Since graduating from the LA Music Academy and Cal Arts, Nate Wood has enjoyed enviable success as a working musician. In his last year of school, he met founding members of The Calling, Alex Band and Aaron Kamin. They had a development deal with RCA and had been looking for just the right members for years. When they heard Nate play, he was quickly recruited. The Calling went on to write and record "For You" on the Daredevil soundtrack and win Best New Act at the MTV European Music Awards in '02. Nate also recorded two albums with bassist Melvin Davis and is featured on the upcoming Darek Oles release.

Back in 1996, Nate says he enrolled at the LA Music Academy because, "I got negative vibes from the other big schools. They didn't seem well-rounded and were more interested in how much money my parents had than listening and assessing my musical ability."

Finally, Nate met with LA Music Academy Drum Department Chairs Ralph Humphrey and Joe Porcaro, who listened to him play, and they accepted his application to the program. "I was there to relearn aspects of playing that I was taking for granted, and there are teachers at the Academy who really help you with that. Mike Shapiro and Aaron Serfaty were most helpful in making me a better player fast. The LA Music Academy bridged the gap between 'here's how to play your instrument,' and 'here's how to play music.'"

Nate left The Calling in October of '02 to join Kneebody, and to record a solo album at home on a Rolands 1680, singing and playing all the instruments himself.

In terms of choosing the right education for a young musician, Nate comments, "I think there comes a point where there's a crossroads — where there's a choice to make about music. I made the decision that music was what I was going to do, and I was going to work for it as hard as I could. You can play and play in clubs and never move on to the next level. It's usually because you get stuck in one path, never deviating, and the LA Music Academy encourages you to learn in all the ways that you can."