San Francisco Voice

Adrian West is a local musician who trained on his own for years before joining forces with lyricist Barbara West and creating the band Good Food.  As described on his website, Good Food brings “delicious tension to your ears by blending musical ingredients not usually found in the same dish – a rock base with a dash of classical, a hint of Celtic and little spoonfuls of blues”.  In this interview, he tells us about his musical history, the formation of Good Food and his in-the-know experience of the local music scene (along with some great recommendations of other singers to check out in the area).

Good Food will be performing on June 2nd @ 8 p.m. at the Doyle Street Co-housing Common Room in Emeryville.

1. Can you give us the basics about your musical career leading up to the formation of Good Food?

In a nutshell … I started Suzuki violin at age 4, studied classical violin until age 14, got bored with it, switched to drums for 8 years, got bored with that, taught myself guitar, started writing songs & lyrics, wasn’t very good at it but recorded and performed them for 5 years anyway. Then I bought a couple of loop stations, learned how to beatbox and started doing one-man-band type performances of all-instrumental music combining violin, guitar, mandolin and beatboxing. This worked quite well and got a good response, but it was very constraining, arrangement-wise. I knew what I really wanted was a band,but I didn’t feel that the material was quite there yet.  One day I asked my longtime friend Barbara West (who is a great writer and also my sister-in-law), if she would try writing lyrics to a couple of my instrumental pieces. The first few songs came out pretty nicely and we continued writing songs together. Around June 2006, I formed the band Good Food and we started performing these songs. The rest, as they say, has yet to happen. 

2. What can you tell us about the collaborative process that goes into working as a duo?

I’ve found it very easy and rewarding to work with Barbara.  We’ve known each other for a long time and we aren’t afraid to tell each other what we think and what we want. When I send her music to add lyrics to, I provide a recording with the song’s structure and specific melody lines for her to work with. I leave the rest up to her – she can make the song be about whatever she wants. She works as a home hospice nurse, and often she listens to the music and comes up with lyrics while driving around, visiting her patients. She says that my music has inherent stories, settings and characters and all that she is really doing is identifying them and putting them into words. She sends me back a first draft and I am usually delighted with it. From there we work on it together, ironing out little rhythmic and semantic problems until we have something we’re both proud of.  It’s very exciting for me because this process is SOOOO much easier and faster than when I was writing lyrics myself. And whereas my lyrics tend to be introspective, analytical and a little bit preachy, Barbara has a gift for weaving compelling tales that fit the song’s mood, meter and rhyme scheme, which is not at all easy to do. She calls our songs a celebration of longing.  Once the lyrics are written, the band starts playing with it to come up with an arrangement for live performance and eventual recording. The whole process is very collaborative, and I think that is one of the strengths of our music. 

3. If you had to sum up your current sound, what would you say?

Adrian: Unpredictable, but in a good way.
Barbara: Quietly intense, wandering melodies 

4. How does San Francisco inspire the music that you make? 

Adrian: I’ve met a lot of musicians here that I really respect, and I’ve gotten to play with many of them and learn from them. It’s hard to get people to come out and hear live music, so I take a lot of inspiration from local musicians who are sticking with it, putting out great CDs, playing out and building a following. Local artists who have inspired me to keep going include Noe Venable (no longer local, but she used to be), Alexis Harte, Garrin Benfield, Kate Isenberg, Blame Sally, Spencer Day, Megan Slankard, Bart Davenport, Ira Marlowe and Etienne de Rocher.Barbara: San Francisco’s diversity inspires me to be open to whoever “showsup” in the music. 

5. If Good Food was a San Francisco landmark, which one would it be and why? 

Adrian: Golden Gate Park, because my favorite place to be is on a secluded path in the woods, away from the bustle of people and cars and business. GG Park isn’t exactly Redwood Forest, but it’s the next best thing.

Barbara: The Bay Bridge — spans a lot of distance, lots of room and movement … spacious, but moving forward.

6. Do you have a favorite SF venue? 

I like the Dolores Park Cafe because they’ve given me so many opportunities to play in the city. I also like seeing shows at The Independent. In the East Bay where I live I like going to Yoshi’s, the Nomad Cafe, the Starry Plough, the Freight & Salvage and Ashkenaz. 

7. Which spots in the city can you be found in when you’re just out and about?   

I have a busy life. I have a family and I work in addition to doing music. When I have free time, I hang out with my family and my favorite thing to do with them is to go for a hike in the woods in one of the beautiful regional parks around the East Bay. I feel very fortunate to be living so close to so much pristine natural beauty. 

8. Where do you want to be a year from now? 

A year from now I’d be happy if Good Food had a CD out, some decent reviews, some more radio airplay and maybe a song placement in a film or something. I hope to have graduated from cafes and house concerts to clubs and festivals. Putting out great recordings is fun because it allows us to refine the performance until we feel it has reached a state of perfection, but I consider it a means to an end: my favorite thing in the whole world is performing live for an appreciative audience, and recordings help us find that audience. 

9. If there was anything that you could make new listeners knew about your music, what would it be? 

Adrian: it will make them feel good.

Barbara: it starts with the violin.

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