I… Read Full Bio ↴1. Wood is an experimental noise/ambient music project started in 2023
2. Traditional Rock and Americana from James Maddock and company.
He's just an ordinary guy. We know that because he's forever telling us he's just an ordinary guy in that likable, down-to-earth, "fancy a drink, pal?" sort of way.
But how many ordinary guys do YOU know who amble nonchalantly on stage looking as if they're about to pick a fight with a karaoke machine and then sing with a sublime power that charms and chills in equal measure? How many ordinary guys do YOU know who write a whole catalogue of songs with such emotional depth that they sound like classics the instant you hear them?
He's a Midlands lad called James Maddock from the English city of Leicester, famous for... well, Leicester's not famous for anything at all really. But for years, he's had this unfeasible dream of making wonderful music under the name of Wood and, hey, dreams come true.... "We used to be called 'The Gift Of Love,'" he remembers, "and we were talking one night about music and I said, 'On all the records I really love -- like Dylan and The Band -- you can picture the room they're playing in and you can hear the wood.' And it suddenly hit me. WOOD! That was the name I wanted for my band."
James picked up his first instrument -- the ukulele that his granddad used to play in wartime bands -- at the age of eight. His dad, an optician, filled the house with jazz and if you venture into Leicester on a wet weekend you might still find Mr. Maddock playing in a jazz band in some remote corner.
"By the time I was 14, I started thinking seriously about being able to play the guitar," James recalls, "and I was pretty good at it. I had this great guitar teacher and at the end of a lesson he'd say, 'You should check out this record by Neil Young.... ' I worked on a market stall on a Saturday and I'd go in, get my wages, and then go and buy a Neil Young record. And the next week he'd say, 'have you heard Ry Cooder...?,' and it went on from week to week... The Eagles, Jackson Browne... and all the West Coast stuff...."
"Then I found Born To Run at a friend's house and it completely blew me away," he continues. "I was a big Bruce fan, still am. The Band's second album was a seminal influence on me too. Bob Dylan is a big hero for me."
James Maddock moved to London when he was 20 and served his apprenticeship in covers bands working the ...ahem... boisterous London Irish pub circuit. He played in the Arsenal Tavern, North London, every weekend for several years, an achievement that surely merits some sort of long service gold medal award. It was hard, the audiences took no prisoners and you could play there for a hundred years without being discovered, but James wouldn't have missed it for the world. And besides, from this unglamorous environment of beer, tobacco and loud covers of old standards and the hits of the day, the first splinters of Wood began to emerge about three years ago. "I took over as singer and started doing my favorite songs -- Creedence Clearwater Revival and Bob Marley stuff -- but all the time I was also writing my own songs."
They even recorded some demos of his material (at Abbey Road Studios, no less, where they fantasized about being rich and famous as they arrived to be gawked at and have their pictures taken by Japanese tourists) and waited for unspeakably lavish offers to flood in. Strangely enough, they didn't. But James somehow knew his music's spiritual home was America. "Two of the albums I most identify with are Late For The Sky (Jackson Browne) and Harvest (Neil Young). I love songwriters and I try to combine melodies and story. I've always liked my music to be quite gentle, with an acoustic, friendly feel...."
At a time when nothing got signed in the UK unless it came with nasal voices and loud twanging guitars and could be marketed as "Brit pop," James suddenly found himself flown to New York where a chance play of the demo sufficiently impressed Columbia Record executives to offer him a record deal. Classic songs. Beautiful melodies. Great lyrics. Choruses just made for dancing on the ceiling. A voice to sell your grandmother for. Where had this boy BEEN all their lives?!
"They got me to fly out there and do a gig in their offices!," James exclaims. "It was pretty scary! You spend all your life trying to get to this point and suddenly you're standing there with your guitar and it's all hanging on what you do in 20 minutes in that office."
The boy obviously done good. His old Leicester schoolchum, Bill Newsinger (guitar), and the other two Wood mainstays, Jim O'Malley (bass) and Steve Jackson (drums), found themselves finally summoned to Tongue & Groove Studio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to record, with producer Dave "Stiff" Johnson, the album they'd begun to despair would ever get made. "It really is a dream come true!," James admits. "When you've spent so long scrubbing around trying to get £50 together for rehearsals you think it will never happen. But when it does happen it's a huge responsibility. I'm learning a lot about myself through this."
The first Wood album, Songs From Stamford Hill, is not only full of unfeasibly memorable melodies and immaculately crafted songs, it has some telling lyrics. "I'd written hundreds of songs before," James estimates, "but when we called the band 'Wood,' everything seemed to fall into place." The album's title was inspired by the area of London where James was living at the time most of the songs on the record were written.
You may already know the opening track, "Stay You," which is featured on the best-selling Top 10 album Songs From Dawson's Creek (Columbia/Sony Music Soundtrax). "Never Ending," the album's closing song, is another key track, a particularly poignant, nostalgic autobiographical song about growing up in Leicester and losing touch with schoolfriends. All of James' years of frustration are reflected in the lyric of "Knock It On The Head," in which he promises to allow himself just one last crack at this music nonsense before giving it all up to get a proper job. Then again, you don't have to spend long in his company to know he could NEVER give it up!
James has a rare way with a sentimental love song, as well. "I really love 'Our Time Has Come', it's so SOPPY!" he laughs. "There's only about three chords in it too, but there's a symmetry as well." And then there's 'You Make Me Feel Bad.' "Oh, that's about a girlfriend who made me decorate the apartment about four times," he admits. "I'd do it and she'd turn round and say, 'Oh I don't like that color!.'" All human life is here.
Wood. Crazy name. Perhaps. Ordinary guy. We think not!
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(3)Wood is rapper from Houston, Tx.
He is member of S.U.C. ( Screwed Up Click) & Half Dead Organization.
(4)Wood is also an instrumental band from Wheaton, IL. They are, what you call, like-minded forward thinkers. http://www.myspace.com/ourbandwood
(5)Wood is also a project by Wouter 'Wood' Loderichs, operating from Apeldoorn, The Netherlands . On his debut he mixes hiphop, funk, rock, blues and a tinge of industrial. More info can be found at his MySpace page.
(6) Wood is also a young Norwegian pop comet, also known as Elsa Marie Skjong. http://soundcloud.com/woodnorway/wood-honey-youre-a-dog
7. Stoner/Doom Metal from Rennes, France
Bandcamp
8. French rapper signed to GrintaRecords who started in 2020
https://www.instagram.com/woodsvs_/
Could I Be
Wood Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
'cause darling there's been many men before me
I guess that I could never be the first one to love you
'cause all of those days of being gone
And every city street
And every night and day
It's a world war trying to get your own way
If I had a wish
Could I be the last give in
Say you'll never start again
Could I be the dream, the dream for you
Could I be, would I do
Could I be the last surrender
Could I be the number one contender
Could I trust you if you don't come home
Could I leave you all alone
You're tougher than the rest of us
You're making out like it never was
You say you've got the thing thought through
You'd rather walk away than fight
And you'd rather do what's wrong than right
You paint yourself in the darkest shade of gray
And every city street
And every night and day
It's a world war trying to get your own way
If I had a wish
I swear you'd hear me say
Could I be the last give in
Say you'll never start again
Could I be the dream, the dream for you
Could I be, would I do
Could I be the last surrender
Could I be the number one contender
Could I trust you if you don't come home
Could I leave you all alone
Every street
And every night and day
It's a world war trying to get your own way
If I had a wish
I swear you'd hear me say
Could I be the last give in
Say you'll never start again
Could I be the dream for you
Could I be the last surrender
Could I be the number one contender
Could I trust you if you don't come home
Could I leave you all alone
In the song "Could I Be" by Wood, the singer acknowledges that they could never be the first one to kiss or love the person they are singing about because there have been many before them. They express a desire to be the last person to give in and hope that the person will never start again. They ask if they could be the dream for this person and be the one they surrender to and trust, even if they don't come home. The singer recognizes that the world is like a war when it comes to getting what we want, and they want to be the one that this person chooses to be with and trust.
The verses describe the person the singer is addressing as someone who is tough and has been through a lot. They have a tendency to walk away instead of fighting and would rather do what's wrong than what's right. The singer acknowledges that this person has painted themselves in a dark light, but still hopes that they can be the one to surrender to and trust. They express a willingness to be the one constant and reliable person in this person's life.
Overall, the song is about the desire to be the one person in someone's life who they can rely on and trust completely. The singer recognizes that the person they are singing about has been through a lot and has a tendency to push people away, but they still want to be there for them and hope that they can be the dream that this person needs.
Line by Line Meaning
I know that I could never be the first one to kiss you
Despite my attraction towards you, I understand that there have been others before me who have had a similar interest.
'cause darling there's been many men before me
It is evident from your relationships in the past that you have had multiple partners before me.
I guess that I could never be the first one to love you
In light of your romantic past, I can never truly be the first person to develop deep feelings towards you.
'cause all of those days of being gone
The previous experiences you have had in your relationships have made it difficult for you to connect emotionally with someone new.
And every city street
No matter where you go, your issues with relationships will follow you.
And every night and day
Your struggles also persist within yourself and are not limited to external factors.
It's a world war trying to get your own way
Your conflicts with relationships often stem from your desire to have things go your way.
If I had a wish
Although I can't control what happens between us, I do have a desire for a certain outcome.
I swear you'd hear me say
If given the chance to express myself, I would voice my thoughts and feelings about our situation.
Could I be the last give in
I am willing to be the one who makes a compromise or gives in to maintain the relationship.
Say you'll never start again
I hope that we can move forward and start fresh, leaving our past conflicts behind.
Could I be the dream, the dream for you
I want to be the partner that you have always dreamed of, but have yet to find.
Could I be, would I do
If given the chance, would I be able to fulfill your expectations and desires within a relationship?
Could I be the last surrender
I am willing to be the one who surrenders in order to prevent more conflicts and maintain the relationship.
Could I be the number one contender
Am I capable of being the top choice when compared to your other past partners?
Could I trust you if you don't come home
If you were to stay out later than expected or not come home, would I be able to trust that you are being honest and faithful?
Could I leave you all alone
If our relationship were to come to an end, would I be able to leave you and move on with my life?
You're tougher than the rest of us
When it comes to relationships, you are able to handle difficult situations and conflicts better than most people.
You're making out like it never was
You are trying to downplay or ignore the issues between us, as if they never existed in the first place.
You say you've got the thing thought through
You have convinced yourself that you have everything under control and have thought through the potential outcomes of our relationship.
You'd rather walk away than fight
Your instinct is to avoid conflict and potentially walk away from a relationship rather than working through the issues at hand.
And you'd rather do what's wrong than right
In some instances, you may choose to act in a way that is not necessarily the best course of action, due to your desire to maintain control or avoid conflict.
You paint yourself in the darkest shade of gray
You tend to view yourself and your actions in a negative light, focusing on your faults and failures rather than your strengths or successes.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: MADDOCK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind