Having played the likes of London, New York and Los Angeles a number of times for us already, Will Knox is somewhat of a Sofar veteran. This is unsurprising, though, for he could not be more ‘Sofar’. Whilst it is obvious, for example, that his honest acoustic musings could not be better suited to our typically intimate settings, it is also his mindset that makes us such a perfect match. He, too, likes to do things a little differently – curry is listed as the sole ‘band interest’ on his Facebook Page (and rightly so), and his video for Cog in the Machine, involving scissors which grow your hair and singing lyrics back to front, can only be described as near-on creative and technical genius. The resulting nomination for an Independent Music Award in the ‘Short Video’ category being justified, then. More importantly, so too does Will Knox believe that, despite all its flaws, the music industry still has much to give, and that it’s simply a matter of having a root around in the right places to find the diamonds in the rough. Like he kindly said at a London Sofar he recently played (if you haven’t already, take a look at the above video), “It’s funny that people say the music industry’s in trouble but then you have nights like this, so it’s obviously not.”
As if doing his bit to help the music industry grow to better times wasn’t enough, Knox has also recently turned his efforts to doing the same for the Horn of Africa; he penned the lyrics for Sami Yusuf’s singleForgotten Promises, a collaboration with the World Food Programme, created and sold in the hope that they can scale-up their operations in that part of the world.
Somehow in between helping to save all sorts of worlds, Knox has had the time to figure out how he can go about releasing his material in a new novel way. Whilst he wisely stuck with tradition for his debut, The Matador & The Acrobat (Shred News voted it to be one of the ‘Top Ten Albums of 2009’), he presented his follow-up EP, Lexicon, in a way that was novel in more ways than one – as a comic book (with a download code inside), which is now available as a free iPad and iPhone app.
Innovative. Alternative. Creativity.
Will Knox’s #DreamSofar would be comprised of:
‘There's not a lot I wouldn't give to see Nick Drake play one show. What a beautiful Sofar show that might have been.’
‘Just started getting in to Serge Gainsbourg. Fortunately there's loads of great videos of him on YouTube, but seeing him live must have been fascinating.’
‘Enough said, really.’
‘Big admirer of his songwriting. Amazing lyricist. Hoping to see him play in March.’
‘My favourite new find; lovely voice and songs.’
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