News

Tributes Pour In As Deltasonic Records Founder Alan Wills Dies In Tragic Road Accident

• 12th May 2014

Former Shack drummer and Deltasonic Records founder, Alan Wills, has died at the age of 52 after a cycling accident in Liverpool.

Signing bands like the Coral and the Zutons to Deltasonic, as well as the Rascals, the Longcut and the Dead 60s, Wills was a pillar of the Liverpool music community who was widely liked and respected.

As a drummer in Mick Head’s cult group Shack and Top before setting up Deltasonic as a way to help the Coral get their music heard, Wills had the unique insight of a gigging musician fuelling his desire to help others. The label was later successful as a music publishing company, working with Miles Kane and the Last Shadow Puppets on their chart-topping album, The Age of the Understatement.

Former Coral guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones said: “His influence on me as a teen and the worlds of thought he introduced to me shaped me into who I am and saved my life time over. It felt that with every turn my life took, Al was there to explain it for me. Every corner of ill health or disaster made perfect sense after a phone call [from him].“

Police are appealing to anyone with information on the crash, which happened at 8.30pm on Thursday 8 May, to contact Merseyside Police on 0151-777 5747 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800-555 111.