Here's Five: Will Wood

After a few months traversing Europe off the back of the release of his debut album Broken Man, multi-instrumentalist Will Wood is packing up his brass guitar and heading back home. Wood's return to these shores will be followed by two homecoming shows this weekend across Rotorua and Auckland, so in anticipation we asked him to share some of the musical discoveries he stumbled upon during his travels... 

Rob Moir
I opened for this chap in Lyon early on in my tour, and he would end up playing a huge role for the rest of my trip. This dude gave up his day job 18 months ago and now ONLY plays music for a living, constantly touring Europe and occasionally popping back to his homeland Canada. He has touring down to a fine art and after we played a great show together and drank far too much rum he was kind enough to share some advice and contacts with me and helped me book a whole bunch of shows later in my tour. Seriously good dude, and his new album kicks ass.

Freddy Fudd Pucker
Freddy (Tom Young) is a Berlin-based Dunedinite possessing the fastest strumming hand I've ever seen, and he's an incredible songwriter to boot. He let me jump in the car with him for a string of shows around Germany, the Will-Freddy double header worked so well that next year we're going to hit the road together again in New Zealand and Europe.

Hannah In The Wars
You might remember Hannah Curwood used to play around New Zealand a few years ago, she has since moved to London and has a new band and with it a new record - produced by Roger O'Donnell from The Cure. I played with Hannah In The Wars in London in October and it was pretty f"in amazing - everyone in the band has a beautiful voice and the arrangements are super original. Lucky for us Hannah will be touring the new record in NZ in April next year!

Dinosaur Truckers
I met these guys in Southern Bavaria - the last place you'd expect to find a balls to the wall bluegrass band - and they won me over instantly. Some of the nicest humans I've ever met, and they play so fast and with so much energy it's impossible to keep your foot from tapping.

French for Rabbits
I'm sure this band needs no introduction - their brand new album is breathtaking and their tour schedule is busy as all heck. I wanted to mention them because, even though we didn't know each other very well, when they realised I was in Europe at the same time as them they were super supportive and let me join them at some shows - as well as putting me in touch with some cool venues around the continent. I've seen them play as a duo many times over the years, in London I saw the full band for the first time and it's definitely worth checking out when they tour the record through New Zealand in December.

Bonus video!!!
Here's Will Wood performing 'Dead Flowers' live in Switzerland...

Will Wood is playing two shows this weekend, starting with a performance at The Rogue Stage in Rotorua on Friday 5th December, and then he'll be at The Wine Cellar in Auckland on Saturday 6th December. Head over here for more info and to buy tickets