DO YOU RECALL THE FIRST RECORD YOU EVER BOUGHT?
"Paranoid" Black Sabbath and "No More Tears" Ozzy Osbourne (bought the same night--I was really into Ozzy at that point!)


  IF YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO PLAY WITH ANY OTHER MUSICIAN OR GROUP, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY?
I love a chance to get on the stage with Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull, but as a piper, I wouldn't have much to do! They've only got pipes on two songs ("The Third Hoorah" and "Warmer Sporran").


  WHAT WAS THE MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT YOU HAD ON STAGE?
In the middle of playing some 6/8 marches with Silver Thistle Pipes & Drums, my chanter popped out and rolled across the stage. So there I was, in full kilt and regalia crawling around the stage trying to get my chanter from between the drummers feet before they stepped on it!

Classic.


  HOW DO YOU PASS THE TIME ON THE ROAD?
Watch DVDs on my PowerBook and playing the movie game.

  WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO WHEN YOU AREN'T PLAYING MUSIC?
Work out (kind of a health nut), watch Sci-fi flicks (mainly Star Wars), restore bagpipes (I actually enjoy this very tedious work).


  WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE ALBUMS OF ALL TIME?
"Americana" The Offspring; "Accident of Birth" Bruce Dickinson; "Heavy Horses" Jethro Tull; "Hollerin' For Haggis" The Scottish Rogues


  WHAT'S IN YOUR CD PLAYER RIGHT NOW?
I've got an iPod (and I got it a long time ago, before the mad rush!), so I've got all my music all of the time. :) Just keep the thing on shuffle and get pleasantly (or not so pleasantly!) surprised by what comes up--I can't believe some of the albums I own!


  WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE MOVIES?
Office Space
Excalibur
Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan
Star Wars: Episode 5--The Empire Strikes Back
So I Married An Axe Murderer Old School


  DO YOU HAVE ANY FAVORITE BOOKS?
The Tao of Pooh
he DRAGONLANCE Chronicles
Beowulf--Seamus Heaney translation
The Kilberry Book of Ceol Mor (more piobaireachd stuff)
Pretty much any book on old VWs