Billy Woodson

BILLY WOODSON

vocals
guitar
harmonicas

Billy's Top 100 Favorite Songs of All Time

Like the other members of ENGLISH MOTORBIKE, singer / guitarist Billy Woodson grew up in Orange County. At an early age he discovered his father's record collection and listened non-stop to the vinyl long players of the Brunette Brothers, Ray Charles and Elvis Presley until he literally wore the grooves out. There were also the records of one of his father's hometown friends from Lubbock, Texas, Buddy Holly. Something in those records appealed to Billy's pre-adolescent visceral and sexual sense that he needed to explore. It was the discovery of something that he had in him, but never knew it could feel so good. It was rock and roll and once he got it, he wanted more and more.

His first exposure to a live band was when his big brother Jimmy got together with a few of his friends in the garage and started to play some Cream and Iron Butterfly songs. Play they did, but no one was able to sing and since Billy was the only one who could really carry a tune, he was elected as the lead singer. Turned out that it really didn’t matter since they had no P.A. system and the amps were so loud no one could hear him sing anyway. They never played a gig and were the definition of the term “garage band”.
After high school, Billy sang with a number of different bands including a band without a name that played their first and only gig for a shocked group of Orange County politicos for the guitar player’s father, who was campaigning for County Sheriff. The gig, like the campaign, was a disaster, but it gave Billy the desire to follow his rock and roll dreams wherever it took him.
While attending art college, he formed up a loose association with several musicians who shared a love for blues based rock music and began to play the music of Led Zeppelin, Faces, The Who, Humble Pie, and the Stones. Part of the attraction was that all of these bands were from England and there was the realization that something happened to the American blues when the Brits distilled it. Whatever it was they liked it and played a lot of it and allowed it to influence their own music. He was soon fronting his own bands working through a series of Orange County bands that included Eclipse, Wink and finally Sleeper.

Sleeper was a guitar oriented power pop band that featured guitarist Jon Nichols (Beth Hart, Shovelhead). In the 1980’s, Sleeper developed considerable industry interest with the release of their record, Mine Tonight. Sleeper’s roster of gigs included shows at the Troubadour, Madame Wongs, The Starwood, Gazzarri’s, and other Hollywood clubs opening for bands like Van Halen and the Plimsouls. In addition to these hometown gigs, the band toured the western United States playing any place they could to promote their records.
Life on the road was grueling and soon worn on Billy. He made the decision to return to school and get his architecture degree. For the next five years, architecture was his main focus. After graduation and establishing a professional career, the rock bug was still buzzing in his ear (Or maybe that was hearing damage). Good friend and fellow musician and English motorcycle enthusiast, Steve Gage invited him to a jam session with some other musician friends. This turned to a few gigs, writing new songs, recording, and soon Billy was feeling a rock rebirth. The band they formed, King Rocker, was short lived but soon gave way to ENGLISH MOTORBIKE.

Billy handles the lead singing duties as well as playing the harmonica. He also plays guitar on many of the songs. He is the main songwriter, with Michael and Steve contributing several songs of their own. Billy plays a Gibson SG through a Fender Deville amp and blows Hohner harps. His wispy vocals, honking harp, and rhythm guitar style provides the melodic overlay of the ENGLISH MOTORBIKE sound.