Traianos Pakioufaki
David West's music has taken him from a West Australian farm to the East Bay, back to Perth and Melbourne and to his current home of New York City. For now he plays in Rat Columns, Rank/Xerox and Liberation. In the past he's been involved in Lace Curtain, Burning Sensation and Total Control.The Australian's latest album Cherry On Willow, to be released under the name David West with Teardrops, is a slightly more collaborative affair that involves contributions from Bob Jones of Eaters, Louis Hooper of Rat Columns, Mikey Young of Total Control and Eddy Current Suppression Ring, and Raven Mahon of Grass Widow.Like West's own travels, "Swan's Beat" the first track from the album, that you can listen to below, has earned some frequent flyers points. The main riff was born in New York from a spontaneous late night jam with Rat Columns drummer Dylan, and Griffin Harrison played the beat on the recording in New York. The remainder of the song was composed in a garage on a summer's day in Guildford, Western Australia, with Louis Hooper adding percussion, piano and synthesizer, and the vocals were added at Mikey Young's seaside studio at Phillip Island.West says that "Swan's Beat" looks towards the past but swings back to the sounds of now."The song is somewhat a homage to funky minimal rock'n'roll big beat bangers à la "Big Beat" by Billy Squier and the bangin' hip-hop tracks which were constructed from them, it's a little bit circular. The lyrics are riffing on the underworld ferryman mythos, religion, boarding schools, nature, etc."
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'Cherry On Willow' will be available Oct 20 on Tough Love.Image: Traianos Pakioufakis