When Freewill formed in late 1987, they hadn't the slightest idea how bumpy the road might get. In 1988, they played their first show, recorded their demo (now released as a 7" on Mankind Records) and not soon after, attracted the attention of Wishingwell Records' Pat Dubar and inked a deal landing them on the label. By the start of 1989, test pressings had arrived, and shows continued with bands like Insted, No for an Answer, and Uniform Choice. Then suddenly, the plug was pulled.
"I remembered finding out Wishingwell Records went out of business and my heart sank," says drummer Charlie Trujillo. "We had test pressings but no records. Dubar had our master tape and stopped returning calls. We were dead in the water."
After the collapse of Wishingwell and losing their entire LP in the process, morale and focus deminished and before long bassist Mike Hartsfield left the band. A new writing style would be established and the band continued under the name Stone Telling. In a matter of months, the remaining members would go their separate ways.
Fast forward 26 years: The band begins rehearsing again and releases their long awaited original album, Sun Return, recorded in 1988 on New Age Records. The band plays their first show back, appearing at the Jon Bunch memorial show in early 2016.
And then...
"I suggested we write some new songs," says vocalist Scott Gravois. "We all looked at each other and everyone kinda just grinned."
So the band began writing songs only two blocks away from the Country Club in Reseda, a venue they had headlined nearly three decades earlier. "Making sure we were keeping true to our sound and style was most important," states guitarist Paul Cranston. "With so much time between then and now, it would be easy to 'update' our sound, but I'm pretty sure we have picked up where we left off."
The band entered Mambo Studios in Long Beach, CA in February of 2017 and recorded a few songs, just to knock the dust off and see what would happen.
The following is the first song from that session:
Head to Freewill's Facebook page to keep up with the band's progress.
