Since the Seattle, WA-based band’s formation one short year ago, The West Coast Feed has filled clubs and theaters sharing the stage with the likes of Lord Huron, The Revivalists, Chris Robinson Brotherhood and Moon Taxi and their first single, “You Belong To Me” is being played on 65+ stations in the UK. With their highly anticipated self-titled full-length debut, founding member/guitarist and accomplished recording engineer Matt Woll polishes the sweat, grit and energy of the band into a sonic studio shimmer.
In this Interview spotlight, I chat with The West Coast Feed about their latest project, motivations, challenges and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Let’s dive a little deeper into The West Coast Feed, the artist and your music. What attracted you to this genre?
When I was much younger I was really obsessed with a couple of Lenny Kravitz records (“Mama Said” and “Are You Gonna Go My Way”) and a couple of Harry Connick Jr funk records (“She” and “Star Turtle”). And I’ve had those sounds in my head for a long time trying to figure out how to get them out into one cohesive sound and feel like we finally did it with this album.
How long have you been creating and sharing your music with the public?
The band has been around for about a year and a half, but all of us have been making music in some capacity for a long time.
Who or what influences your playing and/or writing? Also, what motivates you to keep going?
Generally when I write I am usually writing with the live show in mind. We are show band who love to play live, so most of our decisions are driven by, “will this make our live show better?”
Were you trying to accomplish anything specific on this new record? Creatively or otherwise?
I think our highest goal on this album was to “sound like us”. We weren’t going in trying to be someone else or do something because it’s trendy, we wanted to do things that sounded and felt like they were coming from a real, authentic place within us.
What was the last song you listened to?
“Softly, As In a Morning Sunrise” by Vince Guaraldi Trio
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
Vinyl! I have pretty healthy collection and love to hit vinyl stores when we’re on the road.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
I like Spotify because their algorithms are pretty spot on as far as knowing what I like and suggesting artists that I might be interested in. I’ve discovered a lot of really great artists on Spotify because of that feature.
Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what are one or two of the biggest challenges you face when trying to attract listeners to your music?
I think the biggest hurdle we face is that we don’t fit neatly into a single genre. So people want to know what kind of music we make, or who we sound like, we always struggle to explain it. So we usually just say “Muse meets Huey Lewis and the News”. HA!
Do you gig, tour or perform? Do you ever live stream? Where can music lovers see you live?
Yeah, we’ve been touring pretty hard that last couple of months and will take a little break for the holidays, then head back out in January.
Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more of your music?
Our website, www.thewestcoastfeed.com is always up to date with what we’ve got going on, and our Instagram is worth a follow @thewestcoastfeed
Any last thoughts? Shout outs? Words of wisdom?
We continue to be so grateful to all of the folks who come out to our shows when we’re on the road. It’s a wildly humbling experience when total strangers show up for a show in a distant city, and we never get over just how special it is that we get to share this music and that experience with them.
