Willie J’s Australian Rock and Roll Revival
If you want to make God laugh, make a plan. If you want to make Melbourne rocker Willie J laugh, tell him rock and roll is dead.
It’s a bold claim to make to the man reinventing Australian rock and roll as the frontman and guitarist for emerging power trio Willie J’s 6V6s, a band that lives by the motto: “no fluff, no filler, just Australian rock and roll. Everything louder than anything else.”
“It’s laughable because there are so many great rock and roll bands in Melbourne and Australia,” Willie says.
“There are so many sub genres of rock and roll that for someone to say to me that rock and roll is dead, I do not believe it. I’m in the heart of it; I get to see all these bands. We’ve got two months on the road with Rose Tattoo coming up.
“Rock and roll is not dead one bit. You have to go out to more shows if you think rock and roll is dead. There’s about 30 shows every single weekend from Friday to Sunday in Melbourne that you can go to. I get to play with a lot of great Australian musicians who have been doing it their whole life. Australians do it better than anyone else around the world.”
Willie J’s 6V6s operate in the same spirit of the classic Australian blues- and soul-based rock bands of yore, the likes of Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs, Madder Lake, and Chain. Throw in some strong influences from guitar greats such as Stevie Ray Vaughn and Albert King, add the no frills, fist-in-your-face attitude of Motorhead, then turn the amps all the way up.
If there is an Australian rock and roll resurrection underway, Willie J’s 6V6s are at the vanguard. Following in the footsteps of their musical forefathers, the band is pursuing genuine success amid the glut of overprocessed synthetic product flooding the music market.
“It’s loud, it’s raw, we use amps on stage – no one’s using real amps on stage,” Willie says.
“We use full stack Marshalls, so it’s loud, it’s in your face, and it’s how Australian rock and roll used to be. There’s no bullshit, it’s all attitude, and it’s all fun. We want to relive what they were doing in the ‘70s and ‘80s in Melbourne and in Sydney when the music was loud, it was raw, it was passionate. You’re not hiding behind anything whatsoever.”
The 6V6s began in 2023 as a side project for Willie when he was a still a member of another band The Bad Books. Initially a covers band, it quickly evolved into a vehicle for Willie’s original songwriting stemming from his love for classic Australian blues and soul music.
Recruiting Sebastian Robertson on bass and Callum Leavy on drums, Willie ditched the covers shtick and focussed on his new creative vision: to start a great Australian rock and roll soul-blues band.
In a few short years and with a handful of singles – including their most recent release ‘That’s All She Wrote’ – Willie J’s 6V6s have established themselves as a formidable presence, especially live on stage where the band perform at their peak.
Along with supporting Rose Tattoo, Willie says the band will be touring extensively throughout 2026, joining Phil Campbell on the road in March and a proposed headlining east coast run later in the year.
“We really want to hit all of Australia this year and talk about going to Europe, getting over there and playing that Australian rock and roll they love so much. The plan at the end of the year is really get to Europe, do it there, and really kick some arse,” he says.
Given the band’s focus on touring, it’s unlikely we’ll get their highly anticipated full-length debut album before the end of the year, though Willie assures us there is new music on the way soon.
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“We could release something right now, but we really want to get it right,” he says.
“We’re still writing songs, we’ve got about 20 songs, and we’re just refining everything. We’re working with a producer and really want to get it right before we release anything.
“There will be another single that we’ll release that we’ve already recorded, so don’t worry. We’re Australia’s hardest working rock and roll band and we want to keep that term because we really are. Our shows are all about seeing us live.”
The rising popularity of bands like Willie J’s 6V6s are living proof that there is still a strong appetite among punters for authentic homegrown rock with a distinctly Australian sound.
“God bless Australian rock and roll,” Willie says.
“And if people think live amps and big Marshalls aren’t making a comeback, come see our band live. No fluff, no filler Australian rock and roll how it should be played.”
‘That’s All She Wrote’ is available now.
