A Little About Myself

Hello. My name is Rhys Wood and I had the idea that I should write a little bit about myself for my Website. These things are usually written in the third person, but I don’t think there’s any point in pretending that I have a PR team working around the clock for me. I am the definitive “struggling musician” trying to get his music heard in the big, wide world.

I grew up in Albany, Western Australia where music and athletics kept me out of trouble. I sang in the church choir, learnt Piano and Clarinet and ran myself into glory every sports carnival. To be honest, I wasn’t that good, but Albany is a small town and you can be rewarded for just trying.

I left home in 1983 to study at The University of Western Australia. I came out a few years later with a degree in Politics and a murky vision of my future. I drifted into music through going to gigs and “noodling” on the guitar until I started playing keyboards in local cover bands, most notably and to this day, the dinosaur of the Perth cover scene, “Slim Jim and The Fatts Band.”

In 1998 I was accepted into The West Australian Academy of Performing Arts” to study Jazz Piano. I learnt much and one of the biggest lessons was that I didn’t like Jazz enough to ever be any good at it. Since graduating I have become more and more interested in lyrics and what could be broadly described as “roots music.” Artists such as Bob Dylan, Damien Rice and David Gray have influenced me greatly and inspired me to write and record my own music. The result, for now, is “The New World Sadness Record Record” which will be the first in a lifetime of albums. The next album is written and I look forward to starting recording later in 2009.

I try to present “honest” music with real thoughts, real instruments and real musicians. Much thought goes into every aspect of each song so when you hear it, you are on the end of a long and careful process. Most of my music is quiet, but I would hate to think of it as “background music.” Try to find a quiet moment to get the most out of it.

I hope you will enjoy the album. I am happy to say that I am still proud of everything on it and still listen to it myself. Perhaps we’ll meet at a gig one day.

Rhys