Will Toledo
{{Short description|Indie rock musician}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Will Toledo
| birth_name = William Barnes
| image = Car Seat Headrest (48986709682).jpg
| caption = Will Toledo in 2019
| alias = {{hlist|Mortis Jackrabbit|Trait}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1992|08|23}}{{Cite web |last=Person |first=Some |title=Will Toledo |url=https://larycsavvy.s3.rbx.io.cloud.ovh.net/will-toledo.html |access-date=July 24, 2024 |website=WeBlogy |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Glide |title=Happy 30th Birthday - Will Toledo of Car Seat Headrest |url=https://glidemagazine.com/video/happy-30th-birthday-will-toledo-of-car-seat-headrest/ |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=Glide Magazine |language=en-US}}
| birth_place = Leesburg, Virginia, U.S.
| origin = Leesburg, Virginia, U.S.
| occupation = {{flatlist|
- Musician
- singer
- songwriter
- producer
}}
| current_member_of = {{hlist|Car Seat Headrest|1 Trait Danger|}}
| past_member_of = Mr. Yay Okay
| genre = {{hlist|Indie rock|slacker rock|lo-fi|power pop|psychedelic rock|electronic rock|
}}
| instruments = {{hlist|Vocals|Guitar|Keyboards|Bass|Drums}}
| website = {{URL|carseatheadrest.com}}
}}
William Barnes{{Cite web |last=Martin |first=Robey |date=June 27, 2017 |title=Q&A: Car Seat Headrest |url=https://richmondmagazine.com/api/content/4c407748-568d-11e7-a7bb-0a5fbc963f88/ |access-date=July 24, 2024 |website=richmondmagazine.com |language=en-us}} (born August 23, 1992), known professionally as Will Toledo, is an American musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and founding member of the indie rock band Car Seat Headrest. He takes his professional name from his mother's maiden name.{{cite web | url=https://richmondmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/music/q-a-car-seat-headrest/ | title=Q&A: Car Seat Headrest | date=June 27, 2017 }}
Early life
Will Toledo was born and raised in Leesburg, Virginia, with his father working for the local county government, and his mother working as a special education teacher's aide.{{Cite web |last=Roberts |first=Michael |title=Car Seat Headrest's Will Toledo Wants To Quit Music While He's Young |url=https://www.westword.com/music/car-seat-headrests-will-toledo-wants-to-quit-music-while-hes-young-7484554 |access-date=2025-01-07 |website=Westword |language=en}} As a child, Toledo was taught piano by his father, recounting a story with Vice of how his father thought he knew how to read sheet music, but Toledo had instead only been imitating how his father played.{{Cite web |last=McGehee |first=Cate |date=2015-09-11 |title=Adult of Style: Car Seat Headrest's Teen Confessions Took Him from Bandcamp Stardom to a Real Band |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/car-seat-headrest-teens-of-style-interview-profile/ |access-date=2024-10-04 |website=VICE |language=en-US}}
While attending Loudoun County High School, Toledo was involved in marching band, and played trombone.{{Cite magazine |last=Vozick-Levinson |first=Simon |date=2015-11-24 |title=Car Seat Headrest: Dorm-Room Prodigy to Indie-Rock Sensation |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/car-seat-headrest-on-going-from-dorm-room-prodigy-to-indie-rock-sensation-225736/ |access-date=2024-10-04 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}} During this time, he would also begin pursuing music on his own, becoming involved with the band Mr. Yay Okay, as well as working under his own solo projects, The 63rd Fret and Nervous Young Men.{{Cite web |last=carseatheadrest |title=car seat headrest |url=https://carseatheadrest.tumblr.com/post/58543077675/nervous-young-men-is-my-bandcamp-from-high-school |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=Tumblr}} Toledo would begin sharing his work through the online music distribution platform Bandcamp after learning about the success the band Cults had been able to acquire through the platform.
Car Seat Headrest
{{Main|Car Seat Headrest}}
Toledo began Car Seat Headrest as a solo project shortly after graduating from high school, choosing the name as he would frequently record his vocals in the back seat of his family's car for privacy.{{Cite magazine |last=Hsu |first=Hua |date=November 2, 2015 |title=How Musicians Get Famous Today |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/11/02/growth-spurt-pop-music-hua-hsu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151125210138/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/11/02/growth-spurt-pop-music-hua-hsu |archive-date=November 25, 2015 |access-date=July 24, 2024 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}} As he had originally struggled to establish an audience through his previous projects, he chose to try to release more experimental songs anonymously.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nBnAdgH4UI |title=Car Seat Headrest - I Haven't Done Sh*t This Year (TIDAL Documentary: Part One) |date=June 29, 2018 |last=carseatheadrest |access-date=July 24, 2024 |via=YouTube}}
Under the Car Seat Headrest moniker, Toledo released eight studio albums, three extended plays, and two outtakes' compilations between 2010 and 2014. In 2015, upon signing to Matador Records,{{Cite web |title=Facebook |url=https://www.facebook.com/carseatheadrest/posts/940089882730770 |access-date=2024-10-23 |website=www.facebook.com}}{{Cite web |date=2015-12-10 |title=Bandcamp Got Car Seat Headrest Signed. Your Favorite Indie Act May Be Next. |url=https://www.inverse.com/article/8994-bandcamp-got-car-seat-headrest-signed-your-favorite-indie-act-may-be-next |access-date=2024-10-23 |website=Inverse |language=en}} Toledo recruited drummer Andrew Katz and bassist Jacob Bloom, turning Car Seat Headrest into a full band.{{Cite web |last=Ingegneri |first=Katie |date=2020-04-22 |title=An Interview with Andrew Katz of Car Seat Headrest |url=https://medium.com/houseshow-magazine/an-interview-with-andrew-katz-of-car-seat-headrest-a9103980ca58 |access-date=2024-10-23 |website=houseshow magazine |language=en}}
File:Car Seat Headrest at The Showbox Square Crop.jpg in 2018.]]
Within Car Seat Headrest, Toledo provides vocals, guitar, piano, and synthesizers. Toledo's songwriting often combines influence from literature with personal, 'confessional' lyricism.{{Cite web |last=Ingegneri |first=Katie |date=Nov 22, 2019 |title=A Conversation with Will Toledo and An Appreciation for Car Seat Headrest |url=https://medium.com/houseshow-magazine/a-conversation-with-will-toledo-and-an-appreciation-for-car-seat-headrest-9819e147f8f8 }}{{Cite web |date=2021-03-25 |title=The Sound of Music: Will Toledo Writes from the Heart of Depression |url=https://www.afterglowatx.com/blog/2021/3/25/the-sound-of-music-will-toledo-writes-from-the-heart-of-depression |access-date=2024-11-17 |website=afterglow |language=en-US}} Toledo is also one half of music duo 1 Trait Danger with Katz. Together, they have released three albums.{{Cite web |title=1 Trait Danger |url=https://1traitdanger.bandcamp.com/ |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=1 Trait Danger |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2019-09-07 |title=Meet Car Seat Headrest's Comedic Side Project 1 Trait Danger |url=https://noise.thehardtimes.net/2019/09/07/meet-car-seat-headrests-comedic-side-project-1-trait-danger/ |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=Hard Noise |language=en-US}}
Personal life
Toledo graduated from Loudoun County High School in 2010,{{Cite web |last=Dellinger |first=Hannah |date=February 11, 2016 |title=Featured by Rolling Stone and NPR, Leesburg native Car Seat Headrest is having one heck of a year |url=https://www.loudountimes.com/news/featured-by-rolling-stone-and-npr-leesburg-native-car-seat-headrest-is-having-one-heck/article_cb4d68d8-cede-5fad-8c4a-a887a8a4b2c7.html }} and subsequently enrolled at Virginia Commonwealth University. After a semester, Toledo would transfer to the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he majored in English and minored in religious studies.{{cite magazine | url=https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/car-seat-headrest-will-toledo-interview-kanye-west-7595913/ | title=Car Seat Headrest on Kanye West: 'It's the Latest Example of... People Not Listening Enough to the Other Side' | magazine=Billboard }} He graduated from William & Mary in 2014 and moved to Seattle, Washington to pursue Car Seat Headrest professionally. Toledo is gay and a member of the furry fandom.{{Cite web |title=Car Seat Headrest's Will Toledo Takes Off the Mask |url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/car-seat-headrest/car-seat-headrests-will-toledo-interview |access-date=July 24, 2024 |website=Paste Magazine |language=en-US}} He is one-fourth Mexican.{{Cite news |date=2013 |title=car seat headrest |url=https://carseatheadrest.tumblr.com/post/32594589484/are-you-mexican |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20230304201851/https://carseatheadrest.tumblr.com/post/32594589484/are-you-mexican |archive-date=2023-03-04 |access-date=2025-01-12 |work=Tumblr}}
Despite themes of mental unrest in his songwriting, Toledo does not consider himself depressed or mentally ill.{{Cite web |last=Domanick |first=Andrea |date=July 1, 2016 |title=A Long Drive with Car Seat Headrest |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/rnwp7d/car-seat-headrest-teens-of-denial-will-toledo-interview-profile-2016 |access-date=July 24, 2024 |website=Vice |language=en}} He has previously faced autoimmune complications since early adulthood, and developed a histamine intolerance after testing positive for COVID-19 while on tour in 2022.https://x.com/carseatheadrest/status/1565410487105454082 He has since used social media to raise awareness for long COVID.https://x.com/carseatheadrest/status/1768748179384864944
Discography
= Car Seat Headrest =
{{Main|Car Seat Headrest discography}}
= As Nervous Young Men =
- The Bell Jar (2008)
- Boxing Day (2009)
- Katzenjammer (2009)
- The Loudness War (2009)
- Nervous Young Men (2010)
= Mr Yay Okay =
- Mr. Yay Okay (2008, EP)https://www.discogs.com/artist/8218378-Mr-Yay-Okay
= 1 Trait Danger =
- 1 Trait High (2018)
- 1 Trait World Tour (2019)
- 1 Trait Bangers (2021)
= Production =
| class="wikitable"
!Year !Release !Artist !Ref |
| 2011
|D'Urberville |The Whiting Brothers | {{Cite web |last = carseatheadrest |title= car seat headrest |url = https://www.tumblr.com/carseatheadrest/20181263470/somehow-i-never-ended-up-posting-about-this-but |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=Tumblr}}{{Cite web |last=carseatheadrest |title=car seat headrest |url=https://carseatheadrest.tumblr.com/post/128428080081/sometimes-i-produce-albums-for-friends-and-now-is |access-date=2024-10-17 |website=Tumblr}} |
| 2012
|Sleeping in Herndon |Naked Days |{{Cite web | last=carseatheadrest |title = car seat headrest |url = https://carseatheadrest.tumblr.com/post/88411761296/albums-i-have-been-involved-in-to-date | access-date = 2025-02-17|website=Tumblr}} |
| rowspan="2" |2014
|Chai Knees |Naked Days |
| Tie Yourself to Me
|Katie Wood |
| 2015
|Four Ways To Say Goodbye Forever |American Holly |
| 2017
|Gold Connections |Gold Connections |
| 2019
|Midnight |
| rowspan="2"|2021
|My Head Hz |Naked Days | |
| How To Drive A Bus
|I've Made Too Much Pasta |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://carseatheadrest.com/ Car Seat Headrest website]
- [http://carseatheadrest.bandcamp.com/ Bandcamp Page]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20161104065219/http://matadorrecords.com/Car%20Seat%20Headrest Car Seat Headrest @ Matadorrecords.com]
{{Car Seat Headrest}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toledo, Will}}
Category:College of William & Mary alumni
Category:Matador Records artists
Category:American indie rock musicians
Category:Car Seat Headrest members
Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people
Category:American gay musicians
Category:American male guitarists
Category:Singer-songwriters from Virginia
Category:Guitarists from Virginia
Category:American alternative rock guitarists
Category:People from Leesburg, Virginia
Category:Musicians from Seattle
Category:LGBTQ people from Virginia
Category:LGBTQ people from Washington (state)