Jules Millis best known as vocalist with White Widdow expands on his singing career and what the future holds with regard to new music and live gigs.
Who were your influences in the early days and have you always wanted to be a singer?
As a kid I had two dreams, to be a Singer in a Rock band and a Pro BMX rider. I feel fortunate that I got to do both to a level that made me very happy. My early music influences came from what my mum played around the house and in the car constantly, those being Soft Rock\West Coast AOR such as Chicago, Boz Scaggs, Toto, Air Supply, Bee Gees, Player, Little River Band etc. Then as I got a little older it was Kiss, Rick Springfield, Rainbow, Loverboy, Van Hagar and Bon Jovi.
Your tenure in Tigertailz was short. Do you feel this was an opportunity missed to make great music?
As a teenager I absolutely loved Tigertailz. I still love the first two albums.Obviously there were challenges because I was travelling from Australia to the UK when we were going out on tour, but that wasn’t the main reason for my departure. The band went through a line-up change while I was in it and someone became involved that saw themselves as the band’s manager. Their involvement made me no longer enjoy being in the band and due to their personal relationship with one of the band members, I didn’t see the situation changing, so I decided to leave and focus on White Widdow. I have some good memories from my time in Tigertailz and I really liked all the guys.
Have you ever auditioned for the vocal spot in any other notable bands?
In early 2020 I was in discussions with 80’s Danish AOR/Melodic Rock band Fate to become their new singer. We recorded some great audition demos together and were in discussions about writing new material together. Unfortunately the Covid 19 Pandemic hit the world around this time and it halted discussions. I was also working on a project with Robby Boebel from Frontline\Evidence One in 2018, however after working on a few demo ideas for the project I didn’t have enough time, as I was also working on the White Widdow album “Victory”. We decided to put it on hold with hopes to pick it up again in the future, unfortunately that never happened and sadly he passed away in 2022.
You have appeared on a number of albums. Do you have a favourite and why?
White Widdow “Serenade” remains my favourite. I think that we put together an excellent group of songs that I’m still proud of it to this day.
Do you still get the same buzz out of singing live as you did in the past?
I would say yes, but I think over the years the focus to perform at your best became more important than giving me a buzz, that took some fun out of it, but it gave me greater overall satisfaction to be better at my performance.
Some vocalists are on strict dietary regimes or gargle with special liquids. How have you kept your voice in tip top shape all these years?
I have regimes I rely on when I get sick, including betadine gargle, Chamomile tea with Manuka honey and drinking olive leaf extract. But if not sick, life is pretty normal, I don’t smoke or drink hard liquor, but I am known to drink many beers on occasion!
Are there any musicians that you have not worked with, but would like to in the future?
Artistically not really, but I would be keen to work with Neil Kernon as Producer in the studio with White Widdow.
Is there any unreleased recorded material from your days in White Widdow that could be released? Or even better, new material from the band, it’s been a while?
There are no unreleased full songs recorded demo or otherwise, however, there are a lot of demo versions of the same songs from the albums with alternative lyrics, vocals, pre choruses etc as well as several unfinished song ideas without vocals.We are talking about the idea of a new album now, we will have to see what happens.
Do you have any plans to release a solo album?
I have thought about it and I still think about it, but I’m just not sure what to do as I have songs written for Tigertailz that were never presented and other songs that didn’t suit White Widdow, Knowing myself I’d be more comfortable creating a new band to present it as a band or a project.
With the live circuit opening up again, is there a possibility that we could see you performing some live shows in the UK?
We are set to embark on a National tour of Australia with Winger and Ron Keel in September. This will be our first live shows in three years. We are certainly interested in returning to the UK for a full tour as it’s been five years since we played at Rockingham and eight years since our last full tour.
Have you thought of doing some production work for other bands?
Production work is more my brother Xaviers area, which is something he has done for years in all genres including Rock, Pop, R&B and Hip Hop.
Do you have anything in the pipeline at the moment that you would like to share?
Our immediate focus is our upcoming tour across Australia with Winger and Ron Keel in September which we are excited to be a part of, after that we will work on a potential compilation CD with some new, rare and acoustic unreleased tracks.
Interview by Stuart Dryden
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