Katie Wills

About Katie Wills

I am a freelance musician, vocalist, pianist, songwriter, community musician and facilitator, tutor, session musician, wedding and events performer as well as a budding producer/sound designer.

I am currently studying in my 3rd of the BA Commercial Music course at the University of the West of Scotland in Ayr and have also studied a HNC in Musical Theatre at New College Lanarkshire in Motherwell, a HNC-HND in Music at The Academy of Music and Sound in Glasgow, and have also completed a Introduction to Photography, also at New College Lanarkshire, and online courses in Understanding Autism and an accredited Meditation Practitioner course. I am currently working on my 3rd year project, Rock.Con Scotland, a pop up convention for the Rock and Metal community in Scotland. There will be two events, with the first in Edinburgh in March and the second in April. The aim of the events is to provide and facilitate a networking, collaborative, creative and educational platform for creatives, industry professionals and fans within this space.

I currently work as a solo performer for weddings, functions, pubs, clubs, bowling clubs and other events, as well as performing with my wedding band, Cassien, as a vocalist/pianist. As well as this, I also front my band, Artax, as the lead vocalist and lyricist. Artax release a yearly album as well as music videos etc, and have also supported bands such as Starbenders, Tiberius, She Burns Red, Emarosa, LeBrock and more, at venues such as The Cathouse, The Garage, Audio, The Classic Grand etc. They have also played their own headline shows in Scotland and further afield down south. Their single, The Hand That Feeds, from their most recent album, Eternally Grateful, was played on Planet Rock. Artax will also be playing at Trailblazer Weekender on the 24th of February this year, with the chance of then going on to play Call of the Wild Festival in May.

I also had my own solo project for a while, under the name Ceiti. I released a few singles, with an accompanying video for my first single, Blue Roses, which also had air play on BBC Radio. My third single, Flower Child, was a collaborative project between myself and other Scottish musicians, as a charity single to raise money for SAMH and WWF UK. I was also awarded funding by Young Scot's Nurturing Time to Shine Fund to record an EP, of which I will be looking to complete this year. I have collaborated with other artists, musicians and producers on a variety of projects, including Ruadh, Divide and Rule, The Morning After Club and the Cover to Cover project (an initiative to bring more awareness to gender inequality in the industry), led by Fiona Liddell.

I also work as a freelance tutor with The Sound Lab, a Glasgow based music charity providing free music tuition and workshops to communties across Glasgow. I have also tutored and delivered workshops with organisations such as InTune Music Tuition, Rookie Rockstars, Nu Moves Dance Studios, CultureNL, Riverside Music College, MGR Music Tuition, Andrew Walker School of Music. I have also delivered songwriting workshops to Wellbeing Works, an employability charity based in Duddingston, Edinburgh, as well as a songwriting and musical improvisational workshop with Kinning Park Complex.

I have built up a steady bank of recording work, from external freelance work to Fiverr and SoundBetter clients, writing lyrics, writing/recording/producing vocals, piano melodies, instrumental parts and producing fuller tracks. I have also produced my own meditation tracks and sometimes, also record voiceovers for ads, animations etc. I also have a growing passion for production and sound design and am currently working on building my skills with this.