In July last year, I interviewed American singer songwriter Will Wood. At the time he was on the verge of releasing his album “In case I make it,”, an ambitious sixteen track exploration into different aspects of his life, mental health and the modern world in which he finds himself. He’s recently announced the release of his next album, In Case I Die, and I was shocked to discover it might be his last.
By Graeme Smith
Feature photo by Jake Feldman
First I was keen to learn how “In case I make it,” was received. I, of course, loved the album, but what had others made of it?
I’ve been really pleasantly surprised to see how successful it’s been compared to what I expected,” Will said. “I wasn’t trying to create something with as much appeal as my last one, and no part of me was trying to top it. I was pretty consciously trying to create something that wasn’t as broad and would resonate with a group of people that I knew would be smaller, so to see anything from “In case I make it,” break my Spotify top five is kind of a shock for me. Especially to have it end up beating out other more popular songs of mine.
“I mean, how many musicians go viral and are actually lucky enough to keep having any amount of success? It’s pretty rare, so yeah the album doesn’t sell as much or get as many streams overall but some of the tracks kill it compared to some off my last album, and I’m super grateful for that. And touring and meeting fans in the real world really made me feel like the message was being received and I really was reaching the people I was trying to reach. So that feels incredible. I didn’t really have a launch party, but the tour the followed the release was one of the most deeply satisfying experiences of my life.”
Will Wood
With the obvious link between the titles of his last album and his new one. I asked Will to elaborate on their connection.
“Well, one of my New Year’s resolutions is to be more positive, so I hesitate to get into the bummer this story is but I’ll try to keep it as light as possible. I told people that “In case I make it,” was written during a time where I thought I was going to die, and was originally going to call it In Case I Die because of it. It was going to be my last words.
“But then I, famously bipolar Will Wood, changed the name to “In case I make it,” because I felt better. And a lot of people heard that story and took it as me saying that “In case I make it,” was my “I feel better now” album. But I never explained that the main reason I thought I was going to die was because well, I was considering it. Don’t worry, I’m all right now. And while I feel awful misunderstood by people with that interpretation, I understand what lead them to see all the death and grief and mental illness on the record as “I’m getting past this” and not “this is killing me.”
“I still want people to feel and understand the “this is killing me” side of these songs though. So, I’m putting out an album that does that, and I think functions as an even better “goodbye cruel world,” because it has stripped down sorta vulnerable-feeling versions of new songs, songs from my whole discography, and “In case I make it,”. Not that I’m going to die. But I am going to go away for a while, sort of, so yeah, goodbye cruel world.”
Will Wood
But why was he giving it all up? He had said before that releasing music in today’s culture is difficult on his mental health. Was that the reason? If so, what needed to change?
“You know, there are so many reasons. Ultimately it just comes down to my mental health. I’ve summarized it in the past with the I think comedically dramatic phrasing of “I need to stop baring my soul long enough to put it back together.” Which sounds silly, and isn’t intended to not be, but I do still sort of mean it. That’s it in a nutshell.
“I think putting yourself out there as an artist has always been difficult, but I kind of can’t help but think that while it’s easier to make a living now (a more modest living when you can get it, but way more of a shot at getting it at all) the suffering that being the subject of so many people’s attention can bring is exacerbated by social media. People can access you and information about you more easily, people feel more entitled to you, and people who previously would’ve just been lone lunatic creeps are now able to find community in freak niche echo chambers, which emboldens them and allows them to alter public discourse and behaviour.
“Imagine if Mark David Chapman had been well-liked by a small online community? How many dead Beatles would there be? I also think social media algorithms have made people a lot harder to deal with at shows – the amount of heckling at some of my shows this past year and Mitski’s experiences online and onstage kinda exemplify it I think. I think what needs to change is people need to realize that “public people” are just people, especially in this day and age, where you don’t need to be famous to be a celebrity, and any one of us could be picked by the algorithms next.”
Will Wood
And did he have any other plans while his recording career was on hiatus?
“I might do some painting, see what I create when I try to shut down any expectation of publishing it, or doing so under the name Will Wood with all its expectations and associations. I love making things, so no matter what happens I think that’ll always be something I do, whether I publish it or not. I also plan to continue doing the podcast Life in the World to Come with Chris Dunne for the foreseeable future. Who knows what else? I want to find out more about who I am without art and performance though, so I guess we’ll see what happens.”
Will Wood
Finally, I invited will to look back on his recording career and share his highlights and most difficult parts, and also any last words as a sign off.
“The difficult parts? All the little crimes people did at me. Lotta little crimes. Weird ones too. But I wanna focus on the positives here. My last tour was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. Touring overall, with the exception of a couple runs, has always been my favourite part. It’ll be the part I miss the most.
“Ever since my first tour I wanted to be a road warrior, but lack of income and excessive workload have always held me back from doing it more, and I can’t imagine never touring again. The thought makes me sad. But also, I might just be someone who really likes to travel, and if I discover that the attention hurts me as much as I feel like it does, maybe I just need to do some travelling. I think I’ll most likely be back eventually, but I don’t know when, and I think that also depends on how you define “I” and “back.”
“As for last words? Uh… don’t watch Netflix’s Wednesday; it’s very bad. Oh and I guess also sign up for my Patreon. It’ll keep publishing concert videos while I’m gone and it’s super cheap.”
Will Wood
In Case I Die will be released on 13 January 2023.