 He has also played on tracks by Kevin Ayers, V Twin and Duglas T. Stewart.Wells is completely self-taught, and began performing in clubs in Scotland in the late 1980s.He began arranging his own work and initially offered these to Bobby Wishart, but when Wishart declined the offer, Wells formed his own Bill Wells Octet, which has included Lindsay Cooper, Alastair Morrow, Robert Henderson, John Longbotham, Phil and Tom Bancroft., and his Big Band that entered the BBC Big Band contests of 1992 and 1993 recording one CD at the Society of Musicians in Glasgow.