Will Lawton

Having begun his musical career playing and recording with bands such as Orangutan, The Zennor Project and Brontosaurus, as well as producing solo recordings, by 2012 he had a string of highly regarded releases on his CV. That year he reconvened with regular co-writer, guitarist Neil Muttock to form The Home Fires and crowdfunded This Too Shall pass which was recorded at Real World Studios and which featured the likes of Hannah Martin on violin and vocals, Phillip Henry on Dobro and Bethany Porter on cello.

In 2105 he began working with drummer Weasel Howlett which lead to the recording of their debut album Fossils of the Mind and a path of musical evolution that would transform the duo into Will Lawton and The Alchemists, a band that varies between 3 and 5 players depending on the task at hand. A live album, The Abbey House Session, would soon follow and 2021 saw the release of Soul Sneeze, seeing the band teaming up with local poet Brian Reid.

When not captaining The Alchemists sonic ship, Will Lawton has made time for a number of other collaborations. Salt of The Earth is a lockdown project that saw him write, record and co-produce an album of meditative music that was the vehicle for pieces of original poetry that he gathered around him via means of a public appeal.

Most recently he met Argentinian guitarist Ludwig Mack via instagram, who had been left isolated in the UK after arriving hours before the first lockdown. Realising that they were geographical only a few miles away from each other, they collaborated on a 4 track EP called Heroes.

Will Lawton continues to create adventurous and seductive music both as an Alchemist and via all manner of collaborations and projects with other similarly restless creative souls.

“Melodic and inventive…..a truly breath-taking performance” Slap magazine

“Beautiful. Just beautiful.” BBC Radio Wiltshire

“The music is a gloriously unique and brilliantly exploratory” Greenman Publications

“Get your ears around some wonderful Americana” BBC Introducing

“Refreshing, fascinating and exciting. Perhaps this is what Tom O’Dell fronting Wilco would sound like if produced by Roni Size? Regardless of how chaotic this sounds, it works. I mean it really works.” The Ocelot Magazine

“Will Lawton weaves a tapestry of live piano with a voice that speaks of love and loss, truth and lies, the whole spectrum of this painful, yet magical existence we call life.” Ton Boon Dharma