David West: ‘I’m Pretty Into Being Busy’

One low-key WA native juggles Lace Curtain, Rat Columns, Tudor House and many other bands, in addition to a recent stint in Total Control. DOUG WALLEN interviews him in hopes of connecting those dots.

How do you know David West? As a fleeting member of Total Control? As the singer of Lace Curtain? As the prime mover in Rat Columns? As part of the newfound Tudor House, the San Francisco band Rank/Xerox or the older (and very different) bands Burning Sensation, Whalehammer, Pauline Manson and Frank & The Can I Speaklys? Or maybe even for his splintered solo work under his own name?

The guy gets around, and geographically too: he grew up in rural WA and has since done stints in Perth, SF and now Melbourne. He’s hard to pin down, too. Even Rat Columns – the band that’s arguably most like a solo outlet for him – ranges from propulsive, pretty jangle to gloomy, droning diffuseness on 2012’s Sceptre Hole and the brand new Leaf.

He’s dabbled in various shades of punk and experimental music, and he likens his upcoming tape as David West – Drop Out of Collage – to J Dilla’s landmark beats collection Donuts in terms of rounding up stray ideas. Meanwhile, Leaf’s title track has heady whiffs of disco, whereas Lace Curtain bend house and synth-pop tropes to their will and Total Control do the same with a very liberal reading of post-punk. West may no longer play in Total Control (he offered a polite “no comment” when asked why), but the mounting global attention around Typical System means he had a hand in one of the year’s most prominent independent releases – Australian or otherwise. Not bad for someone who first came on merely as a touring member.

With Rat Columns gearing up for a US tour and West as impressive as ever with his juggling of projects – including making videos for Lace Curtain and Rat Columns – he spoke to M+N at length about his musical past, present and future.

So you’re in Melbourne now, after being in San Francisco for a while?
Yeah, I moved here late last year. I’d been living in San Francisco for three or four years before that.

And you were in Perth before that?
Yeah, yeah. And I lived in England for a couple years before that, and I lived in Perth before that. And I grew up in this country town in Western Australia. Well, on a farm actually – not in a town. [The town is] called Kondinin. It’s in the Wheatbelt. It’s kind of east of Perth, towards the dessert.

So you’ve got a lot of bands. [Laughs]
I actually don’t have that many bands! Everyone in Melbourne has a lot of bands. [Laughs] Too many bands.

“I’m the only non-successful individual – hence I’m still in the band.”

What’s the longest-running music thing that you’re still doing?
I guess it’d be Rat Columns, because I did some recordings for that, for the first 7” – I did half of them when I was still in Perth, so that would have been like mid-/late-2000s. I’m working on the second Burning Sensation album, and that’s about the same amount of time. But that’s not a real band, I guess – we don’t play shows.

And that’s like punk or hardcore?
Yeah. Well, it’s like punk played really fast, so it’s almost hardcore. It’s not like hardcore hardcore. I’ve just been working on that album off and on. I’ve gotta finish it this year though.

Are you collaborating with the other guys in the band from afar?
No, not really. They all moved away. The bass player lives in New York now: he’s a successful computer programmer. And the second bass player lives in Berlin: he owns a café. He’s a very successful coffee entrepreneur. And the drummer owns a signage company in Perth – he’s still there. He’s a very successful signage company owner. And the first drummer is a successful therapist in Perth. So I’m the only non-successful individual – hence I’m still in the band.

But actually, I got a drummer. I got Rhys Davies, famous Perth personality, who was the first drummer in Extortion and started that band with Rohan [Harrison]. He plays drums on this one, because he lives in Melbourne.

What other bands has he been in?
He played in this band AIDS with James [Vinciguerra], the drummer from Total Control. That was a really early band for them in Perth. He played in The Collapse with James and Rohan and someone else. He played in a band called Tough Troubles, and this band Meatlocker with this English guy [Ian Leck], who played in this hardcore band called Voorhees that were of some renown.

That’s a lot to keep track of.
Yeah, it’s challenging.

“It’s just a basis of slightly depressing English pop that runs through it all.”

So is Rat Columns more your solo thing compared to the other bands?
Uh, it’s not really. I guess I write most of the stuff, but the people that play with me contribute a lot and sometimes I co-wrote songs with the bass player [Jon Young]. I guess the most solid format of Rat Columns in the American band in San Francisco, ’cause we’re on the records the most. These two guys Jon and Matt [Bleyle, drums/guitar] who live in San Francisco, that’s like the main Rat Columns thing. I have a bunch of friends who play [in Rat Columns in Australia] when they can fit it in, but I guess I’m the driving force. I’m the one who resuscitates that from being dead. Its guardian angel.

Even though you have all these other outlets where you can pursue different genres, Rat Columns still isn’t one sound. It goes off in a few directions: Tim Scott mentioned Sarah Records in his review of the last record, and there’s more goth-y stuff to it too. But it’s definitely not just one thing.
Yeah, it travels around a little bit. I guess it’s just a basis of slightly depressing English pop, or something like that, that runs through it all maybe. It’s all kind of rainy, but poppy as well. I try to keep a fairly continuous vibe with that, but I’m not good at staying very strict to an aesthetic. I do admire that kind of thing, though.

You admire a strictness of aesthetic?
Yeah. Totally. Like Discharge or something. Or the Ramones.

Even Lace Curtain, over the course of the singles, has changed a fair bit and surprised me with how it sounds.
It travels around a bit. I guess the main continuing thing is usually the instruments, I suppose. We have a bit of variety there for sure.

Is it mostly you singing in Lace Curtain?
It’s only me. I think the original press release for Lace Curtain said it was Michael Young’s debut on vocals, which is still yet to come. He can sing though: we recorded something with him doing some backing vocals. He has a nice voice. He can hit notes, unlike myself.

[Laughs] It’s funny, then, that he hasn’t done it more.
Oh, he just talks through his axe. Or his amazing ability to twiddle a knob.

When and how did Lace Curtain start?
It started just before Total Control went on their second tour of America, which was this long tour with Thee Oh Sees. James was staying at my house in San Francisco and we worked on some electronic things. The song ‘Good Intentions’ ended up on the first Lace Curtain EP. And then we worked on some more stuff later on, and I met Mikey [Young] properly on that tour. We had met before, but we bonded on that tour ’cause we were the two drivers.

Oh, and I had him remix this Rat Columns song just for an interesting thing to do, and that sort of went in its own direction and we ended using that for Lace Curtain. So it turned out well.

What’s the song that started as a Rat Columns remix?
‘Falling (II)’. The other version [‘Falling (I)’] – the less popular version – on that [second Lace Curtain EP] is kind of like the demo of ‘Falling’, as in the other version of ‘Falling’ [‘Falling (II)’] is the legit version.

And you were a touring member of Total Control for that tour, right?
Yeah, I joined up to be Al [Montfort] on that tour, and I guess me and Mikey were the only ones that drove. So we were the drivers.

Because it’s more electronic, was Lace Curtain something where you wanted to do more singles and 12”s, rather than the more rock thing of “Let’s do an album”?
Yeah, I think so. It was a bit of different format. Not quite one-song/remix DJ singles, and not LPs: we decided on this four-song EP format. I think it works really well with songs that are long like our songs. It’s a nice little symmetrical format: four songs, 12 inches. And just the way we were working at the time, which was in bits and bobs, it just lent itself more to that EP length. Because we were doing things here and there, they weren’t as continuous as you’d want for an album.

It’s an interesting way to track the evolution, when you’re doing these periodic check-ins.
Yeah, yeah. They’re nice. They’re enough to sink your teeth into, but it’s not the epic exercise of an album. Which is really … I guess these days albums have a really dominating status in the hierarchy of releases. People care less and less about singles and 7”s and more about albums.

Well, it’s funny because there was talk for a long time of the opposite: when iTunes hit, it getting so fragmented that no one would be releasing albums. It would just be about the song.
It is interesting, isn’t it? In the digital domain that’s happened.

“The main critical focus is on albums.”

You can follow people’s Soundclouds, and producers will put up one track at a time.
Yeah, or you can buy your favourite song by somebody on iTunes. I also think it’s a filtering process somewhat, because there’s so much more music. More singles would get reviewed in the past, whereas now a single review is a fairly lackadaisical exercise and the main critical focus is on albums. Maybe because there’s so much music [being released].

Yeah, if it’s a single or an EP I’ll see what I can do about coverage, but I’m probably not going to assign a review unless it’s an album.
It’s too bad, because they can be equally as strong statements as albums. Especially EPs.

So are you in Total Control at the moment?
I was in Total Control, but I’m not Total Control anymore. I’m on the new record. I have one song on the new record that I wrote.

Which song?
It’s called ‘Hunter’. One of the electronic ones. It’s a real synth workout, that one.

Are Rat Columns playing out much at the moment?
Yeah, a little bit. We’ve done three shows in Melbourne, and we played Sydney at that R.I.P. Society [showcase] at the Opera House. But I’m going to America for a Rat Columns tour there, and the American dudes are playing in that.

When’s that happening?
It’s in September. It’s a whole US tour. So I have some people to play in Rat Columns again [in Australia] but I’m gonna wait till I get back.

You’ve made some videos, like ‘I Can’t Wait’, and you co-made one for ‘Falling’ [both for Lace Curtain] and did one for ‘Another Day’ for Rat Columns. Is that a pretty recent development?
Kind of. It’s something I just decided to get into. I was like, “I’m gonna start doing videos.” I have another video from a while ago that I did with Hannah [Lew] from Grass Widow, but she did all of that. I have a few more, but they haven’t come out yet. There’s one for another song off Leaf called ‘Pink Mist’ I just did with a couple of actor friends of mine – it has actors. One of them [Laura McIntosh] plays the [latest] female mechanic on Neighbours, and the other one [James Back] has been in a bunch of plays. He was in the TV production of [Tim Winton’s] Lockie Leonard.

Yeah, it’s an exciting development, working with actors. They love to perform. [Laughs] And I have another video for this solo release of mine that’s coming out pretty soon under my own name.

So what’s that like?
It’s called Drop Out of Collage. It’s kind of my version of Donuts by J Dilla. It’s a massive run through demos and alternative versions and just random shit that I had lying around from over the years, and they’re all kinda fragmented and stitched together in this kaleidoscopic way.

When’s that coming out?
Well, it’s coming out as a really limited-edition tape [through Happy Endin] pretty soon. And then it’ll be digital. Maybe a couple weeks or a month. A US label [Night People] will do a tape in a bigger run. It’s a mixtape format.

Did you make the video for ‘I Can’t Wait’ in Rye [Victoria], where Mikey’s studio is?
Yeah. Actually, all of the Lace Curtain videos are mostly in Rye. That podium you see is on a half-constructed house next to his house, and the sort of concrete environment in it is this cool military fort at Point Nepean that were sentry points for the Australian army/navy. Now you can just walk around these concrete bunkers.

It’s interesting because those feature Rye in the videos, and the Rat Columns one you did was shot where you’re from in WA…
Yeah, that’s shot at my parents’ farm in Kondinin.

But beyond the videos, do you think your projects are tied to geography at all? Having been in these different places, do you see the influence of place in the different music you do?
Perhaps not so much in terms of the music, but I think half of the location thing is we have cheap DIY equipment. It’s much easier to make something beautiful or interesting [visually] if you use the beautiful, natural environment and natural lighting, which can be so good. I think if you restrict things to quite a personal [setting] – or just using what’s around you – I think it leads to just a default originality. Because nobody else is from that farm in Kondinin, and Mikey’s house is the only thing of its kind. I just think if you look in your own backyard for content or source material, you’ve got a better chance of it being distinctive.

I’ve gone into a bit of artificiality for these latest [videos] though. So I like a few different aesthetics. I maybe maxed out on my use of nature. I thought I would challenge myself by doing some music videos that relied on artificiality. But I do use fruit in one, ’cause I feel like fruit is a really good substitute for flowers. And we used fake flowers in another one, but that’s all to do with artificiality.

Looking at the Rat Columns album [Leaf] as well, James plays on it and Mikey co-wrote a song with you.
Yeah, James plays drums on a couple of songs and Mikey co-wrote ‘Fooling Around’. And he plays synthesiser on that song and ‘Pink Mist’, and he plays a rhythm guitar on ‘Fooling Around’. He wrote the sort of music structure for that, and I wrote the lyrics. I think we kind of messed up his structure a little bit though, ’cause we couldn’t quite understand it.

And were they just in San Francisco at the time?
Yeah. James recorded those drums straight after the Total Control tour – I think the second one, but maybe the first one – and Mikey and I were just messing around in a practice space that Rat Columns and Rank/Xerox used to practice in in San Francisco, around New Year’s Eve after that [second] Total Control tour. He was messing around on keyboard and wrote the basis of that. Then he just sent me the tabs – the chord charts – and we sort of re-enacted it when we recorded Leaf. And then he sent me over synthesiser on top of what we had done.

And this guy Rusty [Miller], who was crashing at Kelley Stoltz’s house, where I recorded it, sings backing vocals. He plays in a bunch of those San Francisco bands. He rips out falsetto vocals on that song, because I couldn’t do it.

Why did you leave San Francisco?
Just a combination of personal circumstances led to a fairly convincing argument to have a change, I guess. I still really like San Francisco, but there was just a really good opportunity to live in Australia again. See what it was like again, and visit the parents and all that. I was at a loose end, so it was a good opportunity to move.

Is Rank/Xerox still going?
Actually, we’re playing some shows in California when I go back. Because I’m going back for a few months before that Rat Columns tour, just to see people and hang out and record and stuff. We might do a new record, but we’ll see.

Again going back to Tim Scott’s review [of Sceptre Hole], he mentions all these bands of yours: Whalehammer, Pauline Manson and Frank & The Can I Speaklys. Are they all in the past?
They’re all in the past, yeah. Those are bands I was in in Perth from the past, but I have a new band with a person from Pauline Manson, which was basically me and this band Taco Leg: Andrew [Murray] from Taco Leg and I play in a new band called Tudor House, which has Hugh [Young] playing drums, who Andrew plays with in Constant Mongrel. So it’s a continuation of mine and Andrew’s creative career together, which I’m really into. Andrew’s a wonderful person to collaborate with.

I’m in awe of you juggling all this, even just logistically. Finding the time to work with all these different people, on top of your personal life and doing the videos as well. It must be a real feat of organisation, if nothing else.
I don’t know, they just sort of dribble in. None of the bands do something predominately all of the time. I’ve never been in a band that was like, “Let’s go on a world tour for six months” or anything like that. I guess being pretty DIY, you can set your own schedule. You don’t have money or glory, but you have freedom. [Laughs]

It’s like one thing’ll go for a while and that’ll cheese you off, so you’ll do this other thing while you’re waiting to de-cheese some other project. So it’s nice to have that kind of thing. Mainly because everybody else is so busy that if you don’t have a few things, you’re kind of at a loose end all of the time. I’m pretty into being busy.

But y’know, I got heaps of spare time. I got pretty cheap rent at the moment. That’s a good thing about Australia: it’s a bit of an easier lifestyle than America, where you’re always hustling. Whereas Australia is a pretty comfortable country to live in by comparison, so you’ve got a bit more free time here. In America you’re just being crushed under expensive rent and cheap wages, but that’s an energy in itself. You’ve gotta hustle. Australia sure is a good place to go out to pasture.

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Rat Columns’ album ‘Leaf’ is out now on vinyl and digital through R.I.P. Society. Lace Curtain’s two latest EPs are out now on vinyl and digital through Mexican Summer. Total Control’s album ‘Typical System’ is out now independently on CD, vinyl and digital through Inertia. ‘Drop Out of Collage’ is out now through Happy Endin'. Follow David West on Soundcloud, and good luck keeping up with the rest of his bands.