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!
======================================================
(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_/
My One And Only Love
Wood Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Like an April breeze on the wings of spring,
And you appear in all your splendor,
My one and only love.
The shadows fall and spread their mystic charms
In the hush of night while you're in my arms.
I feel your lips, so warm and tender,
The touch of your hand is like heaven,
A heaven that I've never known.
The blush on your cheek whenever I speak
Tells me that you are my own.
You fill my eager heart with such desire.
Ev'ry kiss you give sets my soul on fire.
I give myself in sweet surrender,
My one and only love.
In "My One and Only Love," the singer is expressing their deep love and admiration for someone special in their life. They describe how just the thought of them can make their heart sing with joy, similar to the feeling of an April breeze in the springtime. The image of the person appears in all of their glory, with the singer recognizing that they are their one and only love. Even in the darkest moments, when the shadows fall and the night is still, the singer finds peace and happiness in the arms of their loved one. The touch of their hand is like heaven, and the slightest blush on their cheek confirms to the singer that their love is returned. Every kiss from the person they love sets their soul on fire, and the singer is willing to give themselves over completely in sweet surrender.
Overall, the lyrics of "My One and Only Love" convey a deep sense of love and devotion. The singer is overwhelmed with emotion at the mere thought of the person they love, and they find comfort in their presence even in times of darkness. Their love is passionate and all-consuming, and the singer is willing to give themselves over completely to the object of their affection.
Line by Line Meaning
The very thought of you makes my heart sing
Thinking of you brings me so much joy and happiness that my heart feels like it's singing.
Like an April breeze on the wings of spring,
Your presence is as refreshing and delightful as the breeze of a spring day in April.
And you appear in all your splendor,
You always look captivating and magnificent every time I see you.
My one and only love.
You are the only person I truly love and want to be with forever.
The shadows fall and spread their mystic charms
As darkness falls, it creates an atmosphere of mystery and enchantment.
In the hush of night while you're in my arms.
During the stillness of the night, I hold you close and feel a deep sense of contentment.
I feel your lips, so warm and tender,
Your lips are so soft and gentle when we kiss, and it fills me with joy and tenderness.
My one and only love.
You are the only person I truly love and want to be with forever.
The touch of your hand is like heaven,
Feeling the touch of your hand is as blissful and heavenly as anything I've ever experienced.
A heaven that I've never known.
Being with you is like experiencing a type of joy and contentment I've never felt before.
The blush on your cheek whenever I speak
I can see a hint of shyness on your cheek as I talk to you, indicating that you are mine and belong to me.
Tells me that you are my own.
Your reactions tell me that you belong to me and that you would always be mine.
You fill my eager heart with such desire.
You fuel my heart with a deep desire that makes me want to be with you forever.
Ev'ry kiss you give sets my soul on fire.
Every time we kiss, it ignites a fire in my soul and fills my heart with more love and passion for you.
I give myself in sweet surrender,
I willingly and happily give myself to you and surrender to your love.
My one and only love.
You are the only person I truly love and want to be with forever.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Guy B. Wood, Robert Mellin
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
R271172
Great song, artwork, video!!
Jesus Torres
I'm fascinated with his art.
Edna Fernandes
linda peça.
Edna Fernandes
:)
Maryla Piskorska
Superbe !! I adore !! Thank you dear !!
KruNosLaV Lucky Star
Very nice work
ANTONIO BOUFFIER
Beautiful !!!!
suarez
so beautiful!!
Jim Tan
What a Voice...Thnxxx Kate 💋
KruNosLaV Lucky Star
Anđele moj !!
"my one and only"