Pool Of Sound - Bobby West

A native of North Liverpool, Bobby West grew up in the district of Walton and, during his adolescence, split his time between his musical ability and his local boxing club. Despite being a promising fighter, the pull of music and art was too strong. He says he first became interested in music while at school. "There was a lad at school about two years older than me called Ryan Lloyd. He had long hair and wore a denim jacket. In the early 2000s at a Catholic school in Everton you needed to have serious bollocks to do that, absolute James Dean character. He was cool as fuck. I found out that he was a drummer, so I decided to have a go at learning guitar. Me auld fella bought me a Beatles songbook and I learned a few chords, eventually I started ripping the chords off and writing my own melodies…essentially I’m still doing that now."

His first real foray into music was when he formed the band 'Broken Men' when he was just 21, having played a few gigs a following grew quickly leading to a tour of England.They then played in Italy with 'Echo & The Bunnymen' and upon returning home they received an e-mail from the Rolling Stone magazine from Russia. They'd seen them in Russia and said, "Can you come over to Moscow and St Petersburg and play over there?". So they travelled over to Moscow, did a few gigs and got an overnight train to St Petersburg. However when they returned the drummer decided that he wanted to do his own solo project and the others started to busy themselves with their own things as the guitarist got married and had a son, and it just sort of disbanded. Bobby decided he wanted to keep going and got in touch with some old friends he used to play with years before. He met Daniel Allen, his writing partner from six years earlier, and they all got together deciding to just call their act 'Bobby West'.

At 81 Renshaw Street November 2019

 

Performing at 81 Renshaw Street, music blog Getintothis described the performance as, 'Two guitars, bass, keyboards, drums and saxophone conspire to offer us a compelling performance by an artist with a bright future'. After spending 8 months experimenting in the studio Bobby exploded onto the scene as a solo artist with his beautiful new track, 'As The Morning Crept In', a sure hit for the summer months ahead. It had meticulously pieced together tracks to paint an authentic depiction of his world. A dark gritty world which he ruthlessly laments, yet like a man in the gutter reaching for the stars, Bobby gilds the edges of his world to create something beautiful. His lens is tinted with a sun drenched glow at stark contrast to his surroundings. A sweet juxtaposition that echoes in his music. Bobby sings of terrible things in beautiful melody's, like a council estate Sinatra, his golden voice self deprecates in alluring harmony. It is clear to see in this beautiful track that music has always been his passion and the debut single featured his strikingly rich vocals paired with a stunning Saxophone section which frames the song perfectly and goes on to take centre stage during the solo. The beautiful lyrics add depth to the song and the emotion and power conveyed through the vocal delivery. The layered textures within the track make for the ideal dreamy summer tune to keep us all going through the current lockdown. Dave Monks, BBC Introducing describes him as, "A golden voice paired with incredible song writing."

  

Bobby cites Elvis Presley as his hero but also loves Frank Sinatra, Leonard Cohen, Bing Crosby and David Bowie. He says, " I just like something that makes me feel something as well. When I’m singing on stage, I want to be able to feel it in myself, in my chest. When you listen to Elvis Presley or Frank Sinatra or Matt Monro, you can really feel what they're singing about." His follow up single 'All My Years', released in 2021 on Whispering Pines, was formed after his writing partner showed him a rough demo consisting of just some chords on a Hammond organ with a glockenspiel melody over the top, and has gone on to become the template for everything he and his band have come to create. Bobby says, " The song is very basic, with the lyrics, it's basically me apologising to my girlfriend for being a miserable bastard. That's pretty much it."

see also:- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2021/07/pool-of-sound-king-hannah.html