Interview: West Of The Sun

London-based psychedelic rockers West Of The Sun have been turning plenty of heads worldwide since the release of single Siberian Hysteria. The quintet’s reverb-drenched rock now channels some serious The Doors vibes in their latest single Trip On A Turntable, a driving ambience journey for listeners of all ages. We asked the Englishmen about the inspiration behind their music and their spiritual connection with lemons.

For the uninitiated, how would you describe West of the Sun’s sound?

We see the sound as an amalgamation of the all things we love most about music. Love, hate, war, peace, expression, mystery, fear, beats, rhythms, grooves, and loud guitars! There’s a bit of everything in there really, it’s essentially rock ‘n’ roll, but we like to throw other elements over the top of it, whether that be some samples, hip hop drum loops, or synthesisers. I think that’s probably what makes our sound unique, the combination of sounds we choose to use simultaneously.

We’re loving the new track Trip On A Turntable, what was the inspiration for the song?

The track is ultimately someone imagining an alternative life, spent revolving on a turntable listening to their favourite music. How life can sometimes be quite insufferable without it and what often keeps us going is that four minute moment of escaping into our record collection. So it’s a kind of uplifting message but I suppose using quite bleak tones!

What made you decide to head towards a heavier track rather than your psychedelic pop sound?

We’ve wanted to do a heavier song for a while now and when we started jamming the riff and Stevie (drummer) came up with that beat we knew it was the right track to try something different. We wanted to lead this track with drums and bass, really push them to the front of the mix and not focus so much on the intricacy of the guitar parts and vocal harmonies we’ve tended to concentrate our songs around in the past…

What do you guys plan to be working on after Trip on A Turntable is out?

We have already recorded our album which we’re currently mixing and should be set for release later this year! We’re heading back into the studio next week to record some more songs, possibly a follow-up EP or perhaps the beginnings of the next album.

Do you guys plan to tour Australia any time?

We would absolutely love to! Who knows…

On your Facebook page on May 13, you posted a status of just a lemon at 3.20am, why?

This is a reference to The Stone Roses and the famous lemon symbol they used on their debut album. It’s on the sleeve of their debut album and was actually inspired by the lemons used by protesters to combat tear gas used in the 1968 Paris riots. So I guess it’s a protest thing really. They’re one of our biggest inspirations musically and they released a new track last month, their first in over 20 years, so we were obviously very excited and thought we’d celebrate by posting a lemon on Facebook!

Lastly, what cosmic event do you think would cause the Sun to a rise in the West?

Perhaps the day our album comes out? Did you know the Sun only rises in the East and sets in the West on two days of the year, the rest of the time it’s either north or south of east and west. I read up on this once we settled on the band name…