I’m happy to announce that at 5.00pm on Saturday 21st January at the 2012 Namm Show, I will be giving away a Gibson Billy Morrison Les Paul signature guitar. Yep – thats right – if you follow @gibson90210 and @billymorrison and are going to the Anaheim Convention Center that weekend, you could win a free Les Paul. The NAMM Show is a different experience and if you haven’t done it, I urge you to try it. It’s overwhelming in the best possible way and if you make music, enjoy music or simply like huge arenas full of people making noise, then it’s a unique day out! If you’re in a band, it’s the greatest way to check out all the latest gear, talk, breathe, eat and shit music for a day, and if you visit the Gibson Booth 303AB on Saturday afternoon……maybe walk away holding a brand new Gibson Billy Morrison Les Paul. Not bad!! Hopefully I’ll see a few of you down there.

Also – don’t forget that I’m playing the BAE show at the Satellite in Silverlake on Jan 28th. Seems like it’s going to be a fun night with a couple of great guitarists and singers getting up to jam a few songs – you can get tickets (which are $15) at TicketFly.Com or simply CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS. I’m looking forward to playing with Wes and Lethal from Limp Bizkit and I know that Rafael Moreira is a killer player and super nice guy so the whole thing should be a lot of fun. I’ve been using a BAE 1073 MicPre in my studio at home and the thing is insane. It’s by far the best sounding thing to record vocals through and I’m honored to have been asked to play at BAE’s show. I hope everyone’s 2012 has started off well – I’m happy and grateful that my year involves so many diverse and creative possibilities and looks to be full of music, film, TV, motorcycles and loud guitars….. what more could any guy want?! See ya out there.

Billy

We’re fast approaching the end of another year. And it’s usual at this time for me to get a little reflective – start thinking about what I accomplished and what I didn’t…. where I succeeded and where I failed. I choose to believe that the failures are life lessons to help me succeed next time. So nothing is a bust. But 2011 held a lot of ups and downs for me. Professionally it felt good. My episode of Californication aired and I was very proud of that one. Camp Freddy continued through it’s ninth year of existence with shows in Los Angeles, Washington DC, Las Vegas, New York and closed the year with an amazing residency at The Roxy. We did a West Coast run of dates with Billy Idol and sounded better than ever – it’s a treat every single night to play with that guy and I hope that 2012 sees us out there again. My signature Gibson Les Paul guitar was released – something that still blows my mind. Seeing it finally hit the stores, and playing them for real at all the shows is an honor I can’t quite believe. I shot another movie – K-11 – which will hopefully be accepted into the 2012 Berlin Film Festival and will be released next year. And I worked hard at furthering a couple of film and TV projects which, if all goes well, may see the light of day in 2012.

Personally, life had it’s ups and downs (just like every year) – but it’s all there for a reason. I still didn’t find it necessary to shoot smack or smoke crack (for the 16th year in a row) and that in itself is a success. I learnt a lot about myself and the world I live in and although I often feel like an alien living on a planet amongst a race I simply don’t understand, I integrated a little more, changed and grew, helped a few inhabitants along the way and feel capable of getting through another 12 months on this weird and wonderful Mortal Coil. It was certainly never dull, and while some of it I could have done without, other parts of it will forever remain etched in my mind as integral points in my life. Doing a lap of Laguna Seca at the MotoGP with Randy Mamola will always be the most intense two wheeled experience ever. Scuba Diving in Mexico with Sebastian Bach was an insane thing! Visiting the African bush and watching the wildlife from about 20ft away was incredible. Visting the Art In The Streets exhibition at the Moca left a lasting impression on me.

My goals for the coming year include celebrating Camp Freddy’s 10th anniversary in style, playing and writing with Billy Idol again, making another movie, getting both a film and a TV project underway, and writing music with a couple of interesting and diverse artists. I want to string another 12 months of sobriety together (God willing) and I’d like to learn a bit more about how to interact with, and have relationships with, the other human beings that share this planet with me. I want to continue traveling and seeing the far flung corners of our world…..it’s a gift that not everyone gets and I consider myself lucky to have been to the places I have. And I hope that I get to continue creating – whatever it is – it is such a cathartic experience for me when I take an idea nd see it through to fruition. It can be a song, a business idea, a character in a film, anything – I get a sense of freedom and expression when I can finish an idea or a project and move on to the next. Always on the go, I guess. But thats how I like it. And with that said, 2011 was interesting, funny, emotional, satisfying, frustrating, loud, humbling, painful and exciting. I honestly hope that 2012 is the same – but different!

See ya then

Billy

I’ll be putting together a recap of this months sold-out Camp Freddy shows at The Roxy once the underwhelming Holiday season passes me by. But I do want to tell you that I will be playing this show in Silverlake, Los Angeles in January for the wonderful people at BAE and Telefunken. These people make the absolute best mics and preamps that money can buy, and I am honored to be playing a show for them. The cast of characters is varied and it should be a lot of fun. There is a limited amount of tickets that are on sale for general admission, so my advice is grab one now. I think a few cool people will be showing up and jamming, and we’re planning a fun night. I’ll also be down at the Gibson booth at NAMM on one of the days, but I’m not yet sure of the exact day. Talk is of a cool promotion with a nice prize, so keep your eyes here for details. Plans for 2012 are coming in as we speak and suffice to say I’m excited by the possibilities. Some rock and roll, some more film and TV, and as always, lot’s of good times. I’m off to deal with learning a few new songs for tomorrows show. Happy Holidays to everyone and I’ll see you out there next year.

Peace

Billy