Brad West of Against The Sun

THE NAMM SHOW 2022 INTERVIEWS

Interview by Ken Morton Photo by Vivian Ortega of So Finch Photography

Against The Sun is an alternative rock band from Orange County who are really beginning to make a name for themselves all across Southern California and beyond. When Highwire Daze found out their vocalist Brad West would be attending The NAMM Show, we invited him over to the booth to play a three-song acoustic set, which included Chelsea Said, Search To Find, and a cover of Wait So Long by Trampled by Turtles. Right after his set, Brad West sat down with Highwire Daze for an interview. Read on....

We’re here with Brad West of Against The Sun. First of all, what are you looking forward to the most about The NAMM Show this year?

First of all, the performance we just did was really fun. Now I get to say I performed at NAMM technically, which is now very fun. I am just so excited to play all kinds of frickin’ guitars and learn so much about gear. Again, I’m going to learn so much today. I’m really excited.

Let’s talk about the new song Back To Ruin and the meaning behind it.

Absolutely! We just dropped this track last week. It’s super metal – it’s super hardcore which is really fun. It’s probably the heaviest song we’ve done. The song is basically just like your worst demon personified – it’s like that worst vice that you’re ashamed of, beckoning you back to be that worst version of yourself. When we wrote the song, the riff sounded so sinister – so kind if evil. So, I was like alright – in this one I’m going to play the villain here. I’m going to write like it’s the devil on your shoulder. It was really fun to do.

Let’s talk about Chelsea Said – which you actually played acoustic here today.

It’s a much older song that I wrote back in college – and we wanted to redo it, because back then we didn’t have a recording budget – so we wanted to redo it modern production style. It’s a really fun song. It’s like a weird mixture of hard rock and metalcore – but also pop punk and emo – so it’s really fun. That song is basically from personal experience. It’s about watching someone you love fall back into – for me it was like addiction – it’s like falling back into their addiction and you not being able to help them. So, it’s telling that story – it’s a painful story.

Is there any other song you’d like to talk about?

Yeah! I’ll say we have new shit coming out really soon – it’s really cool. But if the addiction thing is your thing, we released a track last year called It Should Have Been Raining. That one’s really emotional for me. It’s about my mom who passed away a few years ago from addiction. Unfortunately dealing with loved ones who are dealing with addiction is a huge part of my life, so I write about it a lot. If you’re struggling with addiction right now, just know that people love you – you’re worth it – and life can get better if you make the decision to change it. So that’s what I’m trying to do.

Dead Man’s Party – you guys covered that. Has anyone from Oingo Boingo heard or commented on it? Yes, so John Avila, the bass player of Oingo Boingo, has commented on it. And he said that he really, really liked it – which was really cool. I was trying to get it in front of Danny Elfman, but of course I know that’s a long shot. But yeah, John Avila has and he’s really cool. His bass on that song is so legendary, so it’s so cool to get the props from him. He’s very awesome!

Against The Sun played Knotfest in 2019. What was that experience like?

Yes, we did. Oh, it was badass! Our buddy John Safari from Orange County Music League hooked up his trailer in the VIP section – and we got to play to all the VIP folks who came in early – and it was really badass. It was the first time we ever played like a metal festival, which was really cool. We got like a mosh pit going. It was hot as hell – it was out in San Bernardino in the summer, and we played inside of this trailer – but it was a really great experience. Seeing a mosh pit of Slipknot fans going to your music – it was a wild ride!

Tell me about the show you recently did at the Hard Rock Café in Hollywood.

It was put on by this organization called The LA Rock Collective – and basically, it’s a community of LA Rock bands that are trying to network with each other and lift ourselves up – like promote each other’s songs and shows and what not – because it’s really about building together and building that community. And so, this was put on by David of The LA Rock Collective, and we had some of the founding bands in the organization perform – and we played with one of our favorite bands ever Carry The Day that we’ve played all kinds of shows with, because they’re absolutely badass. We played with Chasing Desolation, an acoustic artist from the We Are Triumphant label Anson who was pretty awesome – we played with State Five – they were great. So, it got a little rowdy – it got a little mosh pit-ty at the Hard Rock Café – which I think was pretty fun.

And what could one expect from a live Against The Sun show?

A lot of energy! There’s barely ever a time where we’re standing still. We just go really hard, and we try to get the best out of the crowd – even when the crowd is – I remember one time we were playing in Fullerton at this skate shop – and we were going really hard, and everybody was packed in like sardines so they really couldn’t move. But we just go hard – we want people to have a good time and to cut loose – and to let themselves be themselves. That’s what I do at shows – I really try to feel the music and mosh around and have fun – not to hurt anybody but have fun. And that’s what I hope people feel when they come to our shows – where they feel the energy and they have a really great night.

What’s up next for Against The Sun?

We just dropped a music video for Back To Ruin, so we’re going to be promoting that real hard. We have some other songs coming up this year. Follow us on Instagram, on TikTok, also on Spotify and keep up with the releases. We’re going to consistently keep putting them out.