Artist Will Blood wanted to be a rock star – but pop-punk’s loss is the art world’s gain

I feel like I’ve always existed on the edge. I’ve always just been a get my head down and work person. I’ve never worked with anyone big. The times I’ve had opportunities to, I’ve immediately not liked the lack of control.  

In 2012 I did a little local show in Brighton and people really liked it. So I just carried on with the skeletons. I’d done masses and masses before that no one gave a shit about and that was the first time I was like, oh, fucking hell, people like me. I’m on to something, I want to keep doing this. 

The few years, I hit a bit of a rhythm. Showing the full process of how I work on Instagram worked quite well. I got really obsessed with making those videos, to the point I was probably spending longer making a video than the work. 

Having an ultra-obsessive brain, I just got completely fucking obsessed with that aspect of it. I spend a lot of time staring at my phone, trying to pull exact things into timing and then screaming when it doesn’t work. 

I think social media is a double-edged sword. If you just put a little bit of effort in, you can reach fucking millions of people, you’ve never been able to do that before. But then you get the flip side, I think it probably has changed the way people view art.  

I wanted to be a rock star when I was younger. I was in bands, and I got deported. I didn’t have a working visa, got caught at Detroit airport, and I got blacklisted from America for 10 years, which is up now but I know I won’t have a good time if I go there. So I need to go to the embassy. 

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I’d never planned on being an artist. I drew a lot as a very young kid. I was obsessed with bugs and stuff. I started doing stuff for bands I was in, and then for my mates’ bands. And then I realised I enjoyed that far more than being in the band. I was a drummer for years, and I was a singer, bassist. I was in pop-punk band called Chaos Days, that did alright, we were touring the east coast of America. I did a few bands after that in Brighton. All sort of medium success, nothing big. 

The way I work is massively meditative. I have several things I do to keep my head together. One of them is grinding out, working, hyper focusing on something – that’s massively part of my mental health routine.  

My mental health is the best it’s ever been at the moment. It’s been bad in the past and I never realised, which is often the case, isn’t it? You can’t see the storm until you’re on the other side of it. You’re like, oh my lord, I was an absolute mess.  

There are times when you get hundreds of people saying, oh, you’re great, but if one person says, blah, blah did that first, you’re like, oh god, they found me out. 

I remember once someone said, oh, you’re the bone guy. I nearly had a panic attack at the time. But then equally, I’ve got a mortgage to pay and a son. 

I think even if I wasn’t doing this for a job, I’d still be doing it. I used to do my job, get home, and then just draw, much to everyone around me’s dismay. 

I’ve always been completely obsessed with drawing. I think I have a fundamental need to constantly be making.

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