1. Wood is an experimental noise/ambient music project started in 2023
I… Read Full Bio ↴1. Wood is an experimental noise/ambient music project started in 2023
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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_/

Dreaming
Wood Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Again I start with nothing
The balance is set back to zero
For all that I had, for all that I worked
It all just returns to dirt
I reached I dreamed to better myself
In an ivory tower I thought
But after my time, eyes open wide
A life of adventure I sought

Again I start with nothing
The balance is set back to zero
For all that I had, for all that I worked
It all just returns to dirt
I came I saw I struggled I reached
A new home I built in this place
But in the end I ran out of time
And left head bowed in disgrace
Now I fear nothing changes
An endless cycle- emerge, decay, emerge
Again I start with nothing
The balance is set back to zero
For all that I had, for all that I worked
It all just returns to dirt
So I built up a throne, I built it of stone
But with the passage of time I learned something
The world that I chose, the place I know most
It left me feeling empty
Now I fear nothing changes
An endless cycle- emerge, decay, emerge
Again I start with nothing
The balance is set back to zero
For all that I had, for all that I worked
It all just returns to dirt
But these are the risks of dreamers
These are the risks that we take
To tear down a world of safety to find
The world we see in our minds
These are the risks of dreamers
These are the risks of the bold

So never let your fear of that pain
Hold you back from the world you could hold

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Wood's song "Dreaming" convey a sense of disillusionment and the cyclical nature of life. The song starts with the singer feeling like they have lost everything and that all their efforts and achievements have ultimately led to nothing but a return to nothingness. They reflect on their past aspirations of bettering themselves, thinking that success would be found in an "ivory tower." However, they come to the realization that even after seeking a life of adventure, they still find themselves back at square one.

The second verse continues this theme of starting from scratch and feeling a sense of failure. The singer recounts how they built a new home, but ultimately ran out of time and were forced to leave in disgrace. They express a fear that nothing ever changes and that life is just a continuous cycle of emerging and decaying.

In the third verse, the singer describes building a throne, symbolizing their attempt to establish themselves and find stability. However, with the passage of time, they come to the realization that the world they chose and the place they thought they knew well only left them feeling empty.

The song concludes with a message about the risks that dreamers take. Despite the disappointments and failures experienced, the singer encourages others not to be held back by the fear of pain, but to embrace their dreams and the world they envision in their minds.

Overall, "Dreaming" speaks to the universal human experience of striving for success and fulfillment, only to find that life does not always go as planned and that our efforts can sometimes end up feeling futile.

Line by Line Meaning

Again I start with nothing
Once again, I find myself in a state of having nothing to begin with, starting from scratch.

The balance is set back to zero
Any progress or achievements I had made before are now nullified, and I am back at square one.

For all that I had, for all that I worked
Despite all the possessions and accomplishments I had acquired, and all the effort I put into them,

It all just returns to dirt
They all eventually diminish in value or significance, losing their worth and meaning.

I reached I dreamed to better myself
I aspired and strived to improve as a person, to elevate my circumstances.

In an ivory tower I thought
I believed that by isolating myself in a privileged and secure position, separated from the struggles of the world,

But after my time, eyes open wide
However, as time went by, my perspective widened, and I realized the limitations and emptiness of such a life.

A life of adventure I sought
Therefore, I pursued a life filled with exciting and daring experiences, seeking something more fulfilling.

I came I saw I struggled I reached
I arrived at different destinations, observed numerous circumstances, faced challenges, and eventually achieved some of my goals.

A new home I built in this place
I constructed a fresh and comfortable environment to call my own in this particular location.

But in the end I ran out of time
However, ultimately, I found myself lacking enough time to fully make the most of my new home and its potential.

And left head bowed in disgrace
Consequently, I departed from that place with a sense of shame and disappointment.

Now I fear nothing changes
Nowadays, I am fearful that nothing will ever transform or evolve.

An endless cycle- emerge, decay, emerge
I perceive life as an everlasting sequence of emergence, decline, and reemergence.

So I built up a throne, I built it of stone
In response to my fears and uncertainties, I constructed a position of power and authority, symbolized by a solid, unwavering throne.

But with the passage of time I learned something
However, as time passed, I gained a valuable insight and understanding.

The world that I chose, the place I know most
The world I deliberately selected and the location I am most familiar with

It left me feeling empty
I discovered that despite my investment in that world and my familiarity with it, it failed to provide true fulfillment or satisfaction.

But these are the risks of dreamers
These challenging circumstances and potential disappointments are the hazards and consequences that dreamers willingly bear.

These are the risks that we take
These are the dangers and uncertainties that we, as dreamers, accept and face in pursuit of our aspirations.

To tear down a world of safety to find
We are willing to dismantle a comfortable and secure existence in order to discover and attain

The world we see in our minds
The vivid and captivating world that we envision within our imaginations.

These are the risks of dreamers
Once again, these are the perils and gambles that accompany the nature of dreamers.

These are the risks of the bold
These are the dangers and hazards associated with those who possess the bravery and audacity to pursue their dreams.

So never let your fear of that pain
Therefore, never allow the fear of experiencing such hardships to hold you back.

Hold you back from the world you could hold
Prevent you from embracing and seizing the world of possibilities that you have the potential to grasp.

Lyrics © DistroKid
Written by: Stuart Reeder

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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