Will Wood is an American musician and singer-songwriter.[5][6] Wood has released five studio albums; Everything is a Lot in 2015, SELF-iSH in 2016, The Normal Album in 2020,[7]Camp Here & There: Campfire Songs Edition in 2021, and "In case I make It," in 2022, as well as two live albums. He formerly made music under the eponymous band "Will Wood and the Tapeworms".
Style
Wood's piano-led style often changes from one song to the next, drawing influence from folk, pop, jazz, rock and roll, latin music, and klezmer. He is also known for his unconventional use of tenor and baritone ukulele. When recording in studio or performing live with his band, "The Tapeworms", he has mostly been accompanied by Mike Bottiglieri on guitar, Matt Berger on alto saxophone, Mario Conte on drums, Vater Boris on bass, and Rob Schaefer on trumpet.[2][8] The band is known for high energy live performances.[9] Wood primarily performs solo, his shows featuring a combination of music, monologue, and stand-up comedy.[10]
Personal life
Wood has been described as "reclusive",[11] and is known to avoid social media. Little is known about his personal life, and sources about Wood contain conflicting accounts of even basic information about his personal and professional life.[12] He is also known for early in his career having fictionalized his life, and appearing in character in some press appearances or onstage, and engaging in experimental live performance art, with his acts featuring simulated mental breakdowns, conflict with audience plants, appearances from fictional characters, and intentionally botched performances.[13]
Wood has consistently been open about his past struggles with drug addiction and mental illness, having entered recovery early in his career and later being diagnosed with bipolar disorder.[14][15] Wood donates portions of his income to various mental health charities, including the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, saying, "I’ve gotten a lot better. I want to try and do something to help others get there."[16]
Releases
Wood began releasing music under the eponymous band "Will Wood and the Tapeworms" with two studio albums: Everything is a Lot in 2015, SELF-iSH in 2016, along with the live album The Real Will Wood in 2018, which later served as the soundtrack to the mockumentaryconcert film of the same name.
In 2019, a crowdfunding campaign began for The Normal Album, which had invitations to record gang vocals for the album as well. It raised $27,631 and was released in 2020 under his name.[17]
In 2021, Will Wood worked on the soundtrack for the fictional horror/comedy podcast “Camp Here And There”. A "Campfire Songs" edition of the soundtrack, with lyrical versions of three of the initially instrumental tracks, was released in 2022.
His newest studio album, titled "In Case I Make It," was crowdfunded on Indiegogo in October 2021. Wood has described the collection of songs as being his most personal yet, saying: “I've always tried to consistently re-invent myself as an artist, I think. But this time is different, because for lack of a less dramatic phrase… I've reinvented myself as a person. I couldn’t be more different than I was even a year or two ago."[18]
Six singles from "In case I make It," were released prior to the album's full release.[19][20] In September 2021, prior to the crowdfunding of the album, Wood released a single entitled "Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll" (also featured on the album).[18] On June 10, Wood released the single You Liked This (Okay, Computer!), a spoken word black comedy track about social media platforms.[21] It stars voice actress Bev Standing, whose voice was allegedly used by the video-sharing social media platform TikTok for their text-to-speech feature without her consent.[22] On July 27, the full album was released to positive reviews.[23][24]
On August 19, 2022, Wood released a single entitled "Ferryman" with singer-songwriter Shayfer James.[25] This single also appeared on Shayfer James' album "Shipwreck" released on March 10, 2023. [26]
On September 1, 2022, Wood was featured on the single "Wealth & Hellness" by Human Zoo. [27] This single was later included on an album by the same name, Wealth & Hellness, released on October 5, 2022. [28]
On January 13, 2023, Wood released the album IN CASE I DIE, a live compilation of songs recorded at US tour dates in 2022. According to a guest blog post on V13, after the release, he would begin an "indefinite break or possibly retire from [his] music career."[1]
