Get to know the elusive David West as he releases his new album Peace or Love

Having already released the Drop Out of Collage cassette last year, West has just released his new album via the ever-excellent Tough Love label.

We caught up with West recently to chat about the making of Peace or Love...

Hi David, as an Australian based in the USA has this influenced the direction of your music?

Hello! There are so many Australians in New York City that I probably have more contact with them than I did in Perth. It is quite unusual. I lived in San Francisco for many years back in the early twenty-teens so I am pretty comfortable here. The influence that is has on my music is that I have to try to be much more efficient here, with less time and less space at my disposal, although, I am less distracted by the inferior beaches here.

You’ve been a member and leader of a number of bands, so what’s prompted you to release under your own name?

The roads just kept twisting and turning until I arrived at this unusual destination called 'solo album'...it wasn't on the map, but it's a nice enough place to be.

Previous releases have been cassettes…do you feel, as I do, there’s always a more physical (and emotional) connection to releases like this rather than digital albums?

I definitely think that we can quantify our attachment to the physical much easier than the more ephemeral digital media spectrum, but I would be hesitant to push that concept too far...after all, every format just exists to vibrate the air in a sympathetic way, which seems rather ethereal indeed!

The album is called Peace or Love…what’s the thinking behind the choice, do we have to have one or the other?

You've hit the nail on the noggin, the concept that those two things are antithetical. Most of the album deals with this idea, and just the push-pull between related but oppositional concepts in general, which is a classic pop music trope...kind of a reaction to something like the classic Oasis line "you can have it all, but how much do you want it?"

How do you approach creating a track like “Dream on Dreamer”…there’s so much going on musically that it’s hard to see where the idea starts?

"Dream On Dreamer" just flowed quite quickly from the hot juice emanating from the fairly pumping beat. If you've got a hot beat, you can pretty much slap anything on it.

You’ve been inspired by “free thinking” artists – is this musically or in the wider arts, and can you give us any names?

Just people in general, I would say. People like, say, George Greenough, Arthur Russell, Agnes Martin, Marvin Gaye, Derek Jarman, Rodney Mullen, Digable Planets, The Feelies, Steve Reich, Kate Bush, Danzig, Beethoven....the beat goes on.

Do you feel more comfortable recording in your “bedroom” rather than a studio or is this simply out of necessity?

I would love to record in a studio. I'm a bit slow and unprepared when I hit the mixing desk though, so I would need a fairly significant lottery win to exercise some Beatles-esque studio magic fantasies.

You don’t play live (solo) very often…is being on stage something you’re not particularly comfortable with?

I've been on a bunch of tours with various bands and projects over the years so I'm not sure if this is true. I'm pretty comfortable on stage, within reason. I always get a great feeling....when it's over. Ha. I would love to play more shows, show organizers of the world.

What does the rest of 2016 hold for you….will there be more releases coming?

I'm doing a short 'David West' UK/Europe tour in early October with my buddy and live collaborator Bob Jones in an interesting duo format. I'm playing some more DW shows and Rat Columns shows and hopefully Liberation shows in NYC. Working on some new material for all those projects. I don't think there will be any more releases this year but the next Rat Columns LP is coming out in January 2017, which is exciting. Perhaps some other things will come out in 2017...if the stars align!

Peace or Love is out now via Tough Love and is also available on Bandcamp