Wiked Wood, which is a duo made up of Zac “Cray-z” Graves and Rob “Creep” Sawyer were recently featured in a North Carolina newspaper. The Ashe Mountain Times ran a story about them in the Thursday, August 14th edition.
In this article Wiked Wood discusses proforming at a free music show to help raise money for Camp New Hope, their background, and more. You can check out the article and a scan copy of the newspaper below.
From Ashe Mountain Times:
A rap group called Wicked Wood returned home on Friday, Aug. 8, to perform a free music show to help raise money for Camp New Hope.
Wicked Wood is a duo made up of Zac “Cray-z” Graves and Rob “Creep” Sawyer, both of whom graduated from Ashe County High School, where they met and formed their band.
According to Graves, he and Sawyer perform in independent shows up and down the East Coast, especially in Pittsburg and New Jersey. Graves also said the group’s name Wicked Wood is a reference from Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.”
“We love performing in our hometown,” Graves said.
Friday’s show wasn’t just a hometown visit; the show was also a way to take up donations for Camp New Hope, a retreat for children with terminal illnesses.
Debra Speas, a volunteer with the camp, attended Friday’s show to take donations. According to Speas, this was her first time at a rap show.
“It’s nice to be introduced to a younger crowd,” Speas said. “We are thankful for everyone’s help.”
Normal guys
Graves and Sawyer are not typical rap artists. On stage, Graves wears face paint, while Sawyer is clad with a red bandana on his face and wears red contacts.
Friday night’s show was called “Culture Shock,” not because the group’s lyrics are shocking, but because the group’s innocuous nature might surprise locals.
“People see me wearing face paint during a show, and then they’ll see me without the face paint later, and they won’t even recognize me,” Graves said. “We’re both just normal guys.”
Both Graves and Sawyer are married, and Graves is a father of two. Despite their aggressive look, the group isn’t gang affiliated in any way, and the lyrics of their songs are fairly radio friendly.
Most of the group’s songs are about real life, and poke fun at pop culture and celebrities, not typical of mainstream rap groups.
So that being the case, why wear the face paint?
“It’s the shock factor of it,” Graves said. “It’s all about getting noticed.”
According to Graves, the face paint is a tribute to some of the artists who inspired him when he was younger. Also, Graves and Sawyer began their careers performing in front of “underground” audiences, where face paint is more accepted.
During the years, the face paint has become a part of Graves’ onstage persona, and so has Sawyer’s red bandana.
“We refuse to change,” Graves said. “At this point, we just want to make good independent music.”
The duo deals with the same everyday problems as everyone else. One of the hills the duo must overcome is a long-distance relationship between the two.
Graves lives and works in Ashe County, while Sawyer lives in Pittsburg, Pa., and attends a community college.
“Sometimes, it gets in the way a little bit,” Sawyer said, about the distance. “The important thing is we never stopped communicating.”
According to Sawyer, he and Graves have been talking about music since they were in high school.
Graves was a couple years older than Sawyer, and already had some experience in performing and recording rap music. Once Graves discovered Sawyer had a similar taste in music, they became friends.
In time, Sawyer discovered he could perform rap music, and since then, the two have practiced and honed their craft. The culmination of their hard work shines through during their performances, and it came through Friday night.
Their show was attended by approximately 150 people in the upstairs of Blackjacks Restaurant.
“All right everyone, this is for charity, so let’s all have some fun,” Graves said, at the start of Friday’s show.
With that, the overhead lights dimmed, the strobe lights turned on, and the audience did something that comes natural to everyone — they started dancing.
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