Tales of being Not Country Enough. Not Blues Enough. Not Folk Enough. Too Heavy. As well as Bigfoot, when we caught up Rock Ferry troubadour Mike West.
RBY: How did all this begin? What bands were you in, whats your influences?
MW: I first picked up a guitar after seeing old KISS shows on video and was influenced early on by Ace Frehley, Tony Iommi, Randy Rhoads and James Hetfield. My first band was a Thrash Metal band called Names of the Fallen when I was around 18 and around the time that unfortunately ended, I was listening to a lot of old Delta Blues like Robert Johnson, discovering Johnny Cash’s American Recordings albums and Kris Kristofferson and I realised that was the genre or medium that I could best find my voice in.
RBY: The genre hopping thing, listening to your music, there’s metal in still in there, yet the blues and country sound aren’t bent out of shape. How did you come up with this concoction of sounds?
MW: I have a sincere and deep love for Roots music, the Blues and Country musicians I listen to are some of my all-time favourite artists yet I don’t think I could ever play in a purely Blues or Country or Folk style while accurately representing myself. There are so many clichés and stereotypes in those genres, I would hate to be anything but sincere in my performances and songs so with a background in Metal, a love of Punk and Rock. This is the sound that comes out. This Bastard Country as I like to call it that is rooted in my sincere love of all these genres while at the same time being as honest as I can be about who I am.
RBY: What made you decide to go solo as a performer?
MW: A lot of my favourite artists are and were solo artists. Blind Willie Johnson, Johnny Cash and Jason Isbell are solo artists and I think that is the most obvious and easiest way to perform these songs. The practical side of it is also massive as it keeps costs downs, touring and travelling is easier and you don’t have to check with anyone else before you book a show. I perform as a duo sometimes with Rob Wakefield on the fiddle but the beauty of a solo artist is as long as I have a guitar and someone to listen, I can play a show.
RBY: You’ve managed to travel a fair bit and played a lot of gigs, where have you been, any outstanding memories, whats life on the road like for you?
MW: Life on the road is the purest and best time as an artist, it’s all about the music and the shows, meeting new people and just sharing my music. It’s awesome. I’ve been around the UK and Europe a few times now and I love Groningen in the Netherlands. I play a Black Metal bar there called The White Wolf and I always love how open minded and accepting the Metal crowd are. Whenever I go there, it’s an amazing show. Europe is such an under-appreciated gem for Roots music.
RBY: Then there’s this Into The Van podcast. Whats that about?
MW: As a musician in 2020, with the digital age, the demand for content creation and keeping in the mix against algorithms, I decided to start up a podcast where I talk to musicians I love and some I’m lucky enough to call friends and just dig into the behind the scenes of being a musician or a creative person in this day and age. I love the podcast medium and long form, free flowing conversations so I hit up people I know and people I’m fans of and I want to create a comprehensive insight into all aspects of the creative world, talking to promoters and managers, musicians and comedians, comic book creators and podcasters. Anyone I think offers a unique insight into their field and someone could gleam some wisdom from our chats. Into the Van is meant to be recorded out of my van but at the moment it’s all through Zoom and Skype but I’ve been lucky enough to speak to some people I may not have a chance to otherwise.
RBY: There’s some recorded material, the EP rusted and now this album The Next Life, which is getting some great reviews and what we’ve heard of it sound impressive, it has a big, epic sound (we will review it soon), were you aiming for epic?
MW: I don’t think anyone who aims for epic will probably achieve it to be honest. I just wanted to showcase these songs in a way they haven’t been heard before. Taking the frame work of Rusted which was stripped back to vocals and guitar and arranging the songs to have some gorgeous instrumentation on them to really fill them out and give them a sound I couldn’t achieve on my own. The Next Life is literally the next life of me personally and musically and I’m glad people are digging it because I wanted people who enjoy my music to be surprised and feel like they got their money and times worth on every listen.
RBY: We’ve had to ask everyone about the impact Covid has had on the musically, performance etc. How have you coped?
MW: The podcast has been a massive help to keep people engaged and of course releasing an album mid pandemic was helpful with that although it kills me I haven’t been able to tour it yet. I’ve been lucky enough to work with a great group of artists under the collective Rogue Country and we recently put together a radio show that will be airing soon. That has been great to not only do something fun with other musicians but also gives us the opportunity to provide a platform for other artists we like and discover new music. During lockdown, I think it has done really well to bring in new audiences and introduce them to music outside the mainstream scenes.
RBY: Where next for Mike West, what have you got lined up, what do you hope to do?
MW: I hope to eventually tour The Next Life, get back out to Europe and play some shows for folks. Into the Van has some great guests on and lined up and Rogue Country is taking on a life of its own so I couldn’t be prouder of those three things right now and I’ll just be pushing them as far as I can until someone stops me!
RBY: I do have to ask though, what is this Bigfoot thing all about?
MW: Aha right. I've just been obsessed with the myth of Sasquatch and think it's one of the last true myths still persistent that isn't directly linked to technology (aliens) or man (Conspiracies JFK etc). I don't 100% believe the accounts but I get a kick out of the imagery, footage and accounts so it's just something fun I have and if people actually read my bio and stuff they get a kick out of it too.
When someone has a Squatch story they believe, its one of the best conversations you can have. It's always fun. There's the Bigfoot Research Organisation which always has accounts. Most conspiracies and myths are usually at someone else's tragedy or expense while this is just a legend with some prehistoric background so it's just a nice one to read into every now and then
As a new artist, I needed some iconography and imagery that would grab peoples attention and Bigfoot, especially the shape of them walking from the Patterson footage, is pretty recognisable so I went with that. There’s a few layers to it but it's mainly something I can have fun with and gives me merch ideas for the future.
Words: RBY, Pictures: Mike West media and RBY
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