WILL WOOD: THE “ASK ME ANYTHING” INTERVIEW
Just before the artist goes on an indefinite hiatus from his music career, SwitchBitch Noise gave fans the chance to ask questions directly to Will Wood: about his old persona, his recent national tour, his latest live album, and everything in between.
What factors came into play in deciding which songs/recordings you wanted to put on the “In Case I Die” album? -Bee
Oh, a bunch. I wanted to include songs that meant a lot to me, or felt particularly significantly different from their studio version, or that made the biggest statement overall. From there I had to narrow it down to the ones I had the best performances and best quality recordings of.
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Why did you decide against releasing “…And If I Did, You Deserved It” and “Misanthrapologist” on “in case I make it?” -Caitlin Hsu
Ultimately I ran out of time and energy. To be honest, I’ve been telling myself I need a break since pretty shortly after The Normal Album came out, and I’ve basically been going “just one more X (x = tour, release, month of work, merch drop, etc.) and then I’m finally free” for a million different reasons, for like two years. So I was desperately trying to get those feelings out, and trying to work on a schedule that allowed me to retire or take a hiatus as soon as possible, and those songs fell by the wayside in the process. Really glad to be putting them out now though.
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What is your opinion on social media accounts centered around your music and your public figure? -Glass Mug
99% of what I’ve seen online (not that I see much, you couldn’t pay me to download twitter, TikTok, or Facebook, and I’ve only peeked at instagram a few times over the past year or so) has been pretty neat. I like the art a lot, it seems like half of my fans are some kind of artist and so many of them are so talented. I also really like it when people make things with my lyrics. That’s always super fun and really fulfilling to see. Seeing a drawing of me or my lyrics in a stranger’s Tumblr aesthetic post is such a crazy experience. It’s like wow, if high school me could see me now.
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What’s the story behind the painted keyboard you used to perform on? Do you still use it? -Ash Bullock
No real story behind it! I just always like doodling on things. Walls, furniture, clothing, my tour van back in the day. I don’t use it anymore no, it’s slightly broken and was a bit too energizing for the shows I’ve been doing. People see it and think it’s time to ask me what my favorite hallucinogen is while I’m on stage. Like dog, now’s not the time, also Benadryl.
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What is your favorite item you’ve signed? -Josie Maguna
I’m not sure if it was my favorite item, but it was definitely fun to sign someone’s DVD of the 2003 Crispin Glover “Willard.” I’ve also signed a surprising number of DBT handbooks, DSMs, and other mental illness paraphernalia. Which is both hilarious and extremely sad. If it weren’t so sad, those might be my favorites. I signed a woman’s boob once like five years ago. Actually that’s sad too.
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Top 5 favorite rat/mouse characters in media? -Danny Silva
Socrates from Willard. Rizzo from the Muppets. Mickey Mouse from Disney, where You Are The Magic and Dreams Come True Summer 2025. The rats in my music videos. Yeah that’s right, I’m counting those. Those are my babies.
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What’s next for the “Life in the World to Come” podcast? Chris [Dunne] keeps mentioning a tour, is that something that’s actually in the works? -Tunny Parrish
It’s not in the works, but it’s in the “I talked to my booking agent and he said he’d be down to try it”s. I think we’re thinking we try to make sure we have enough of an audience first. Which is a good idea, because oh boy, imagine if the turnout was bad at a live podcast show? And venues small enough for what I think we’d likely draw would probably be too punky or divey and I’m really worried there’d be too much heckling to put on the show if we take it to the wrong environment. But I’d really love to do it. I’ll miss touring and meeting fans on my hiatus, and this would allow me to have that experience without having to be “singer-songwriter Will Wood.” So fingers crossed we can make that happen at some point.
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It’s clear in your music that you’ve grown and changed since you started, but what changes have you noticed in your fanbase throughout your career? -Austin B
Well in the beginning it was a lot of hippies and festies in their late 20’s, early 30’s. Then came the local teenagers and the punks. Then in 2019 things started to pick up and an increasing number of younger kids showed up. Then in 2021 came the famous avalanche of gay people. Now according to my Spotify analytics it looks like it’s mostly college girls. And 16% non-binary people. Which is insane. 16% of my 900Kish monthly listeners are non-binary? That’s has to be like, ALL non-binary people. It’s gotta be all of them. There aren’t that many. Where the boys at though? Come on, dudes, come through!
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