Will Wood

Will Wood is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and comedian. Wood has released four studio albums; Everything Is a Lot (2015), Self-ish (2016), The Normal Album (2020), and "In case I make it," (2022). The first two were released as Will Wood and the Tapeworms, Wood's prior band name. He has additionally released two live albums (The Real Will Wood (Music from the Award-Winning Concert Live Film) [Live] (2020) and IN CASE I DIE (2023)), and a soundtrack (Camp Here & There: Campfire Songs Edition (2021)).
Wood's piano-led style often changes from one song to the next, drawing influence from folk, pop, jazz, rock and roll, latin music, doo wop, 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. The band is known for high energy live performances.
Wood primarily performs solo, his shows featuring a combination of music, monologue, and stand-up comedy.
Wood has been described as "reclusive, because I told my publicist to” and is known to avoid social media. Sources about Wood contain conflicting accounts of even basic information about his personal and professional life. He is also known for having fictionalized his life early in his career, and appearing in character in some press appearances or onstage, as well as engaging in experimental live performance art. At this time his acts would sometimes feature simulated mental breakdowns, conflict with audience plants, appearances from fictional characters, and intentionally botched performances. His image in pop culture has been heavily influenced by this, but the artist has expressed that his work and persona will continue to change.
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. Wood donated 50% of ticket sales from The Real Will Wood to the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, a mental health charity, saying, "I’ve gotten a lot better. I want to try and do something to help others get there."
Wood began releasing music with A Verbal Equinox and Strange Thick on January 19, 2011, before later joining Jamface in summer of the same year to replace the female lead vocalist under the pseudonym "William Sunshine." During his tenure with Jamface, Will would team up with Jonathon Maisto to found The Stereosexuals in 2013. The two worked from 2013-2014 to make 15 songs, only three of which publicly released. Will has stated that the rest were lost in a hard drive crash. Under the eponymous band "Will Wood and the Tapeworms" with two studio albums: Everything is a Lot in 2015 and Self-ish in 2016, along with the live album The Real Will Wood in 2018, which later served as the soundtrack to the mockumentary concert film of the same name.
In 2019, a crowdfunding campaign began for The Normal Album, which offered invitations to record gang vocals for the album in exchange for support, among other benefits. It raised $27,631 and was released in 2020 under his name. Following the release of The Normal Album, Wood began to attract a more significant fanbase. The album featured Wood's most popular song to date, "I/Me/Myself", which has been regarded by some as a source of controversy, due to the song's exploration of Wood's relationship with his gender identity.
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 2022 release "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."
Six singles from "In case I make it," were released prior to the album's full release. In September 2021, prior to the crowdfunding of the album, Wood released the single entitled "Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll", which would later appear on the album. On June 10, Wood released the single "You Liked This (Okay, Computer!)", a black comedy track about social media platforms with spoken word by Bev Standing. It pastiches the Radiohead track "Fitter Happier" from their 1997 album OK Computer. Other singles included "Tomcat Disposables", "Cicada Days", "Euthanasia", and "White Noise", all of which were accompanied by music videos co-created by Wood. On July 29, the full album was released to positive reviews.
On August 19, 2022, Wood was featured on singer-songwriter Shayfer James' single "Ferryman", which would later appear on the latter's third studio album Shipwreck (2023). On September 1, Human Zoo released "Wealth & Hellness" featuring Wood, a single for the former's second studio album of the same name (2022).
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."
On August 9, 2024, Will Wood released a new mix of The Normal Album (2020) with producer Kevin Antreassian, additionally featuring three demos. These consisted of 2018 recordings of "I/Me/Myself", "Laplace's Angel", and "Memento Mori", which were released in the previous month as singles.