This week’s Campus Celebrity is William Latham (’15)Will is a DJ for KANM, with his show Opium, Fire, and Lead airing on Wednesdays from 1-3pm and the bass player for College Station favorite band, Ottoman Turks, who often play at local venue The Grand Stafford.
Where are you from: Dallas.
What are you studying: Kinesiology.
What do you want to do after you graduate: I want to be a pediatric therapist.
Why did you choose A&M: honestly it was weird, both my parents went to UT but for some reason I had it in my mind to go to Texas A&M. It was the only place I applied to. I actually transferred in from a junior college in Dallas. I guess I picked it because I thought it would be a good way to make connections.
What’s a fun fact that others might not know about you: I have 2 black belts in karate.
Which celebrity would you choose be your #WCW (woman crush Wednesday): Kate Beckingsale, Aubrey Plaza, Charlize Theron; probably in that order.
What is your band’s name and what genre would you categorize yourselves as: Ottoman Turks is our name and I like to describe us as outlaw country garage rock.
What made you interested in joining a band? How long have you been involved in Ottoman Turks: My mom was a professional jazz singer back in the day and now she teaches voice lessons, music history classes, and choir so I’ve always been around music. Our current lead guitarist, Josh Walker, encouraged me to pick up the bass and before I could really even play Nathan Wells invited me to play in his solo project which then became Ottoman Turks. That was almost 5 years ago, I think. Things have changed quite a bit. We were so bad in the beginning, SO BAD!
What are some favorite moments you have had while in Ottoman Turks: Any time we hang out as a band it’s a good time. We are all very close, and road trips are always fun. It’s hard to pinpoint one moment because we all hang out so much.
What’s an interesting fact people may not know about Ottoman Turks: We played in a grocery store for a grand opening of Sprouts, that was interesting and weird.
Musical influences: Tom Waits is hands down the greatest influence. As far as songwriting goes, it’s Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, and Leonard Cohen. As far as being a bass player, its Victor Wooten and Jaco Pastorius. I think Julian Casablancas and Jack White are probably more current people that I look up to.