Photo by Jake Aho
Remove Records: Can you start by telling us how you got into music? How long have you been playing music for?
Will: Surprisingly my Mom accidentally first got me into music as a kid. I was/am an only child so I would ride along on errands and as a reward she would buy a CD for the day if I wasn’t being a monster. Sometimes it would be whatever was the most popular album of the week was, but usually it was a greatest hits compilation or an album she grew up with. A lot of classic rock and Motown and funk. As punishment for being too loud or annoying she would crank the cd super loud which quickly became not a punishment at all and probably why I’m a maniac now. I started playing cello and upright bass and bass guitar around 4th grade not sure how old that is though.
Do you have a preference of listening to old music vs new music?
I don’t know if I prefer old music but I feel like I always have so much catching up to do it’s hard to keep up with new stuff no matter how hard I try. Whatever’s popular now I’ll probably get into in 10 years (not in a cool way).
Is there any guilty pleasures or genres/bands people would be surprised to hear you listen to?
I have zero guilt about it, but easily 3rd wave ska. I have seen Reel Big Fish an embarrassing amount of times and there was a two year period where I only listened to Operation Ivy. Pick it up.
Are there any musicians, producers, or artists that you would like to collaborate with given the opportunity?
I would really like to experience David Lynch yelling about literally anything in my general direction.
I think you have a very unique voice and approach when singing. Could you tell us a bit about your singing style?
During the early practices I was afraid to sing (still am) so I figured yelling would be a lot less scary. When I was writing the first few Stools songs I was only listening to Negative Approach and Howlin Wolf so I wanted to combine those the best I could. If there’s any technique to it, it would be that I let my voice grind/push/stay in my throat as much as possible.
Is there anything people would be surprised to know about The Stools?
We know about the secret tunnels. Most of them.
Will we ever see a Stools music video?
Once we can all agree on which found footage flick to rip off.
What kind of car do you drive?
A formerly pristine Pontiac G6... It was recently vandalized and has an unremovable Korn decal now. I will kick anybody out of my car that plays the song (you know which one).
You've shown your artwork at a number of different shows around town and consistently post interesting pieces on instagram. Where do you get the inspiration for your art?
I owe a lot to Michael Kolesky for letting me show whatever I’m working on at shows no questions asked... and I take a lot of inspiration from things the people around me say and I try to keep a mega list of quotes that sound too ridiculous to be true. I’m sure a few people have recognized something they said and hopefully been okay with it. I’m very inspired by graphic/product design which is constantly everywhere. I try to be as confessional as I can and I want to make people laugh at me or confused or worried about me. Lately I’ve been inspired a lot by lost dog and garage sale type flyers and I’m trying to incorporate that look somehow.
What are you working on next?
A lot of New Stools songs and some unrelated covers for fun when my brain starts to hurt.
What advice would you give to somebody just starting out in music?
Listen to only Operation Ivy for two years so that you can’t connect to any other humans.