On his latest album, he said, “When I started the record back in 2017 I was coming off of my first big year of touring following the release of my EP, Steady Now. For the first time ever, people were listening to my music and other bands were asking me to go on the road with them! This gave me a lot of confidence going into making my next record. I wasn’t assuming it would be easy, but I knew I wanted to be more intentional, ‘up my game’ so to speak, and I felt like I knew how to do it. To make a long story short, I learned that I didn’t know what I was doing at all and after the first several months I basically fell into my first ever life crisis. This all eventually led to (or began with? Not totally sure) a catastrophically bad high dose LSD trip.”
He continued, “For the first nine hours of this trip, I actually had a beautiful experience, but around 8 a.m., I was getting tired and decided to do some push-ups to wear myself out before going to bed. During the push-ups, I experienced an adrenaline rush which caused me to have a panic attack which pretty much entirely changed my life. It took no less than a full year to get my nervous system to get back down to normal and another six months until I was sleeping normally and not experiencing PTSD symptoms. Those push-ups became infamous to those who know me. Although it was the worst thing that I had ever happen to me, I learned more about myself during that time than I probably ever will again and I am very thankful for the experience.”
Regarding his musical inspirations, he said, “I’m not sure what inspires my music, but I feel very confident that it changed at some point in the last couple of years. I didn’t handle it very well. I would like to be constantly evolving and so I have to assume my motivation to do things will always be changing.”
On being an artist in the digital age, he said, “It’s all I know, but it feels great. I don’t think I would have had any of the opportunities I’ve been given before the Internet. It can be overwhelming and cause me to question my worth but for the most part its incredible. Nothing matters.”
His future plans are to keep traveling and to keep making more music. “Also, to try to keep getting better at all aspects of life. I never really know what’s important in the moment, but making records and looking back on the process and seeing the albums start to pile up seems important,’ he said.
He encouraged young and aspiring artists to “try to have fun” and “build it the way you want it to look.” He also listed Jack Black as Dewey Finn in School of Rock. “I need to learn how to rock,” he said.
For his fans, he concluded about the album, “I’ve created a situation where what I get to say is through whatever I decide to put on a record. That idea stressed me out at times while making Push Ups, but I’m cool with it now.”
To learn more about William Wild, check out his official website and his Facebook page.
