Color Red · DJ Williams’ Shots Fired – “The Last Chance” | Color Red Music
Over the past few months, I’ve spilled a bit of virtual ink writing about the Plainfield, NJ-born, Los Angeles, CA-based singer/songwriter, composer. producer, guitarist and bandleader DJ Williams. Throughout his nearly two decade career, Williams has developed and maintained a reputation for being both incredibly prolific and for being a highly sought-after collaborator: the Plainfield-born, Los Angeles-based artist is the founder of the Richmond-based band DJ Williams Projekt; the hip-hop/R&B act The Breaks; the acoustic duo Williams & Jones; and he’s probably best known for playing in the critically acclaimed, San Diego-based funk/jam-band act Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe.
Unsurprisingly, as a result of his various creative projects, Williams has toured around the planet, playing in clubs of all sizes, as well as the international festival circuit, playing some of the largest and most prestigious festivals across the US, Canada and Europe — and he’s shared stages with the likes of John Legend, Dave Matthews Band, John Oates, Warren Haynes, Ivan Neville, Big Daddy Kane, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Soulive, Levon Helm, Slightly Stoopid, Robert Randolph, Slick Rick and a growing list of others.
Interestingly, as a singer/songwriter, composer and bandleader, Williams’ work is generally centered around compelling melody, an eclectic musical palette and deliberate and careful songwriting, revealing his desire to push new sonic and stylistic boundaries. Now, as you may recall, the Plainfield-born, Los Angeles-based artist’s latest project DJ Williams Shots Fired features members of Dave Matthews Band, Lenny Kravitz‘s backing band, Slightly Stooped, Trey Anastasio Band, Lyrics Born, Soulive, Greyboy Allstars and others — including Dan Africano (bass), Kowan Turner (drums), Joe Tatton (electric organ), Scott Flynn (trombone), Nick Gerlach (sax) and André Mali (trumpet) and a rotating cast of collaborators and associates.
Building upon a growing profile, the act’s forthcoming effort is a concept effort conceived as a four-part soundtrack for an imaginary movie is slated for a Fall 2020 release through Color Red Records. So far I’ve written about two of the EP’s singles. the ambitious yet funky “Iron Fist,” which features elements of psych rock, jam band rock, arena rock and funk depicts a character known as “The Samurai,” represented through Williams’ slashing guitar work — and “Sunset Trails,” a strutting, hip-hop inspired take on Ennio Morricone/Spaghetti Western soundtracks that was written as a homage to the black and white Westerns a young Williams used to watch with his father. The EP’s fourth and final single is the strutting and upbeat banger “The Last Chance,” which is centered around a bluesy guitar line, enormous horns and a breakneck backbeat. “This track is the 4th and final vision of this cinematic series representing the Villain. I hope to do something like this once again just because of the challenge and how much fun it was to complete from beginning to end,” Williams says in press notes. “We got the exact sound I wanted from Color Red too!”