After taking a two-year COVID induced hiatus, the beloved HOTA Roots Festival is this year making a welcome comeback to the live music calendar.

The HOTA Roots Festival made its debut in 2019, encompassing music loosely fitting within the grassroots genres of blues, folk, reggae and soul (and beyond). Taking place on the HOTA outdoor stage, the 2022 event promises to be a magical evening featuring some of the local music scene’s finest, including Cheap Fakes, Jade Soul, Heavy Wax and Drop Legs.

Renowned Gold Coast singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, visual artist and poet Karl S Williams will once again also be appearing on the bill (having performed at the festival to a rapturous response in 2019).

One of the most beloved and revered roots-based artists on the scene, Karl released his highly anticipated second album ‘Lifeblood’ in 2020, which took out ‘Release Of The Year’ at the 2021 Gold Coast Music Awards.

In the lead up to the 2022 HOTA Roots Festival, Karl took time out to chat about the upcoming Festival as well as giving us an insight into what’s been keeping him busy and inspired creatively.

You performed at the inaugural HOTA Roots Festival in 2019. What was this initial experience of the Festival like for you?

We had a great time at the inaugural HOTA Roots. It came after a bit of a break from shows while we were recording, so I recall it was our first band show on a big stage in quite a while. We played a bunch of songs from 'Lifeblood' (which came out in Feb 2020) for the first time which was an exciting experiment in seeing how they translated to the stage. The audience were very generous and all the acts were incredible!

This year’s Roots Festival once again has a diverse and exciting line up. Have you performed with any of your fellow artists previously?

Oh yes, I've played many shows with Jade Soul over the years and Cheap Fakes too. It has been a while since I've seen both of them so I'm really looking forward to hearing them - whether new songs or old ones having passed through the lens of the last couple of years.

What can we expect from you and your band on the night? Who will you have playing alongside you?

With me I will have George Carpenter on drums, Jared Franzen on bass and Crick Boue on electric guitar. There's always the chance we'll rope in a guest or two, but nothing confirmed yet.

We have new songs to share! One in particular that I just finished I am particularly proud of - it is a response to the pandemic and the widening disparity and ideological polarisation in the world. We are fine-tuning it right now and I'm hoping to release it very soon, because I feel like it contains a message that needs to be heard as we approach a federal election in this country.

Your most recent second album, 'Lifeblood', the current GCMA release of the year, came out in 2020. Does the album still hold much lifeblood for you in terms of inspiration and performance – I imagine it would still feel relatively fresh and relevant, especially in light of the impacts of the pandemic over the past 24 months?

There is a certain amount of restlessness with creative work. You want to make new things that are vital and responsive to the moment - and usually by the time a record is made and released, the moment is already receding. I always aspire to write songs with ongoing relevance but it is heartbreaking, truly, to release an album and then be unable to really tour it for two years.

I am grateful that opportunities like HOTA Roots and Blues on Broadbeach are now coming up, along with festivals further afield, so these songs will get their time under the lights. ‘Lifeblood’ still has a life to live.

Can you believe that next year will mark a decade since the release of your first album, 'Heartwood'! Do you have any ambitions as to how the coming few years will evolve in your world?

A decade is an important milestone for that album as it also marks the end of the record company's exploitation period - after which I will regain full ownership of my firstborn. It has been quite a turbulent decade and I wish I could have released more music in that time. I suppose one of my ambitions is to rectify that by releasing music more frequently in the years to come.

I am currently working on an 'anthology' of solo recordings - kind of like Gillian Welch's 'Lost Songs'. It will gather together many unreleased songs from years past, combined with those from the present moment. I wanted to release something that reflects my solo performance, because I tour that way so often.

Beyond that, I hope to get out on the road and play more than ever nationally and begin to venture internationally. We may be entering a very difficult time, globally, of economic recession and the social manifestations of that. Touring around might therefore be a difficult prospect but music will be needed, as it always is, and I aim to find a way to tour humbly and just keep going.

Outside of music you have also been creatively inspired through the mediums of visual art and poetry. Are these interests that you will continue to explore and do you see them as equal players to your musical repertoire?

I suppose writing and drawing are companions to my musical output. They are equal in importance for me in that they allow me to express something which feels necessary. I will certainly continue to create work of all kinds and I am very interested in sharing these things more widely. I would like to publish a book of poems and drawings and I am very curious to explore these worlds (of art and literature) which are unfamiliar to me compared with music.

With things starting to open up again and live music making a welcome larger scale reappearance, do you have plans to gig more regularly again over the coming months?

Yes absolutely! I am very excited to have things in the calendar again, it still feels surreal. We have some great festivals to look forward to and I hope we will get the chance to resume our ‘Lifeblood’ tour and take this album to Victoria when the time is right. I am also planning to do some more solo touring the old-school way, just driving around with a PA - getting off the beaten track and playing regionally - which I think is now more important than ever.

Be sure to grab a ticket for the 2022 HOTA Roots Festival, taking place on Saturday, 7 May on the HOTA Outdoor Stage. This year’s line-up features the musical talents of Cheap Fakes, Karl S Williams, Jade Soul, Drop Legs and Heavy Wax.