The Wilson Band takes the West Rand by storm

Leon and Stewart Wilson are not only a dynamic music duo, they are also father and son.

The two talented guitarists and singers travel around the country under the name, The Wilson Band, and despite their house being in Port Elizabeth, they spend a lot of their time on the West Rand. They came to the area while touring and immediately fell in love with it. “The welcome was incredible. The West Rand just accepted the two of us and our music – it became like a second home,” said Leon.

Growing up, Stewart spent a lot of his time in hotels and at shows with his father, and that is most likely where his passion for performing bloomed. About five years ago, Leon expanded his one-man band into a duo with his son, and the two of them have been performing together ever since, with recurring gigs at The Dance Palace, The Irish Rock, and The Same Shack in Boksburg.

For many aspiring musicians, it is a common occurrence for them to need a second source of income and a ‘steady’ job. Leon, however, is one of the lucky few who has never had a nine-to-five job. Having joined the professional music industry at 15, Leon chased his passion and never looked back. His son was not far behind; while he worked as a sound engineer for a while, Stewart has also spent most of his professional career as a performer.

Originally, the two men performed under the name Leon and Stewart Wilson, but changed their name to The Wilson Band in preparation of the release of their first album as a band. Another Sleepy Little Town is a continuation of Leon’s first hit as a solo artist, Another One Night Stand.

The duo write all of their own music and take great pride in the fact that their shows are performed with a ‘what you see is what you get’ aesthetic because they refuse to use backing tracks, saying that they aim to show their music in the most authentic way possible.

While the lockdown period left a lot of musicians without anything to do because they weren’t able to perform, for the The Wilson Band, it was the perfect excuse to finish their album. They had just been signed by a UK-based record label called Dogbox Records, and until the lockdown, they hadn’t had a spare second to finish recording their songs.

The few months off allowed The Wilson Band to finish their 18-track album, which was released on 11 October in New York and in South Africa. Leon and Stewart wanted to extend a huge thank you to Piet Smith, MD of Dogbox Records, for giving them the opportunity to put their music out into the world. “In South Africa, there is a certain genre that takes over, and our music didn’t really fit into it. Piet was amazed at it, he accepted our music as it is and helped us go international,” said Leon.

The band has a few exciting plans for 2021, but for now, they are focusing on the shows they have planned for the festive season. Another Sleepy Town is now available on Spotify or for R100 at any of The Wilson Band’s shows.

To book these talented musicians, The Wilson Band can be contacted through Dogbox Records’s website dogboxrecords.com, their own website thewilsonband.com, or by contacting Candra at Dogbox’s Pretoria branch on 064 537 1466.