Ricki Wood live @ The Vine

Family friendly day at the Vine.

So, who is this guy? 

Ricki Wood is a singer and guitarist with a live performance career that has seen him perform a countless number of shows in the last 30+ years. Born and raised in Gippsland Victoria, Ricki moved to New Zealand at age 13, where he discovered his love for playing the guitar. Starting out as a self-taught musician (to be honest he's still never had a lesson, lol), Ricki mostly played rock and heavy metal in his younger years, but expanded his repertoire to include a wide range of styles as he matured.  From his early 20’s, Ricki played with a range of popular covers bands, such as Planet, Club Nerd and Tall Poppies, in iconic venues all over Auckland and NZ. Ricki has also performed large community events playing in the backing band for famous New Zealand artists like Jordan Luck of The Exponents, Rikki Morris and Graham Brazier of Hello Sailor.  Being a complete addict to guitars, Ricki managed music retail stores for 12 years alongside doing 3 to 5 shows every week, before finally deciding to pursue music full time around 2005. He played in a popular duo act at the iconic Auckland bar Danny Doolans, 5 nights a week for the better part of 7 years.   In 2006, Ricki started writing original music for a rockabilly band called The Voodoo Kreepers that became an instant hit with audiences around NZ and Australia due to their high energy shows. The Voodoo Kreepers were regular performers at the Beach Hop Festival in NZ.  Ricki's alter ego Freddy Fargon was also the winner of Beach Hop Idol in 2009.... he's rarely been seen since. But if you do see him, RUN. The Voodoo Kreepers were also the first band from New Zealand to ever perform at GreazeFest in Australia.   No longer having a day time job, Ricki pursued his passion for building old hot rods and eventually became a feature writer for NZV8 magazine for 2 years, before becoming a presenter of automotive TV show, The Red Shift, which focused on the hot rod car lifestyle and scene in New Zealand. The show was picked up by prime time TV, Sky Tv and was internationally aired by the Discovery Channel. And all that fit in with his music career for as long as Ricki could handle until it exhausted him and he refocused exclusively on music.   In 2009, Ricki returned to Australia, taking on work performing solo acoustic shows on Mt Hotham during the ski season, which became a yearly 'seasonal' job up until 2016. Heading overseas, Ricki took on a residency contract singing 5 nights a week in Novotel hotel in Tung Chung, Hong Kong during 2010, and has performed special events for the Australian and NZ rugby teams and their fans during the Hong Kong 7's event in 2011.  Ricki eventually returned to Australia permanently in 2011 and has since performed all over the country singing in pubs, cafes, wineries, weddings, birthdays and almost any type of celebration you can fathom. Since April 2021 Ricki, his wife Adele and their dog Nero, have been wandering Australia in their caravan wherever the adventure and work takes them. Ricki can often be found performing in caravan parks along their journey, so if you're out there travelling, keep an eye on the SHOWS page and come join them. It was this adventure that lead to Ricki meeting and playing in a duo with Australian rock legend and actor, Frankie J Holden O.A.M. Frankie is the owner of Tathra Beachside Caravan park where Ricki was booked to perform a show just after Easter in 2021. Although they never met at that time, they chatted on the phone and hit it off. It wasn’t long after that show that Frankie rang Ricki and asked ‘do you want to do some duo shows’?…. um YES.   For their first show together, Frankie and Ricki were filmed performing live for season 3 of Channel 7 TV show ‘Adventure All Stars’. What a way to start a band. They recently did a knock out show at Agnes Blues Fest 2023 to a packed house. Ricki also performed a set of his original songs at the Festival, which lead to him receiving the following accolade from popular blues musician, Maynard Heap, “You’re the best musician I’ve never heard of’. For Ricki it was the perfect little boost he needed to refocus on writing and performing his own songs more often.   Ricki writes a lot of original music in a folky, country, blues, rock style with a focus on his life journey and its ups and downs, twists and turns. Ricki has recently re-released some of his back catalogue of solo albums, The Voodoo Kreepers and even his younger days with heavy metal / rock band Loose Unit on iTunes, Spotifyand YouTube Music. He is in the process of writing and preparing for recording new material to be released in the near future.