Watching a Will the Wolf music video will leave you entertained.
Wacky, edgy and often funny with unexpected bits, his videos complement his songs but do not rely on the music to keep your interest.
The music video for “Bang” for instance, takes the viewer on a journey from Will’s stage performance at The Little Carib Theatre to a beach where he is unexplainably doing martial arts which morphs into a dance routine and a chase by photographer Marlon James clad in nothing but his “tighty whities”.
Will, a filmmaker, uses his skill in that field to fuel his budding music career.
In fact, while spending the pandemic lockdown at home in Trinidad and Tobago, he decided to develop his music and use videos as a way to showcase what he can do as a filmmaker.
“With film, there is no limit with me and with music, I feel I have more limitations, I have so much more to go with music. With film, I feel I have more leeway with storytelling. I love music as much as film but I am better at film. The film enables me to continue getting better with the music,” he told Loop News.
Will the Wolf from a scene in the video I’m Thinking You Should featuring XO Drew
Born Jeff Wight, Will is the grandson of legendary T&T cricketer Jeffrey Stollmeyer. He was named after his grandfather, a man he describes as an incredibly integral person.
His sobriquet, Will the Wolf, is inspired in part by Heath Ledger’s 2001 film A Knight’s Tale.
“Will, the person he portrayed, was such a noble character and I think I always wanted to be like my grandfather…I would like to aspire to being noble,” he said.
The Wolf part of his name reflects the different facets of his personality.
“I always felt like I was a wolf, they are part of a pack but they can be moody, alone and aggressive. And I feel like I am all of that. It represents a desire to become something I really am,” he said, noting that if wolves are in a safe environment they become goofy.
Will got into music in his early teens when his sister Sophie put him onto bands such as Radiohead and Prodigy as well as R&B and Hip Hop. His singing voice didn’t develop until his late teens around the time he met Andrew McIntosh from T&T rock band Skid Nevely.
“I was a huge fan, he was my hero, so when we started making music together he said we could be in a band together and I was blown away. That was about eight years ago,” he recalled.
They formed an indie band called Buffalo Impact and even fielded a couple of label offers.
Will left T&T to pursue film and film studies. He moved around a bit between Los Angeles, London, New York and Toronto where he did a business degree at Yorkville University. While he stopped singing, he got jobs ghostwriting for other singers.
“I kept getting jobs ghostwriting and I realised I had the power to do music. That made me realise that I could have a pretty decent career as a singer,” he said.
Prior to coming out an artiste, Will worked on an 11-track album but wondered why he was putting out a body of work no one asked for. Instead, he decided to just drop singles while he builds his reputation in the music business. He said he has around 15 songs that he could easily release by year’s end. So far, he has released four.
One of them is ‘Bang’, a song produced by McIntosh.
“It was a tongue in cheek, R&B kinda vibe… it was a blessing to work with him. He has a quirk to him and he is so musically knowledgeable,” said Will.
Will’s latest release, “Fake Love”, is a collaboration with Preedy and Mical Teja.
“I did a song written by Jimmy October and produced by Tano and I wanted to put it out. I spoke to Teja who is such a good producer and Preedy was messaging me to say we have to get in the studio and I presented the song to him. He did the chorus, Teja beefed it up and it went to a place we were happy with,” he said of the process.
Working with soca artistes is Will’s biggest collaboration to date.
“It was a collaboration in which I wanted to show myself up to their following. I wanted to introduce myself to my country more,” he explained.
For artistes like Will who do not sing soca or Trinibad, penetrating the mainstream is challenging.
Will the Wolf from a scene in the video for Bang
Will is part of a new generation of artistes including Jimmy October, Annalie Prime, Viren Neel, Freetown Collective and others who do not subscribe to any one particular genre of music.
His music is an eclectic mix of sounds and he yearns for a time when he wouldn’t have to think about fitting into a particular genre.
In fact, Will, who describes himself as a weirdo, does not like fitting into any molds.
“I want to be able to create things I can be proud of and I would love to be able to help other artistes coming out of Trinidad and I want to help anyone who is a weirdo, anyone who is afraid to do things… I will wear a dress, eye shadow, I don’t care, I would do whatever I want,” he said, citing singer and actor Nicholai Salcedo as his inspiration.
“The first album I was going to put out I was going to call it Schizophrenic. I feel that is life – it is irony, juxtaposition, finding the laughter in the tears.”
His music and his videos reflect that and also provide a conduit for Will to deal with his mental health.
Diagnosed with Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia at a young age and battling depression and anxiety, Will uses his music as a relief.
“I felt like the lamest weirdo and the music eventually gave me a lot of confidence,” he said.
While developing his music career, Will is also spending his time at home working on a couple of film projects. His plan is to continue developing his music and film career in the future.