Here Comes the Son: William Wisely

SO, WILLIAM WISELY, on a scale of one to 10, how much do The Beatles influence you?

"Oh, God — 11," admits the L.A.-based pop-rocker, gigging at The Red & The Black on Monday.

"I discovered The Beatles when I was 15 and I can't get over it. I feel so deeply in love with their music that I had to wonder, 'Am I gay? This is so weird.' It still weirds me out that I see a Beatles book or the postcard from Yoko Ono that I have framed on the wall and I just melt. I stayed with The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel and all these really conservative influences."

The singer-songwriter's new CD is the relaxed, self-assured, sunny — and, yes, Beatlesque — "Wisely." The standout track is, by far, "Through Any Window" (see fan Jenna Fischer from "The Office" in the song's video below), but the album is nonetheless an appealing effort brimming with memorable melodies, tasteful instrumentation and lyrics wise to the many incarnations of love.

Wisely concedes, though, that "Through Any Window" is the record's peak.

"When I wrote it, I knew something about it was resonating with the universe," he says. "I wanted to write a song about how our visual sense and memory collide. I was very inspired by a Paul McCartney demo from the late '60s called 'Goodbye.' I sat down and tried to figure out the song and thought, 'No. Write your own.' So, I tried to imagine what he'd play on guitar and came up with an extremely different song, but I used the purity of his moment to inspire the song and brought my idea about light and memory to it.

"Insinuated in the picking pattern I chose on the guitar is a whole rhythm section and harmony," the lanky singer continues. "There's a whole band in my right hand in that song."

Despite his remarkable dexterity, Wisely doesn't mind sharing the stage or a little help from his fans. His "hidden Web site" includes a link where "amateurs, dilatants and experts alike" can sign up to play a song with Wisely.

"That always brings some levity to the show," he said. "I'm almost certain that we have a conga player lined up for D.C."

Wisely discussed producing Andy Dick, songs about California, pop-rock and the meaning of "genius" with Express.

» EXPRESS: Do you run a studio as a day job?
» WISELY: I finished producing an Andy Dick record in August and I kinda swore off doing more production for people. I do own a studio — by and large the record "Wisely" was recorded there — and it's not really open to the pubic anymore. There's been no day job since I got signed to Oglio. We've been very busy putting me out on tours.

» EXPRESS: What kind of relationship do you have with Andy Dick?
» WISELY: He and I have become buddies. We were set up by a mutual friend to write together and then I started producing his record. You know, the thing that bugs me about producing in L.A. is that everyone comes to you and says, "I want to sound like the Foo Fighters," or whatever. I'm over that. I've got my own style and it's hard for me to sound like other people. So it was really fun taking on Andy, because I could be very irreverent in my production. But I really don't want to talk about his record. I want to talk about my new record.

» EXPRESS: You got it. I'll start with the song "California." Does the world need another song about California?
» WISELY: I know. I know! I know. I just heard another one. It's just the fact that picking up roots and moving here after feeling like I had done all I could in Minneapolis — bands can thrive in Minneapolis, but songwriters really thrive on the coasts — I just had to move here, but it was a joyous thing: The sky is wide open, everybody's unforgivably ambitious here and the sky's the limit. And that's great, but, of course, with that you get the worst in people as well. I just needed to write a song about the contradictions of this heavenly place.

» EXPRESS: What sub-genres of pop and rock does your record touch on?
» WISELY: How would John Mayer answer that question? I'm genuinely curious. I look at him and it's like, "Is that rock? Is that pop? Is that power-pop? Is that singer-songwriter? Is that balladeer?" I wish I could be treated like him and have my music accepted as widely lovable as his. I see him as the guy sitting on top of the singer-songwriter genre who doesn't have to define himself. The artist is the brand. I want to be my own brand.

I can name artists that I hear when I listen to the record: Donovan, Bad Company, Fleetwood Mac, Wings, Leonard Cohen, Dylan, ABBA, Ron Sexsmith, Neil Young.

» EXPRESS: Of all the musical forms in the world, why choose pop-rock?
» WISELY: Because what I most enjoy about music is the juxtaposition of melody against harmony. You have harmonic structures — the guitar is a very simple instrument, and it's a great basis for melody to fly over it. I'm greatly influenced by jazz, so I like to be ambitious with my chord progressions and pop-rock is suitable for that. And the melodies that were brought to us by the great pop-rock acts of the '60s — there's so much for the ears. There needs to be some sort of innovation in the way that melody hits the harmonic structure and I only finish a song when I've hit upon that.

» EXPRESS: How old are you?
» WISELY: Almost 43 and it's so fun to brag about that and say, "I'm old! And I'm excited to be doing this when I'm 83." There's gonna be this catalog of music and being an independent artist will just feel more wonderful as the years go on. I spent the '90s trying to get signed and waiting for people to swoop down and help me. About five years ago, I realized, "No. It's about me and art and waiting for no one."

» EXPRESS: Your Web site calls you a genius. Do you think that's true?
» WISELY: My Web site calls me a genius!? Jeez, that's terrible. Was that somebody else's quote?

» EXPRESS: No, it's in the bio.
» WISELY: Jesus Christ. I have to read that. The label put that up.
No, I do not. Ray Charles is a genius. Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Fela Kuti, Prince, Paul McCartney — but only with John Lennon pissing him off.

The word "genius" can't be thrown around in our era. Radiohead is not genius — the fawning over that band drives me nuts. I think "genius" is floated around too easily and we can't use the word anymore, because part of genius is being innovative and I don't think there's much left to do. Part of genius is having something within you, but you also have to have the temporal and social opportunity to advance culture and I don't think that exists anymore. So the days of pop music genius are over. Now we're craftsmen, story-tellers, communicators, cultural medicine men and women, but genius isn't happening anymore.

» EXPRESS: On that note, I'll let you go.
» WISELY: Yeah, I gotta go edit my Web site.

» The Red & The Black, 1212 H St. NE; with Tom McBride; Mon., 9 p.m., $8; 202-399-3201.

Written by Express contributor Tim Follos

Photos by Dean Groover (top) and Orrin Anderson