 “Well my dad named me after Woodrow Wilson, who happened to be,
actually, one of revisionist histories most racist presidents.” This
tidbit was how my conversation started with Woody Pak – musician, CEO of
Chaos Theory Music, loving husband, and doting father of two adorable
children. We met in West LA over iced coffee on a breezy summer
afternoon where we let our conversation flow from music to marijuana.
Growing up in Hawaii, Woody started learning guitar in high school and
took it upon himself to practice 6 to 8 hours a day. “High school was
where music was for myself. I was disciplined and intense, and not
really musically mature but just proud of that self imposed sadism – it
really laid a solid foundation for my playing.”
That hard work leaked into his academic life, and he was soon a student
at MIT. Woody explored different majors, but “something kept tugging” at
him and he found his way back to his first love. After moving to New
York, he found his artistic niche scoring music for student films. Woody
went on to study classical guitar at the world renowned Julliard School
of Music, but don’t let the name fool you – for a classically trained
musician, the pieces he creates as an artist show a range that is fresh
and current. When asked why he doesn’t stick to one easily identifiable
genre, he replies, “I get bored! Doing film scoring I’m forced to
deconstruct different genres and through that you gain an appreciation.
I love hardcore rap as well as ambient esoteric kind of stuff… I don’t
want to be genre bound and hopefully that will extend to socioeconomic
and racial barriers as well, because ideally and musically, there
shouldn’t be.”
When asked about his own struggle for identity, Woody decides to look at
the positive aspects of being a multicultural artist: “Korean Americans
identify with everything! At one point I said ‘you know I’m not going to
try to figure this out. I love it all, and I can embrace all these
things and incorporate them into my own ethos.’” This shows in the
ambient songs he has up on his myspace, as well as the hip-hop song he
did featuring Rapper Prime entitled “Hyped.” One thing I noticed was how
the lyrics to his song “hyped” were decidedly free of the
money-drugs-and-sex content currently dominating the mainstream air
waves. “Well I think the people who sing about those things do so
because it’s part of their experience. I really wouldn’t know. I have
yet to try pot. I think I’ll try it with my kids someday in a controlled
environment,” he laughs with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. Despite
Woody’s laid back attitude, it’s clear that he is a skilled musician.
His client list as a composer is impressive, and his songs are well
crafted, technically solid, and offers a strong perspective – the
question is: will it sell?
That is where his label, Chaos Theory Music, comes in. To promote
artists under his label, he’s using modern technology to his advantage:
“We didn’t have a huge marketing or PR budget, but observed platforms
like Youtube and Myspace. In regards to his latest project, the band
Seriously, he says “We sent out persistent newsletters, and blogging,
and that actually made a big difference because by the time the CD was
released everyone was waiting for it.”
 About a week or so later, I stop by the Chaos Theory Music studio and
get the grand tour. Besides all the expected recording equipment, Woody
shows me a video clip of his daughter singing for the camera. He tells
me that just being able to see his kids gives him the motivation to get
through the rough patches on this sometimes rocky path. It’s not always
perfect, as he points out the pangs of guilt he feels when he has to
head back into the studio sometimes late at night when inspiration
strikes. For Woody, success is defined by doing the best he can with the
gifts he has while still being a good father and husband. Although he
admits there are moments when he wonders why he chose a life so full of
risk, he says, “I’m very blessed and lucky that my job is to make stuff
up!”
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