Published in The Islander Magazine August 2014
Van Wilks teaming up with ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons on his next CD!
BOI Guitarist Van Wilks Teams Up With ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons!
Galveston-born songwriter, singer and blues-rock guitar player extraordinaire, Van Wilks, still plays the black Gibson Les Paul electric guitar his dad bought him in 1969, and he still carries with him stories told by his father about special times at places like Galveston’s world famous Balinese Room near where Wilks was born. “I’m a BOI (Born On the Island) circa 1951. My Parents went there for the JC Penny Company. Growing up I heard great stories from my Dad telling me how it used to be. My parents were in there one night in the early 50’s when the Texas Rangers came through the door and apparently, when that would happen, the band would start playing, “The Eyes of Texas are Upon You”, and they’d turn the spotlights on the Rangers.”
Though Wilks primarily grew up in the Lubbock and Brownwood areas of Texas, after his parents left Galveston in the 1960’s, Wilks’ connection to the Balinese didn’t end. His long time friend and recent musical collaborator, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, penned the Texas anthem, “Balinese” for the band’s Fandango album in 1975. A song Wilks and so many other Gulf Coast Texans proudly embrace as a reminder of where they come from. Wilks eventually played the club with his own band several times before it was lost to Hurricane Ike in 2008. “I'm very proud that I got to play the Balinese Room right before the hurricane took it down. It was a very eerie but wonderful experience for me to look over and, like in a movie, see my parents there. Galveston holds a rich history for me.”
Wilks met Gibbons while both were signed to Mercury Records in the 1970s. They became friends and occasionally shared song ideas but it was only recently after Gibbons and Wilks dug up an old cassette recording of a song called, “Drive By Lover”, did their collaborative efforts show up on a record. “Drive By Lover” appears as a bonus track on a limited edition Best Buy pressing of ZZ Top’s most recent album, “La Futura”. The song (Wilks’ version) will also be on the next Van Wilks CD, due out sometime in 2014.
Before Wilks began building his legendary guitar hero status in Austin, Texas in the 1970’s he was finishing high school in Brownwood, Texas and listening to the bands of the British Invasion like The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Cream, The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin, who had built much of their early success performing, and often rearranging, American blues songs that most people in America hadn’t heard much of. Wilks admits hearing George Harrison sing “Roll Over Beethoven” with the Beatles in the mid 60’s long before ever listening to Chuck Berry, the song’s creator, do it in 1956. The songs performed by these and other artists like Jimi Hendrix would serve as a primal influence for what would become Wilks’ own style of heavy rock-laced blues. “I saw Jimi Hendrix the first four times he came to Texas. I was 16 or 17… Phenomenal. Hendrix was a huge influence that can’t be denied. It’s always coming to the surface in my music. The holy trilogy for me would be Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck.”
Since recording his first album “Bombay Tears” in 1980, Van Wilks’ has toured the world, released four records and moved beyond household name recognition in his new hometown of Austin, Texas. In a city known for it’s musical prowess, Wilks’ was named, “Best Electric Guitarist” and “Best Acoustic Guitarist” by the Austin Chronicle in 2008 and has been inducted into the Chronicle’s Texas Music Hall Of Fame alongside the state’s most legendary talents, like Willie Nelson, Buddy Holly and Eric Johnson.
Despite his long-term staying power in the entertainment business, Wilks, like so many artists, admits to needing to find for new ways to distribute his music. “The business has radically changed. People are not buying physical product like they used to. I will be releasing this next album on CD. My first record came out on 8 track tape and vinyl. I still get people bringing me vinyl copies to sign. Every artist I know is rethinking how to approach selling music. But like I’ve said a million times, if I got into this business to make money, I’d have quit a long time ago.”
With an ever-present optimism, an outstanding new bass player, Galen Medlenka (profiled in 2013 in The Islander) and longtime drummer, Charlie Fountain, Van Wilks and his band are continuing to rock audiences with blues heavy riffs and power trio finesse. Wilks recently performed at the Pearland Crawfish Festival and San Leon’s 18th Street Pier and is planning shows at T-Bone Tom’s in Kemah, August 16th and September 13th.
No shows are set for Galveston at the time of publishing this article but Wilks is hoping to reconnect with the Island of his birth and perform his original brand of Texas blues-rock.
Look for Van Wilks show dates, recording and contact information at www.VanWilks.com
Zach Tate is a writer, photographer and musician. More Texas Music Profiles at www.ZachTate.com
Van Wilks Band L-R Van Wilks, Charlie Fountain, Galen Medlenka