will wood .

Will Wood is a musician from America. His music encompasses a lot of genres depending on what he wants to sing about. His albums tend to have a theme with them and thus they tend to feel pretty unique from one another. I'd describe his music as rock/jazz/folk/some guy singing and or screaming about a lot of things.

His band is usually made up of Mike Bottiglieri, Matt Berger, Mario Conte, Vator Boris, and Rob Schaefer. They were collectively called "Will Wood and the Tapeworms", and then it was changed to simply "Will Wood", though this didn't affect the band size. He's always the lead vocalist of his songs, and he plays the piano, guitar, and/or ukulele in varying amounts.

He has released four albums and two live recording albums under these Will Wood-related band names:

  1. Everything is a Lot (2015) (remastered in 2020)
  2. SELF-iSH (2016) (also remastered in 2020)
  3. The Real Will Wood (live, the soundtrack for the mockumentary film "The Real Will Wood") (2018)
  4. The Normal Album (2020)
  5. "in case i make it," (2022)
  6. IN CASE I DIE (live) (2023)

The first three albums were released under the Tapeworms band name. The second three albums were released under Will Wood. He's also one of the main artists to make the original soundtrack for a horror/comedy podcast called Camp Here and There. I haven't listened to it too much yet. He has also released other music before forming WWATT, but I haven't listened to them and I have no interest in doing so, really. Mostly because I just like his more recent output.

After the release of In Case I Die, Will has gone on an indefinite hiatus from his music career. He has gone on record that he may end up retiring. Here are some of his links if you want to check out his work:

website • bandcamp profile • youtube channel

personal history

In 2019, a Shipwrecked friend introduced me to Lemon Demon. This sparked my interest in listening to songs and actually thinking a lot about the meaning behind it. I eventually got into making character playlists, which introduced me to more artists. Though I wouldn't start making real character playlists until the guys from LOATM gripped my brain so hard I needed to give them music to associate with. This was around the latter half of 2021. While I was making a playlist for Deja Vu on spotify, I came across Mr Capgras. I thought it was neat!

January 2022 was when I really looked more into his work, starting with SELF-iSH...and the rest is history.

Will Wood's discography has heavily inspired one of my main projects, Therefore I Am. Listening to his music is NOT necessary to get into my own work though.

FIRST SONG: Mr. Capgras Encounters a Secondhand Vanity

FAVE ALBUMS: "in case i make it,", The Normal Album

FAVE SONGS: Marsha, Thankk You For The Dialectics, Against the Kitchen Floor, 2012, The First Step, Tomcat Disposables

album reviews

"Oh good lord is Gene gonna be opinionated on things she likes" yes. yes i am. Here are my thoughts on each album as a whole. The live albums are just live recordings of existing songs (with some exceptions from In Case I Die) so I'll talk about their quality in relation to the original. Maybe I'll also give some song recs!

Everything is a Lot (2015)

A pretty solid album! Unlike the rest of his albums, there's no overarching theme to this one. However, some of the themes he's known to sing about have some presence here already. I enjoy a good amount of songs in this one, others I don't really dislike but I don't really like either. Overall: 8/10

Recommendations:

  1. 6up 5oh Cop-Out (Pro / Con)
  2. Skeletal Appreciation Day in Vestal, N.Y. (Bones)
  3. The First Step

SELF-iSH (2016)

This one seems to be one of the more "iconic" albums that demonstrates his style very well. I kinda agree? But only for his older styles where he just goes ham. There's a lot more screaming in this one. There's an overarching theme of identity, mental illness, and some flavor of religion mixed in there. As the first album of his that I've really listened to, it has a special place in my heart. I enjoy all of the songs equally, but only a few reach the peaks of my other favorites in his discography. Overall: 8/10

Recommendations:

  1. Mr. Capgras Encounters a Secondhand Vanity: Tulpamancer's Prosopagnosia/Pareidolia (As Direct Result of Trauma to the Fusiform Gyrus) (yes the title is this long)
  2. 2012
  3. Dr. Sunshine is Dead

The Real Will Wood (2018)

This...is my least favorite album out of the six. I don't know anything about professional sound design but most of the songs here are...really hard to listen to?? It's both the quality of the recording and how he and his band performed--and by the way, a lot of them were the screamy songs, and hearing it live turned out to be not so pleasant on account of Will's vocal cords. This was the soundtrack for his mockumentary film, but I'm not sure if it has the same quality in the movie? I've never seen it. Besides some songs that I liked, this is the only album I don't listen to on repeat, from beginning to end. Overall: 4/10

Recommendations: Eghh.. If I had to... Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva. Just the cover of Bones.

The Normal Album (2020)

One of my favorite albums ever of all time. I just ??? Love the cohesion of this one. The themes lean more into issues about mental illnesses and, yes, the concept of being "normal" in relation to it, or literally anything that's out of the norm. The jazzy style is a lot more pronounced, and he screams a lot less here! The lyrics are absolutely phenomenal, even if it's hard to understand the first time! This is my go-to album of his when I just need to listen to something. I love jazz so much. Overall: 10/10

Recommendations: EVERYTHING but especially

  1. Suburbia Overture / Greetings from Mary Bell Township! / (Vampire) Culture / Love Me, Normally
  2. Laplace's Angel
  3. Love, Me Normally
  4. I / Me / Myself
  5. Marsha, Thankk You For the Dialectics, but I Need You To Leave

"in case i make it," (2022)

This is an outright departure of the styles from his previous albums. Not gonna lie? I prefer this and TNA over his Tapeworms-era albums. Instead of manning the piano (most of the time), Will plays mostly using his ukulele, and there's a frickin' CHOIR singing in some of the songs, which gives way for an overall mellower (and I guess more genuine?) tune. Dropping the whole "strange weirdcore screaming artist" act by just singing about his experiences is honestly really neat. If you didn't know Will Wood prior to this, it might feel like this album was made by a completely different artist compared to his older albums. I'd say this is a good thing. Anyways, this album is great. Made me cry like 3 times. Some songs do sound the same as each other though, and is not as cohesive as some of the other albums. Overall: 9/10

Recommendations:

  1. Tomcat Disposables
  2. Becoming the Lastnames
  3. Against the Kitchen Floor
  4. The Main Character

IN CASE I DIE (2023)

This album is a compilation of some of his performances while on tour, after the release of ICIMI. This is LEAGUES better than TRWW on account of it being recorded and performed much, much better. It's a mix of songs from all four previous albums in varying amounts, plus two unreleased songs. I really like the mellow sounds of these, especially with how he performs his old songs with his new style. Some of them kinda sound the same as the original, which is totally fine, but some I actually prefer over the original. Unfortunately this doesn't have my all-time favorite Will Wood song so that's a point off from perfect. Overall: 9/10

Recommendations:

  1. All the live song versions of the songs mentioned before, if they're available
  2. ESPECIALLY Lastnames and Main Character and BONES

credits

Side images are from the official album covers. I might draw something for this page in the near future, but it's not guaranteed. Will's Wikipedia page was used as the primary source for his general information.