★ WHO IS WILLIE CORTEZ ?

Willie is a Paris based singer / songwriter / producer and film score composer.

His debut album named FARSUCT (Delabel / EMI Music), which can be described as 'Future Funk', was released in january 2004 to critical acclaim. Things took a turn in 2006 when he founded 'Seppuku Paradigm' with Alex Cortés. The pair went on to score four full feature films (Pascal Laugier's MARTYRS amongst others). In 2010 he won the 'best original soundtrack' award at Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival, which he shared with his brother Alex, for their work on 'RED NIGHTS' a french / hong-kong production, directed by Laurent Courtiaud & Julien Carbon.

Today, ten years after FARSUCT, Willie is back to his first love with a new set of songs he wrote, composed, produced and performed as a solo act. One of these new songs 'Note To Self' will be given as a reward to Kiss Bankers exclusively in the form of a 7 inch limited edition vinyl disc.

On stage he is joined by 'Babyshambles' original guitarist Patrick Walden and dancer Emilie Camacho who has worked with artists such as 'Stromae' ('Papaoutai' music video).

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★ THE EXCLUSIVE 7 INCH VINYL RELEASE

For this very special occasion we are releasing the song 'NOTE TO SELF' on a 7 inch vinyl.

☛ 150 units limited edition, with stencil painted artwork, numbered by hand.

☛ Exclusively available to donators through Kiss Kiss Bank Bank .

☛ The 150 record sleeves are all unique and different.Put together they form ONE complete piece of art (stylized stencil anatomical heart).

There will be no other release of this song digital or otherwise until the full OMNIA DIMITTENTUR record release.

★ THE LIVE BAND LINE-UP (click on name for bio):

Willie Cortez - Vocals / Drums / Keyboards / Machines

Emilie Camacho (Stromae) - Stage Performer / Dancer / Percussion

Patrick Walden (Babyshambles / Baxter Dury) - Guitars

★ WILLIE CORTEZ - OMNIA DIMITTENTUR - THE STORY BEHIND IT:

On the night of April 20, 2014, I stepped out the door of the red brick desacralized church known as Greenmount Recording Studios in Leeds, UK, carrying with me the definitive mixes of my newest and most personal work to date.

The carefully picked six songs I had been working on for a while, alone in my underground recording studio in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, turned into a full fledged record that week, with the help of Lee Smith and Jamie Lockhart, who poured their hearts into it and mixed until their 1970's MCI console literally caught fire. The NME journalist who was on the premises that day can testify to that.

We had a record... from feelings to thoughts to words to sound. Crystallized.

And now itʼs here... Master tapes on a table and Iʼm staring at them. Whatʼs next? Makes you want to stop and look back for a minute.

I have come a long way since my debut album got released ten years ago under the auspices of the late EMI Records.

It’s been a long and rough ride albeit interesting and mind-bending. I have learned... a lot. I have grown up. Both on a deep, personal level and musically. All of which is intertwined anyway. Ten years.

Three thousand six hundred and fifty two point forty two days of which there were good ones filled with laughter and hope... Life though, as we all should know, is like a roller coaster ride.

Fall of 2011. A bad week turned into a bad month, which grew into an even worse couple of years.

Shit really hit the fan and I found myself standing at the edge of the cliff. Dizzy from pain, feeling crazy, lost and abandoned.

A classic Life moment. Darkness. No flashlight.

Either you die inside or you wake up to whatever lays at the bottom of your soul to illuminate the path and slowly find your way back home.

So I started writing again, but in a different way this time. Not for anyone to hear. No message. No purpose. No plan. Just write. Do not think. Just listen to the music... and sing.

How these songs ended up track by track on Lee and Jamie’s mixing console in Leeds I am not even entirely sure of.

Time is a healer they say.

I carried my cross. I forgave myself for the things I did wrong. I turned negative into positive.

Writing, performing, recording and producing everything on my own, often using unconventional techniques, it was a sleep deprived and on the verge of a massive burnout, almost translucent shape that knocked on Lee Smith’s door in Armley, Leeds, that fateful day.

I introduced myself. We exchanged a few words about the songs to be mixed. Then just talked about Life.

I told him I wanted to name the record ‘OMNIA DIMITTENTUR’ which is Latin for ‘All Is Forgiven’.

Cut.

★ FRIENDS AND HELPERS - (Non exhaustive list of the great folks currently working or associated with the project)

Lee Smith & Jamie Lockhart at Greenmount Recording Studios, Leeds, UK (Mix / Additional Production)

Robin Veret & Dimitri Gochgarian at REZ Creative Labs, Montreal, Canada (Teasers / Music Videos)

Marc Obin, Paris, France (Teasers / Music Videos / EPK)

Danila Luppino, London, UK (Visual Designer / Art Director)

Benoît Ciattoni at C&C Agency, Paris, France (Graphic design)

Christi Johnson, Brooklyn, NY (Designer)

Virginie Corfa, Paris, France (Make-up Artist)

Jérôme Bach, Paris, France (Sound Engineering)

Thomas Ollivier, London, UK (Senior Creative / PR Consulting)

Emmanuel Antonio Perret, Paris, France (Neogène Music / Consulting)

Laurent Bizot, Paris, France (Legal)

La Casa Musicale, Perpignan, France (Artist Residency)

WILLIE CORTEZ - NEW RECORD AND TOUR