I have been involved seriously with music since I was 13 years old. My uncle taught me how to play bar chords and lead scales when I went to visit him one summer. I remember spending my whole summer practicing what he was teaching me. I wonder if he had any inkling of how much it would change my life. Within a few years I made good friends to play music with!
My first musical experience was in high school (1995) with Shane & Ryan Dunning. We started our first band together, Sulma Simplex. It was innocent and… Powerful! It had hints of Reggae, Rock, Grunge, and Surf lifestyle sprinkled all over it. Those days were incredible. We were full of rock & roll, passion and surfing that shot us full throttle towards the dream! We used to drive over the hill to Santa Cruz to surf all day and then come home to play music in their garage late into the night. We pissed off all the neighbors!
If there is one thing that I learned in high school, it was that we can literally achieve anything that we put our minds to. There is nothing that can stop the journey that we're on… so make it a good one! It was an incredible time that will go down in the history books of my life!
Shortly after high school I realized that things were changing for me. I was slowly waking up to a world around me that was hungry for meaning. I began to realize that what I was searching for was far more important and far more sacred then I had ever given credit. I knew that I was searching for something, but I wasn't sure what. Music remained steady in my somewhat unsteady life, so I continued to refine my skill on the guitar and behind the microphone. I played wherever and whenever I had the opportunity. I often locked myself away for hours at a time while trying to compose musical ideas. I was searching for the right notes to say the things that I could not express with my own words.
After about a year of this (1997) I realized that musical chords and pentatonic progressions would never speak the words that God intended to speak into my life. So I picked up the bible in search of truth. It was here that I found my purpose and my meaning. I remember waking up to this realization, and things changed. When I chose to serve Christ with my whole heart everything about my life began to take shape for the very first time. Finally, for the first time in my life I realized what I was supposed to do with all of this music that I was writing! I didn't waste any time, music began spilling out of my heart. Then I met Amber...
And this girl shook me to the core. I got nervous every time I was around her! Amber was beautiful and incredibly fun to hang out with. Her smile would light up the room around her, and her heart was passionate for people around her... she always took notice of those that normally got overlooked. I loved this about her!!! We became best friends. A moment didn't pass where I didn't think of her.
Amber and I hung out while I continued pursuing music with incredible musicians and friends. That was when I found a group of Christian guys that challenged me and ushered me to the next level musically. In 2000 I met up with a cat named Faisal Mufti. Faisal was writing some of the most incredible musical compositions that we had heard, it was off the hook what he was doing! Faisal had previously been on tour with his band Owl out of Oklahoma City. They had shared the stage with artists such as The Nixons, Toadies, and many others… After five years of performance, Owl split up. Shortly thereafter, I started writing music with Faisal. Then we met Chris Coffman. Chris was one of the most incredibly talented guitarists I had ever heard play. His precision on the guitar was second to none. He really knew how to melt strings with his heavy guitar licks. It didn't take long before Faisal and I knew that Chris had to step on board the project.
Intransit was born!
Though we were a short lived project we certainly made waves while we were around! We were a three piece band that had deep roots in the post rock world. Inspired by bands like Deftones, Abandoned Pooles, Far, Dennison Mars, U2, Explosions In The Sky and Coldplay. It was in this project that I learned the power of solid composition, and what lots and lots of practice can accomplish. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to get this project off the ground. But things just weren't quite in the right place for Intransit to move forward. As much as this project challenged me and shaped who I had become as a musician I knew that my time had not yet come.
(Side NOTE:)
Chris Coffman and I would however continue to work on a side project until the end of 2005 that resulted in some incredible composition. Our side project was called Sine Qua Non (which means: "without which there would be none"). Chris Coffman now lives in Portland Oregan and is in a POst Rock band called Hope and Aria.
I thought that my musical career was halted when I left Intransit but somehow it was okay because there were new things happening in my life… and I had to pursue them! I realized that I was totally head over heels for this girl, Amber, that I had been dating for several years. So I proposed, and she said YES! We got married in 2002 and moved back to Santa Cruz to finish up school. What a year!!! We surfed, played music together and met incredible people that had just as much excitement about life as we did!
It was in Santa Cruz where I began playing / leading our student body in musical worship. I led the student body in musical worship at least twice a week from 2003-2005 with a team of people who were equally talented. It was at the beginning of my time at Bethany University where I met Lawrence Martinez. Lawrence was the previous lead singer of rock band Salmon. Touring with national acts such as No Doubt, Incubus, Deftones, Korn, Sublime, etc… and signed to Red Ant Records. After playing in Salmon for several years Lawrence made a decision to shift things around in his life in order to live a healthier lifestyle. It was this decision that led him into my life two years later.
It was February of 2003 and I had just turned twenty-four years old when I met Lawrence. We were going to Bethany University together and both were a little disgruntled over our luck in the music biz. We wanted to get a musical project going so badly but it seemed like we had to get other stuff out of the way first. Lawrence and I would stay up late into the night talking about music and surfing! It was killer. We started to get stoked again about life in general and not worrying so much about the music. We started to remember why we loved playing so much. In late 2003 Lawrence & I started flirting with the idea of merging the diverse sounds of Indie, Rock, & Cali-Reggae. We had decided early on to keep this band rooted deep in surf culture allowing hints and flares of musical variety such as 311 to Deftones to Minus The Bear. We wanted to keep our sound integrated with the sounds we loved the most.
After about three years of talk & musical composition, the idea of NORTH SWELL emerged. In 2006 we started writing music again, but this time things would be serious! It has been almost two years that we have been putting this musical set together. I couldn't be more pleased. These years have tied all of us together like family, and the music coming out of this is unlike anything I have ever been a part of.
Well worth the wait!
We are at the cusp of seeing North Swell finally at that place where it is able to do what it was meant to do. When you get a chance, go to North Swell's Myspace page and add us as your friend so we can keep you updated on what is happening! North Swell consists of myself, Jesse West, Lawrence Martinez, Ben Vanderplas, Michael Felix, & Eric Z.
I have been blessed in my life, and music has been a huge part of that. Though North Swell currently takes up the bulk of my music time we still continue to lead our AMAZING church in musical worship. We all attend a church called Vintage Faith in Santa Cruz and we are honored to say that we attend there. This community is unlike any church we have ever been connected to. Though there are various styles that glean out of the music that I write with my friends I can honestly say that the reason I write the songs that I do is because of my faith in Jesus Christ. I finally found something worth writing music and singing about, and for that I am eternally grateful.
I have had the opportunity to play music and compose songs with who I think are some of the most talented up and coming artists in America today! I would like to give credit to those who have been a part of my musical inspiration (I promise to continue to add to this list):
Jesus Christ, My family Paul West, Terri Westand brothers - Jonathan and Nicole & David), my Incredible wife Amber for always believing in me, Philip West., Charlene West., Shane Dunning, Janelle Dunning, Ryan and Gina Dunning., Jayson Rogers, Jason Underwood, Eric Worrell., Joey Davis., Jesse Hernandez (Cohen), Faisal and Lori Mufti., Chris Coffman and Julie Coffman, Michael Brooks, Michael Simeone, Matt Massih and the messengers, Max Capestany, Michael Felix, Josh and Danni Fox, Josh Wilbur - Force & Abbie, Jeff & Mackenzie, John Stowers, Dan and Lindsey Johnson, Brian and Mary Yeager, Josh Johnson, Mark & Kirsten Palm, Peter, Pat, Doreen Clowse, John & Carrie White., Rusty and Stephanie St. Cyre, Rolly and Vanessa Delfin & the Delfin Clan, Lawrence Martinez, Dave Matsamura, Travis Oberg, Daniel La point, Vintage Faith Church, Dan Kimball, Grace Community Church, Bethany University, Chad and Crystal Drewery, Dave Batters, Sarah & Mike Martin, Reggie & Carrie Colbert., Ben Vanderplas, Seth LOVE, Eric and Sheron Zwierzinski, Sine Qua Non, Irvington, Sulma Simplex, The Joke, Owl, Intransit, Elucidation, Expose the Flaw, Skatations, Elucidation, The Weather Inside, Vipers Away, and all the countless others who have effected my life in a positive way. To you I say THANKS from the bottom of my heart…
