Interview by Jon Garniss
SwitchBitch Noise: On your previous release, we heard three of the songs that ended up on this record performed in a live setting. “Black Box” ended up sounding very similar to its current incarnation, just filled out with a full band, but “Love Me, Normally” and “Well, Better than the Alternative” ended up sounding very different. What went into changing the sounds of those songs?
Will Wood: For the most part I always intended these songs to be recorded the way they ended up sounding on this album. Funny enough, the only one that went through any significant lyrical or structural changes when preparing it for the studio is “Black Box” – the essential parts of that song have changed. Or rather, if you ask me, have been completed.
I have a different philosophy about studio recordings than I think many do. Studio recordings are their own medium, their own art form. The song, as I see it, is the piece of music that you recognize regardless of how it’s performed. It’s the lyrical and melodic content and how it interacts with the essential harmonic and rhythmic nature, or even as just the thing you can sing in the shower. I haven’t committed to performing those songs in the style of the studio version, and earlier performances of them still exist, so the song itself hasn’t changed – only its presentation, and only this time. A song may take on different shapes, different identities, different incarnations, but its essential nature, its true self, is separate from all of these elements, much like how we are from how we present and identify ourselves. You can change yourself, but it’s still you.
Who are some of your biggest influences, across any artistic medium ?
Despite this being sort of interview question number one, I still struggle to answer it. Maybe it’s one of those “a magician never reveals his secrets” things, or as Picasso put it, “a bad artist copies, a good artist steals” and I want to bury the leads so I can feel original and special, as opposed to just being a songwriter who had the right combination of influences to end up making something that sounds fairly unique. It’s also hard to answer because one of the reasons my genre shifts between songs so much is that each song has influences from other songs – it’s not necessarily I personally have influences from other artists in particular. Sure, I could rattle off names of songwriters and bands and you’d probably find the connective tissue here and there, but it’s a lot more case-by-case than that. My influences come from everyone from flop Broadway musicals to basic Top 40 tunes to avant-garde experiments nobody’s heard of or likes the sound of. Plus many of my musical influences aren’t musicians at all. I get a lot of my sounds and writing stylings from picking up vibes in the work of certain filmmakers, painters, and authors. It’s rather all over the place so this is about the closest thing to a satisfying and honest answer I can give you.
Currently on your Spotify page, you have Marsha listed as your favorite of the new songs. What about that one specifically sticks out to you?
I’m quite proud of the song, and out of all the tracks on the album it best represents what sort of music you can expect from me in the future. I really pushed the limits of my piano skill showing off and trying to capture the feel of what I was trying to communicate. And the lyrics, I think and hope, do a pretty good job capturing my thoughts and feelings on the subject of psychiatry, pop psychology, and the failures of mental health discourse. They’re self-contradictory, self-critical, and tough to parse if you go into it expecting biting satire with steady crosshairs. Because the conversation about mental health currently happening is so split and so mired in black and white thinking that it’s preventing real progress in the effort to genuinely remove the stigma, and it’s tough as an artist to figure out exactly how I feel about having entered treatment for what has been labeled by some as Bipolar. So, I wanted to capture that confusion, frustration, and thoughts on how we should be moving in a more nuanced and selfless direction in our conversation. I hope I’m right. Based on how confused by the song some people apparently are, I think I succeeded.
In the past you’ve mentioned Billie Joe Armstrong and Green Day as big influences on you, and structurally, Suburbia Overture shares some similarities to their songs with multiple movements. When writing those four movements, did you originally conceive of them being separate songs or were they always meant to be together?
It goes without saying that I sound nothing like Green Day, so I like to bring up my love for Armstrong’s writing because it kind of makes people’s heads explode. That being said it’s funny – I remember listening to American Idiot before putting together this album and wanting to do my own “Jesus of Suburbia” for it. I wrote the first “movement” of “Suburbia Overture” as its own song originally, but I took it from there with the other parts with the intent of creating a piece of music that set the tone of the rest of the album and hinting at melodies, chord progressions, lyrics, and motifs you would hear throughout the rest of it. My last studio record had a lot of internal connections, and I wanted to try and do that a little differently this time around. A little more subtly and using the opening track as that thematic anchor.
I personably have a huge affinity for I/Me/Myself, and every genderqueer, trans or non-binary person that I show that song to feels very strongly about it too. Can you talk a little bit about that song and what went into writing it?
Honestly, it would be irresponsible of me to talk about it in any detail. Last time I spoke about it, the actions taken by some people who were twisting my words and misquoting/misinterpreting me posed a threat to multiple peoples’ well-being. Just know that I am only refusing to talk about it out of concern for the safety and security of my friends and family, and that while I am not trans and therefore don’t write about the experience of trans people, I’m glad people have found some comfort or inspiration in the song.
Have you found difficulty in mounting the same amount of performance energy in the age of covid? What do you find the biggest challenges/benefits of exclusively performing without an audience physically present?
Having an audience there in front of me allows me to effectively exchange “vibrations” with them or whatever you want to call it. I get to pick up on their energy and give just a bit more in return, which allows us to kind of build off each other into a really energized and active experience.
I have a background in standup, and the difference between standup and music is that with standup you get an honest, real-time reaction that tells you how you’re doing. You get a laugh, or you don’t, and that feedback and information on your performance comes back repeatedly. With music, you get polite applause even if you bomb, and you don’t get it till after you’re done playing. So, I use a lot of my standup skills to develop a relationship with an audience as my performance goes on.
When livestreaming, the most I get is words on a screen, and that tells me next to nothing about how I’m really doing. I just have to use my own intuition and self-evaluation. I miss playing with people right in front of me, but the upside is that I get to have practice just existing in front of an audience, navigating without a GPS, and letting the music speak for itself. I think it will teach me to be more confident onstage, more ready to work without that gauge and therefore get closer to the heart of what’s essential to a successful show.
What’s next for Will Wood?
Possibly a soundtrack I’m being hired to do. Possibly an EP recorded somewhere special. Possibly a dry cough and a high fever.
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