Will Toledo

William Barnes (born August 23, 1992), known professionally as Will Toledo, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and founding member of the indie rock band Car Seat Headrest.

Early life William Barnes was born and raised in Leesburg, Virginia, with his father working for the local county government, and his mother working as a special education teacher's aide. As a child, Toledo was taught piano by his father, recounting a story with Vice of how his father thought he knew how to read sheet music, but Toledo had instead only been imitating how his father played.

While attending Loudoun County High School, Toledo was involved in marching band, and played trombone. During this time, he would also begin pursuing music on his own, becoming involved with the band Mr. Yay Okay, as well as working under his own solo projects, The 63rd Fret and Nervous Young Men. Toledo would begin sharing his work through the online music distribution platform Bandcamp after learning about the success the band Cults had been able to achieve through the platform. As he had originally struggled to establish an audience through his previous projects, he chose to try to release more experimental songs anonymously.

Under the Car Seat Headrest moniker, Toledo released eight studio albums, three extended plays, and two outtakes' compilations between 2010 and 2014. In 2015, upon signing to Matador Records, Toledo recruited drummer Andrew Katz and bassist Jacob Bloom, turning Car Seat Headrest into a full band. alt=An image of the band Car Seat Headrest performing a live show at a venue called "The Showbox", with frontman Will Toledo prominently visible, and bassist Seth Dalby visible in the background. This image has been cropped into a square. Will Toledo is a white man with shaggy black hair and black frame glasses. He is holding a microphone on a stand and wearing a black t-shirt. There are stagelights in the background. This photo was taken 12 October 2018. Toledo performing with Car Seat Headrest at The Showbox in 2018. Within Car Seat Headrest, Toledo provides vocals, guitar, piano, and synthesizers. Toledo's songwriting often combines influence from literature with personal, 'confessional' lyricism. Toledo is also one half of music duo 1 Trait Danger with Katz, with Toledo often performing as Trait and Katz often performing as Stoney. Together, they have released five albums.

Toledo posted covers on his Tumblr account car seat headrest

Personal life Toledo graduated from Loudoun County High School in 2010, and subsequently enrolled at Virginia Commonwealth University. After a semester, Toledo would transfer to the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he majored in English and minored in religious studies. He graduated from William & Mary in 2014 and moved to Seattle, Washington to pursue Car Seat Headrest professionally. Toledo is gay and a member of the furry fandom. He is one-fourth Mexican. He takes his professional name, Toledo, from his mother's maiden name. He has previously faced autoimmune complications since early adulthood, and developed a histamine intolerance after testing positive for COVID-19 while on tour in 2022. He has since used social media to raise awareness for long COVID.

Discography

Car Seat Headrest

As Nervous Young Men

The Bell Jar (2008) Boxing Day (2009) Katzenjammer (2009) The Loudness War (2009) Nervous Young Men (2010)

Mr Yay Okay

Mr. Yay Okay (2008, EP)

1 Trait Danger

1 Trait High (2018) 1 Trait World Tour (2019) 1 Trait Bangers (2021) 1 Trait University (2025) Escape from 1 Trait (2025)

Production