Ask Billy Atwell where he’s from and you’re likely to get a number of responses, mostly theorizing he arrived in New York from West Virginia via the west Texas town of El Paso (to paraphrase Marty Robbins, one of Atwell’s influences and heroes.) Although mostly recognized as an explosive and dynamic drummer, Atwell actually started his musical career in eighth grade, delving into aspects of composition and guitar with various punk bands. Later as a junior in high school, he would sneak into college bars to hook up with similar groups composed of English, Business and Law majors.
Over the next few years Atwell earned his musically diverse chops spanning the globe, from West Virginia to Europe, and back to the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Along the road he blasted away in various rock outfits (th' Inbred/Rhythm Pigs), composed for student films and freelanced his drum skills. It's fair to say Atwell has damn near performed every genre of music including country music in desperate Southwestern honky tonks, rhythm and blues in East coast roadhouses, and dance-hall reggae and cocktail jazz in Rhode Island colleges and yacht clubs.
Atwell has also explored musical venues for the stage, from Shakespeare to New York revivals of the musicals HAIR (1998) and GODSPELL (2000) with significant side trips into the eclectic and avant-garde. He accompanied poet/performance artist Jose Torres Tama and produced a CD of his spoken word pieces. Currently, Atwell is seeking to expand his presence into the venue of “filmic sound-scapes.” These mediums include art installations, actual movies, video game scores, and more projects as inventive as SAFFRON, a 2004 collaboration performed at Lincoln Center in association with the Juilliard School. Other participating composers included Phillip Glass, The Kronos Quartet, KODO and John Zorn.
To enhance his scoring efforts, Atwell has studied Music for Film and Video at New York University with Bob Garardi. He continues to study orchestration and arrangement with Juilliard School of Music graduate Edgar David Grana. The result was award-winning efforts in the 2004 Redgate Productions documentary film “Secrets of Redgate” and a Jersey City Museum stage production of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic “The Scarlet Letter.” Atwell has also studied frame drums with virtuoso Glen Velez and drum set with the enigmatic Billy Ward.
Although Atwell is still working on scores he has recently opened AMP Audio in Hoboken, NJ. AMP Audio is a niche recording studio “specializing in the development of singer/songwriters.” Current projects include Joe Condiracci (who was one of the last artists legendary producer Tom Dowd worked with) and Tree, the vocalist from the NY based rock band The Outside. Recently completed CD’s include in.times.of.silence’s “Rain” e.p. and Scoop Slone’s “Sunday Sunday” e.p. Atwell is actively seeking backers/partners to start a label specializing in releasing “e.p. only” CD’s of his 5 song singer/songwriter collaborations.
All of this contributes to honing his ever-growing body of experience. Atwell has a deep concern for musical roots, and constantly seeks out the foundations of music genres often reaching back to those performers no longer remembered by the general public. While he admits Kiss, Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin were catalysts in his wanting to play music (Kiss Alive! was his "Beatles on Ed Sullivan experience"), Atwell also adds that it’s not uncommon for him to be spinning the likes of Godflesh, Beethoven, Blind Willie Johnson, Patsy Cline or Miles Davis at any given moment. "I’ve never been limited by labels or genres. It’s always been about the most intense voice and the reckless pursuit of the true Sound Innovators."
