Billy Viral steps out from behind the drum kit to share long-awaited debut EP, Nothing Special.
Matt Carter
Moncton musician Billy Viral is known to some as the drummer for The Virals and Chiller, two of the city’s well-known punk exports. But with the release of his debut solo EP, Nothing Special, Viral is now plotting his own course as a songwriter and a multi-instrumentalist. In June, he released four songs on his own, each channeling an element of pop-punk’s signature polish and palatability, proving Viral has a lot of music to offer outside of his duties at the back of the stage.
“I had a lot of tunes kicking around and wanted to bring them to life,” said Viral, talking about his debut release. “These songs were never jammed before. The Virals had a boat load of material, and they didn’t fit the Chiller style. I figured it would be fun to go lay down the tracks myself and release it.”
In a way, his debut release caps off a prolonged period of creativity spanning four years. The four songs on Nothing Special were written in 2015. At the time, Viral had just moved back to his hometown of Miramichi after living in Moncton since finishing high school.
“When I first moved back, I started running, which I never really did before,” said Viral. “While on those runs, I started to reflect on my time in Moncton and the songs came organically from there.”
In 2017, Viral teamed up with Moncton engineer, producer and musician Kyle McDonald (Zaum) at his Superbob Studios to record the tracks before shelving the project for another two years.
“Working with Kyle was awesome,” said Viral. “We laid the whole thing down in like 8 hours in 2017. But you see, I over think things. So, I just kept putting the release on the back burner, looking for labels, putting promo together, blah blah blah. People kept asking, ‘So Bill, where is this solo thing you’ve been working on?’ So I figured I should put it out and get on with the next project.”
To date, Viral has played a handful of solo acoustic shows, including one at the new Moncton venue, Across From Deluxe, located (conveniently) across the street from Deluxe Fish and Chips on St. George Street.
“I’m obviously quite slow with putting a line up together [for this project],” said Viral. “Everyone is busy. Although, I’m talking with some pretty wicked people about doing pop up shows this summer. After that, I’ll move on to the next project, because I can never sit still.”
Billy Viral | BANDCAMP
