Best known as the lead singer of Seattle's enormously popular bandz Aiden, wiL Francis has embarked on his first-ever solo project under the pseudonym William Control. After several years of success with Aiden, he found himself on the precipice of personal disaster. But instead of succumbing to drink (he's sober), suicide, or worse, shitty emo ballads, he has unleashed his inner drum machine and transferred his anguish into a record filled with deliciously dark, undeniably '80s, four-on-the-floor dance hits.
Auren Suicide: First of all, on the record, I have to apologize and say that the last time I tried to interview you for Suicide Girls, I lost the tape.
wiL Francis: Yeah, dude! That sucked!
AS: I know! Anyway, that had to have been about three years ago, just before [Aiden's first record] Nightmare Anatomy came out on Victory Records. I've known you for that long now, and I was wondering, do you feel like the same person you were back then?
WF: No. I definitely do not feel like the same person, at all. I'm not as nave to the world around me as I was. We just got signed, our first record was coming out, we just started touring full time and everything was fresh and exciting. I've been on tour, literally since then, and I've seen a lot of fucked up shit. Don't get me wrong, I've also seen some amazing shit. I'm not trying to say that everything is fucked. Even though it is. [laughs]
AS: It is? [laughs] Just kidding. You know the songs on this new record are a little more sinister. Did you intend for William Control to be your darker alter-ego?
WF: This character of William Control was a manifestation of things that happened in my life. I don't know if any of it was intentional. I just started writing songs and this is what came out. In a way I feel that I am William Control a lot of the time, especially going through some things that I've experienced recently. It seems as if every few years everything falls apart for me. Three or four years will pass and everything will come crashing down all at once.
AS: So the sound of William Control came directly from this time in your life.
WF: Yes. From Nightmare Anatomy to [the E.P] Rain in Hell to [Aiden's latest album] Conviction there is a drastic change in sound, Conviction being, for me, really kind of happy and upbeat.
At the time that I wrote that record I'd been on tour for a couple of years, I'd met my heroes, I'd been to countries that I never, ever, thought that I would get to go to. When I wrote Conviction I was in such a place of happiness. Plus, I was in love, whatever the fuck that means. It came through in the music.
AS: But this record...
WF: But this record was written from desperation, hopelessness.
AS: Was making this record cathartic? Did it help you let go?
WF: It totally did. It was definitely cathartic, therapeutic. At the time when I started the William Control record I was in such a place of depression. And I don't have a vice that I use to cover it up like alcohol, or drugs. I have nothing to cover up my despair. I was going to tie a belt around my neck or I was going to make a fucking record. Those were my options. And so once again, music saved life, like it's done over and over again.
AS: Whereas Aiden sometimes gives a really positive message, William Control doesn't really go there.
WF: Well, it's a whole different beast. I've always tried to use Aiden as a way to unify the kids. The loners, the ones who feel like losers. I've played in a few other bands and tried to do the same thing but it just hasn't worked out as well as it has with Aiden.
With William Control it's just so different. I didn't write these songs to convey a message. I really don't give a fuck if you like this or not. I didn't write it for anybody but myself. And just the fact that Victory decided to put it out is cool. But I really didn't write it to sell records, I didn't write it to become a rock star. I just wrote it because I was going to die.
AS: Well, that desperation really seems to speak to your creativity. It's a great record.
WF: Thank you. I feel like I'm becoming the artist that I've always wanted to be.
AS: William Control also has a lot more to do with sex than Aiden does, which is funny 'cause you wrote it coming out of, I guess, falling in love.
WF: The illusion of falling in love. I don't want to say I had a broken heart, because broken hearts are for assholes.
AS: Shut up! [laughs]
WF: [laughs] I just suffered from an illusion. You know, what bummed me out the most is that I had a plan for my life and my plan got fucked up because I'm so selfish and I think that everything should go my way. I got bummed, which just is totally ridiculous.
AS: Tell me about the, uh, sex sounds in the song "Strangers."
WF: The sex sounds! I'm not at liberty to say on the grounds that it might incriminate me in the court of law.
AS: Oh, whatever.
WF: No, I'm just joking. I'll tell you about the porn sounds.
AS: Yay!
WF: I have my own studio up in the mountains where my dad lives in Washington. And one night I went down to a shop in the little town.
AS: And...
WF: And I bought about $300 worth of porn movies. That's a lot of porn! And I sat in the studio for about 12 hours straight and pulled audio samples. And I swear to God, if someone was there to see this, they would have thought I was the craziest person on planet earth.
AS: Ha!
WF: I kept imagining, 'cause my dad was home, that he was going to walk in to the studio, see me with these videos of chicks screaming, and think, "my God, my fucking son is out of his mind."
AS: He didn't walk in right?
WF: No!
AS: Actually I think that's pretty normal...for boys at home watching porn to be freaking out that their parents might catch them!
WF: Here's the thing, though, I'm not a porn guy! I mean I've seen things online and pictures and blah, blah, but I'm not the type of guy who has a porn collection at home. It was totally foreign to me.
AS: So do you have a new appreciation for it since your editing spree?
WF: I do have a new appreciation for it!
AS: The songs "Beautiful Loser" and "Stranger" both have lyrics about "killing time." I was just thinking about you being on the road for the past three years and, you know, I think bands have more killing time to do than anyone, and that's how they get in trouble-with girls, with drugs, out of sheer boredom.
WF: Totally. I mean there's 23 hours in the day that you have to kill.
AS: There's that line in "Strangers," you sing, "we're just strangers killing time". It seems like it's about being with people, or girls who you don't care about.
WF: That line is kind of in reference to love.
AS: Yeah?
WF: We fall in love with people who are essentially strangers, and one day we wake up and we realize that not only do we not have any idea who this person is but also that we fucking hate them. I guess that's just my own personal experience. I don't know if other people can relate to that. Maybe they can, with this day and age, and the divorce rate. I grew up in a broken home. My dad was gone long before I could even generate my own thought process. The line in the song, it's really just me going "fuck everything." [laughs] I guess. I don't know, I mean...
AS: I get it. Do you think that growing up in a broken home made you more susceptible to falling blindly in love? Is it something you've always missed?
WF: Totally. One hundred percent. I've fallen in love so many times. It seems like, fuck, such a stupid thing to do. Because I do it and then I'm like, "what am I doing? I don't even like this person." You know?
AS: Yeah.
WF: [laughs] I'm such an idiot, but it definitely stems from how I grew up and what happened to me as a child. I mean, I had a pretty good childhood in comparison to some kids, but there was something missing straight from the get-go. That's exactly why I feel like I want it so bad now. I want to make a family that's real and tangible, and a family where nobody takes off.
AS: Do you feel unconditional love from anyone? Your band maybe?
WF: I do. I do feel that unconditional love from my band. Without those guys I wouldn't have any of the experiences that I've had in the past five years.
AS: Are they really supportive of this, even though it's a solo project?
WF: They are totally supportive.
AS: They know you needed it?
WF: Yeah.
AS: What's your idea of a perfect day?
WF: My perfect day would be sitting around the house, strumming the guitar, reading Oscar Wilde, watching films...
AS: I'm getting a super Oscar Wilde vibe from William Control. He's like an old-school Victorian dandy.
WF: He's definitely been one of the big influences on me, the mantra of what I'm trying to accomplish with this. I don't want to make something that fits into a scene. I don't want to dress up like someone else. I just want to fucking make art. And that's it.
AS: That's it?
WF: Yes. Art for art's sake.
Hate Culture, William Control's first album, arrives in stores October 28th. More info and tour dates are can be found on the William Control MySpace page.
Auren Suicide: First of all, on the record, I have to apologize and say that the last time I tried to interview you for Suicide Girls, I lost the tape.
wiL Francis: Yeah, dude! That sucked!
AS: I know! Anyway, that had to have been about three years ago, just before [Aiden's first record] Nightmare Anatomy came out on Victory Records. I've known you for that long now, and I was wondering, do you feel like the same person you were back then?
WF: No. I definitely do not feel like the same person, at all. I'm not as nave to the world around me as I was. We just got signed, our first record was coming out, we just started touring full time and everything was fresh and exciting. I've been on tour, literally since then, and I've seen a lot of fucked up shit. Don't get me wrong, I've also seen some amazing shit. I'm not trying to say that everything is fucked. Even though it is. [laughs]
AS: It is? [laughs] Just kidding. You know the songs on this new record are a little more sinister. Did you intend for William Control to be your darker alter-ego?
WF: This character of William Control was a manifestation of things that happened in my life. I don't know if any of it was intentional. I just started writing songs and this is what came out. In a way I feel that I am William Control a lot of the time, especially going through some things that I've experienced recently. It seems as if every few years everything falls apart for me. Three or four years will pass and everything will come crashing down all at once.
AS: So the sound of William Control came directly from this time in your life.
WF: Yes. From Nightmare Anatomy to [the E.P] Rain in Hell to [Aiden's latest album] Conviction there is a drastic change in sound, Conviction being, for me, really kind of happy and upbeat.
At the time that I wrote that record I'd been on tour for a couple of years, I'd met my heroes, I'd been to countries that I never, ever, thought that I would get to go to. When I wrote Conviction I was in such a place of happiness. Plus, I was in love, whatever the fuck that means. It came through in the music.
AS: But this record...
WF: But this record was written from desperation, hopelessness.
AS: Was making this record cathartic? Did it help you let go?
WF: It totally did. It was definitely cathartic, therapeutic. At the time when I started the William Control record I was in such a place of depression. And I don't have a vice that I use to cover it up like alcohol, or drugs. I have nothing to cover up my despair. I was going to tie a belt around my neck or I was going to make a fucking record. Those were my options. And so once again, music saved life, like it's done over and over again.
AS: Whereas Aiden sometimes gives a really positive message, William Control doesn't really go there.
WF: Well, it's a whole different beast. I've always tried to use Aiden as a way to unify the kids. The loners, the ones who feel like losers. I've played in a few other bands and tried to do the same thing but it just hasn't worked out as well as it has with Aiden.
With William Control it's just so different. I didn't write these songs to convey a message. I really don't give a fuck if you like this or not. I didn't write it for anybody but myself. And just the fact that Victory decided to put it out is cool. But I really didn't write it to sell records, I didn't write it to become a rock star. I just wrote it because I was going to die.
AS: Well, that desperation really seems to speak to your creativity. It's a great record.
WF: Thank you. I feel like I'm becoming the artist that I've always wanted to be.
AS: William Control also has a lot more to do with sex than Aiden does, which is funny 'cause you wrote it coming out of, I guess, falling in love.
WF: The illusion of falling in love. I don't want to say I had a broken heart, because broken hearts are for assholes.
AS: Shut up! [laughs]
WF: [laughs] I just suffered from an illusion. You know, what bummed me out the most is that I had a plan for my life and my plan got fucked up because I'm so selfish and I think that everything should go my way. I got bummed, which just is totally ridiculous.
AS: Tell me about the, uh, sex sounds in the song "Strangers."
WF: The sex sounds! I'm not at liberty to say on the grounds that it might incriminate me in the court of law.
AS: Oh, whatever.
WF: No, I'm just joking. I'll tell you about the porn sounds.
AS: Yay!
WF: I have my own studio up in the mountains where my dad lives in Washington. And one night I went down to a shop in the little town.
AS: And...
WF: And I bought about $300 worth of porn movies. That's a lot of porn! And I sat in the studio for about 12 hours straight and pulled audio samples. And I swear to God, if someone was there to see this, they would have thought I was the craziest person on planet earth.
AS: Ha!
WF: I kept imagining, 'cause my dad was home, that he was going to walk in to the studio, see me with these videos of chicks screaming, and think, "my God, my fucking son is out of his mind."
AS: He didn't walk in right?
WF: No!
AS: Actually I think that's pretty normal...for boys at home watching porn to be freaking out that their parents might catch them!
WF: Here's the thing, though, I'm not a porn guy! I mean I've seen things online and pictures and blah, blah, but I'm not the type of guy who has a porn collection at home. It was totally foreign to me.
AS: So do you have a new appreciation for it since your editing spree?
WF: I do have a new appreciation for it!
AS: The songs "Beautiful Loser" and "Stranger" both have lyrics about "killing time." I was just thinking about you being on the road for the past three years and, you know, I think bands have more killing time to do than anyone, and that's how they get in trouble-with girls, with drugs, out of sheer boredom.
WF: Totally. I mean there's 23 hours in the day that you have to kill.
AS: There's that line in "Strangers," you sing, "we're just strangers killing time". It seems like it's about being with people, or girls who you don't care about.
WF: That line is kind of in reference to love.
AS: Yeah?
WF: We fall in love with people who are essentially strangers, and one day we wake up and we realize that not only do we not have any idea who this person is but also that we fucking hate them. I guess that's just my own personal experience. I don't know if other people can relate to that. Maybe they can, with this day and age, and the divorce rate. I grew up in a broken home. My dad was gone long before I could even generate my own thought process. The line in the song, it's really just me going "fuck everything." [laughs] I guess. I don't know, I mean...
AS: I get it. Do you think that growing up in a broken home made you more susceptible to falling blindly in love? Is it something you've always missed?
WF: Totally. One hundred percent. I've fallen in love so many times. It seems like, fuck, such a stupid thing to do. Because I do it and then I'm like, "what am I doing? I don't even like this person." You know?
AS: Yeah.
WF: [laughs] I'm such an idiot, but it definitely stems from how I grew up and what happened to me as a child. I mean, I had a pretty good childhood in comparison to some kids, but there was something missing straight from the get-go. That's exactly why I feel like I want it so bad now. I want to make a family that's real and tangible, and a family where nobody takes off.
AS: Do you feel unconditional love from anyone? Your band maybe?
WF: I do. I do feel that unconditional love from my band. Without those guys I wouldn't have any of the experiences that I've had in the past five years.
AS: Are they really supportive of this, even though it's a solo project?
WF: They are totally supportive.
AS: They know you needed it?
WF: Yeah.
AS: What's your idea of a perfect day?
WF: My perfect day would be sitting around the house, strumming the guitar, reading Oscar Wilde, watching films...
AS: I'm getting a super Oscar Wilde vibe from William Control. He's like an old-school Victorian dandy.
WF: He's definitely been one of the big influences on me, the mantra of what I'm trying to accomplish with this. I don't want to make something that fits into a scene. I don't want to dress up like someone else. I just want to fucking make art. And that's it.
AS: That's it?
WF: Yes. Art for art's sake.
Hate Culture, William Control's first album, arrives in stores October 28th. More info and tour dates are can be found on the William Control MySpace page.
nicole_powers:
Best known as the lead singer of Seattle's enormously popular bandz Aiden, wiL Francis has embarked on his first-ever solo project under the pseudonym William Control. After several years of success with Aiden, he found himself on...