Esco Williams: Momentum
The self confessed ‘Soul Powered Nerd’, Esco Williams, wears his stripes proud by bringing the anthemic nostalgia of 16bit electro and wrapping it into his own style of soulful and up tempo R&B, inspired by an early education of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Musiq Soulchild and Al Green to name a few.
Esco cut his creative teeth at the age of 17 with the Sense of Sound Choir, which led him to start writing his own material. In late 2011, he started working on his original material and performing a live show with an 8 person band in Liverpool. Esco quickly built up a strong following in his hometown and a leaked demo (Dreamin’) was play listed on 1XTRA for 5 weeks as support followed from Flava TV and Channel AKA.
Having built up a loyal and dedicated local following relatively quickly, Esco was able to crowd-fund for the recording of a series of live demos in Parr Street Studios, which were independently released in the UK with lead track ‘New Challenger’ peaking at #28 in the UK i-Tunes R&B charts. It’s debut airplay was on the Greg James show on BBC Radio 1 with lots of specialist support around the UK. The same live records got picked up by Japanese record label, P Vine Records, and were released in June 2013 selling over 1,000 copies in week 1.
His dedication and aptitude to his music and infectious personality has garnered Esco Williams the notoriety such creativity and work rate deserves, notably winning the MOBO UnSung competition 2012, being runner-up for MTV’s Brand New Unsigned for 2012 and voted by listeners as one of BBC 1XTRA’s Hot 10 for 2013 artists.
What separates Esco from his influences and piers is the ultra high energy and captivating presence of his live show, the likes only previously experienced with a much heavier or louder artist. He has opened for RZA, Dead Prez, Marcus Collins as well as touring with Vince Kidd. A headline show in February 2013 at the 02 Academy in Liverpool was a sell-out.
Esco is playing a number of festivals in the Summer of 2013 and is writing his own debut album material set for a 2014 release as well as songs for MiC LOWRY. He will also be launching his own clothing range. Esco is ready to put Liverpool 8 back on the map. Again.
Esco Williams will be using the funding to develop his music in the following ways:
- Writing new material
- Production, recording, mixing and mastering of new music in the studio
- Making of an Electronic Press Kit (EPK) for new music and artist info
- Marketing of a lead track
Esco Williams told us:
“When you carry a dream for as long as I have you get used to making big waves out of small puddles. Using rent money for studios is not cute but you do what you have to do. Being granted the MOMENTUM Fund this year couldn’t have came at a better time. I don’t have to slow down for anything or anybody”