After nearly 10 years in the business, three studio albums and a slew of production and collaboration credits, Toronto singer-songwriter Royal Wood is glad to have the respect of his fans and the industry – but don’t even mention slowing down.

“I feel like I’m just hitting my stride,” he says over the phone from his home in Toronto.

Indeed, it seems like Wood is calling the shots these days. The multi-instrumentalist has just launched a new tour, which includes a stop at the West End Cultural Centre this Sunday, Sept. 18.

The Sneak Peek Tour incorporates a kind of audience consultation process, allowing those who attend shows to give feedback via Facebook and Twitter during and after the show.

The response will be used to help Wood narrow down which of the new songs played at each show will eventually appear on his fourth studio album, due in early 2012.

The idea was formed when Wood recorded a version of Foster The People’s Pumped Up Kicks during a rainy evening in a Halifax hotel room earlier this year.

“It ended up getting posted online and it spread to all these blogs in the States and in Canada,” Wood explains. “Then fans started saying, ‘You should cover this song and this song.’”

The snowball effect led Wood to record several cover songs and got him thinking about getting more direct feedback and input about other aspects of his work.

“ I’m curious to know what resonates with fans, and I’m also curious to let the songs evolve. That’s what happens live.

Royal Wood

“I’m curious to know what resonates with fans, and I’m also curious to let the songs evolve. That’s what happens live,” he says. “This time people will be encouraged to actually give feedback as opposed to it simply being how they are reacting in the moment.”

In order to debut all the potential material for the new album, Wood said he will increase his usual one-new-song-per-night limit.

“I’d like to play three to four new songs every night and I’m going to pretty much interchange those as we go along,” he says. “What you’ll see in Winnipeg won’t happen in Regina.”

The total number of tracks to make it onto the 2012 release will be between 12 and 14, depending on the complexity and length of each song.

To best engage with the audience, the Sneak Peek Tour will stick to small, intimate venues. Also, instead of a full band, Wood will appear with only one other guitarist on stage.

“I want it to be very much about the lyrics and not about the big rock show or anything like that.”

Those who attend shows will receive exclusive online access to Wood’s Cover Sessions EP, which features his version of Pumped Up Kicks as well as an epic, orchestral version of Sam Roberts’ Don’t Walk Away Eileen, among others.

The tour will be one not to miss, giving fans a chance to see an artist at the top of his form.

“I feel like I have so much to say and so much to create and I’m excited about every day,” Wood says.

Published in Volume 66, Number 3 of The Uniter (September 15, 2011)