Gareth Williams (musician)

Gareth Williams is a musician and songwriter from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He is among the most gifted and prolific songwriters to come out of Winnipeg in the past decade, and has his name attached to over a dozen records and EPs that were released in the early and mid-2000s. He is known for the alarming mixture of sweetness and darkness that pervades his completely original lyrical style.

His major project during this period was The Horribly Awfuls, with whom he made five records in four years. He also did a number of smaller projects with friends and collaborators, including two split solo records with Tyler Shipley, a split solo EP with Matt McLennan, a collaboration with Kevin Scott and a split-cassette with Boat!. In addition, he made a four-song EP with a band called Sacred Feminine in Wrexham,Wales, and appeared as a guest on countless projects including The Consumer Goods, Cone Five, and The Poets.

In addition to being a musician, Gareth has also operated a small independent music label called Grumpy Cloud Records which currently releases most work by Gareth and his close friends. He currently lives in Calgary, Alberta and is working on a new project called The Pantymelters.

Selected Discography

* 2007 - The Horribly Awfuls - The Untimely Death of...
* 2006 - Gareth Williams and Tyler Shipley - Thanks For Nothing, Mucho Windbag
* 2006 - Gareth Williams and Kevin Scott - Balls, Balls, Balls, Volume 1
* 2006 - Gareth Williams and Matt McLennan - A Fawn Portrait...
* 2005 - The Horribly Awfuls - If the Night don't Bite?
* 2005 - Gareth Williams and Tyler Shipley - Self Doubt and Gospel Shout!
* 2005 - The Sacred Feminine - All Praise Be the Dry Hump EP
* 2004 - The Horribly Awfuls - Le Perve Calamity
* 2004 - Gareth Williams - Choose a Side, The Wrong Side
* 2004 - Bridge and Stick/Boat! - Split Cassette
* 2003 - Gareth Williams - The Answer Is There Is No Answer
* 2003 - The Horribly Awfuls - We Fight Like the Crips and Bloods
* 2003 - The Horribly Awfuls - Spring Has Sprung

Popular Lyrics

"Sometimes I have thoughts that aren't as dumb as I look." (The Knight of Resignation)

"Can we be at peace in pieces? Someone ask the corpses." (Porch Swings and Pee in a Bucket)

"If my baby's born a dandy, I'd be a real proud daddy. I'd wear it on a t-shirt." (Dandy)

"He'll light his next cigarette with one he hasn't finished yet, and think his head feels better in bed." (Dandy)

"Here I sit, I'm heartbroken - the chicken I've been choking has gone limp from exhuastion." (Dandy)

"I don't speak the language, god I need a kiss, to moisturize my insides and my upper lip." (The Loneliest Moustache in Town)

"Fuck them rich white boys, with their high-powered toys, oh, Kofi. They wanna scorch the earth, to increase their worth, oh, Kofi. Kofi Annan, take my hand and we'll fly away." (Kofi Annan)

"I'm quick with the knife, I'll cut you out of my life." (Whose Heartstrings Who Pullin'?)

"Cannon cocked, locked and ready. Tuesday I've got tea with Teddy. So Wednesday, the world will die." (Dutch Elm Disease)

"Tire swing, my best friend... watched it meet it's dead end. It got cut down, Dutch elm disease. Who can you count on, if not old trees?" (Dutch Elm Disease)

"Tell me that you'll be there, to fix and maintain my wheelchair." (This Dance)

"Juliana, you sing so pretty, when I listen to your songs I feel less shitty." (The Muglies in my Stomach)

"If yer butt's itchin' for a man, you can do it all night if you can, cos I've had a word with the Man." (Let My People Blow)

"Lift me up to where the sun can burn me a happy heart." (Burn Me a Happy Heart)

"September 12th, my world's the same - I don't go to parties, the music's lame." (Porch Swings and Pee in a Bucket)

"Brown blood is warm, Desert Storm gunfire, God plugged His ears, all these years of gunfire." (Gunfire)

"How scared, how holy! The feeding tube. You're braindead and jelly, but we're not through with you." (We Open With a Hymn)

"'Hey we're gonna get you, fag!' Straight guys are such a drag, swimming in the dumbshit sea." (Bee Yourself)

"My love is a stinky love, is that something you could be part of?" (My Love is a Stinky Love)

"Pour the bleach in my ear, to burn out my brain. And stick a fork in my throat to mirror her pain. Would she kiss me once? With her salty tongue?" (Black in June)

"Curse this circumstance, with a fruity waiter in tight pants at the all-redneck squaredance." (All Redneck Squaredance)

"Wrap your legs around my halo." (Wanted That Baby)

"Drop me off in Africa, my stomach's bigger than my heart." (Rubber Ring to the Ivory Coast)

"It never ends, you know. One day I'll be a father, and in the pitch black snow, little Billy'll be a martyr." (Quixotin)

"In my diary today, I drew a happy face in lieu of my name, who'm I to complain?" (Quixotin)

"I was suck a fuck, my poor old mom, my poor old mom! Even now, cos I'm still here, moody and queer." (Heart of Tin)

"I'm sick with the flu, now what can I do with all these pictures I crayoned for you?" (Spirograph)

"If he was a baby, I'd be his diaper. Rain on his windshield, I'd be the wiper. Got a full-scale poster over my bed, and every song he ever wrote is playing in my head." (I Heart Matt McLennan)

"If I ever invited a girl to my bed, all his pretty songs pretty dancing in my head, and I hope he goes on livin' long after I'm dead." (I Heart Matt McLennan)

"Hey Tyler, you gotta promise you won't go all Dylan Thomas on me." (Shipley's Liver)

"All my friends are cowboys, ride 'em, rope 'em cowboys. Well they dance like men, but they kiss like women. My knees are weak and my head is spinnin." (All My Friends Are Cowboys)

"The world that gave me methane, going bald and back pain also gave me Juliana Hatfield, circa 1994." (Knight of Resignation) [http://www.myspace.com/thehorriblyawfuls 1]

Links

* [http://www.myspace.com/thehorriblyawfuls The Horribly Awfuls]
* [http://www.myspace.com/thepantymelters The Pantymelters]
* [http://www.grumpycloud.com Grumpy Cloud Records]
* [http://www.coniferarecords.com Conifera Records]
* [http://www.myspace.com/theconsumergoods The Consumer Goods]
* [http://www.myspace.com/mattmclennan Matt McLennan]