The Bill Hilly Band (as The Bills were originally known) had its genesis as a living room workshop for international folk music in 1996. In a small house in Esquimalt, BC, two successful Canadian jazz and rock musicians, Marc Atkinson and Scott White, decided to explore some new (actually very old) musical territory. They took up new instruments, Marc the mandolin and Scott the fiddle, and used their musical prowess to embark on a tour around the fiddle music of Canada and the Old World. Soon they called up their friends and students, Ollie Swain (bass) and Paul Dowd (guitar at the time) and they all started jamming and learning folk tunes from other corners of the globe. At one of these jams, a guitar student of Marc's opened up his mouth and started singing. Thus it was that Chris Frye joined the family.
Without a name, this musical workshop did some performing, and, at an environmental law conference in November 1996, the name was conceived after a couple of beers (the primary form of payment in those formative days). The Bill Hilly Band was soon sawing out tunes at local Victoria clubs, playing an impassioned if somewhat loose mix of old-time, Celtic, Caribbean, Eastern-European, and mariachi music.
In Early 1997, Scott White secured a gig with the Cirque du Soleil show in Hamburg, Germany. At around the same time, the rest of the Bills decided to take Europe by storm with a nine-week busking tour. So it was that from May to July the remainder of the band (Scott was too tied up with the show to travel anywhere but Copenhagen) ended up making music in Strasbourg, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, Prague, and Strasbourg again. Staying with friends, getting clubs gigs where they could, and making people smile in the streets everywhere they went (except that cop in Copenhagen), the Bills in quartet form learned lessons that only the road can teach. It was a defining period for the group: they tightened up their tunes and their act.
Upon returning to Victoria, the Bills snapped up fiddler Calvin Cairns, and exploded onto Victoria's live music scene. Packed club dates were followed by local festival successes. The band started a recording project, working at Marc's house on an analogue 8-track machine, but the project moved slowly due to everyone's schedules and the unpredictable flow of life.
Soon the Bills were to lose their second founding member. In summer 1998, Ollie decided it was time to try a new city and a new project: he left for Winnipeg. It was a difficult blow for the band, as Swain had provided half of the lead vocals and had been a great source of energy for the band.
However, in walked the "Reverend" Bill Bass, Glen Manders. With talent, youth and a desire to learn on his side, he stepped into the Bills' fray just when they needed him, and the Bills went on to have great success in 1999 and early 2000. They played to standing ovations at festivals and concerts in and around Victoria, were featured on CBC radio in Victoria, had songs from their new CD played on a variety of national and regional CBC radio stations, and initiated a series of popular all-ages dances.
Then, in June 2000, with the CD project complete and the popularity of the band on the rise, Bill Fiddle II, Calvin, decided that he had done what he set out to do with the Bills, and that it was time to dedicate more time to his family and his career as a teacher. He stepped down and made room for the next generation of Bills: the incredible Beau Klaibert (Bill Beau - fiddle/vocals) and Adrian Dolan (Bill Fiddle III - fiddle/piano/accordion). These two young phenomenons leapt eagerly in and lifted the Bills musical standards to an even higher level. The band didn't miss a beat, playing to delighted audiences throughout the summer of 2000.
Now, with their first self-titled CD and the success and attention gained in the year 2000, the band is poised to take their unique blend of timeless acoustic music to new levels. The twenty-first century is sure to be full of success and adventure for the Bill Hilly Band. They invite you to come along for the party.
