INTERVIEW: Gone West Talk New Music, and Touring

Earlier this summer, 2 time Grammy award-winning artist Colbie Caillat’s band Gone West consisting of Colbie Caillat, Justin Kawika Young, Jason Reeves and Nelly Joy served their debut single, titled ‘What Could’ve Been’ and are on the brink of releasing their inaugural LP.

Here we chat to Gone West to discuss their plans for the rest of 2019, new music and touring:

You released your debut single ‘What Could’ve Been’, in the summer, how have you found the response so far?

It’s been so good! In fact, the reason we went with this song as our first single is cause after we wrote it and started playing it live, the reaction was instant and overwhelmingly great from our fans! We are so grateful listeners are enjoying this song and relating to it.

You’ve also shared the official music video, what inspired the treatment for the clip?

Our friend Patrick Tracy who directed the video had the cool idea of the reflection of “what could’ve been” in the mirrors. And being 2 couples in this band, we wanted to play the parts of the couples going through that experience. Although we are in happy relationships, we all remember those feelings of regret and wonder in our past.

The track is lifted off your upcoming album, when can we expect the record?

We’re currently finishing the record this month and it should be released early next year! We’re so excited to share new music with our fans, we know it’s been a while since we released our EP. We have some uptempo songs for people to have fun to, some more heartbreak songs, plus a reggae country song.

Who have you been working with on the LP?

We learned early on who we thrive working with and who truly understood the sound we wanted as Gone West, so we intentionally kept our creative team small. Over the past 2 years of making this record, we wrote with Liz Rose, Tom Douglas, Jamie Kenney, Jimmy Robbins, Eric Arjes, Nathan Chapman, Summer Overstreet, and Alysa Vanderheym. And we produced the songs as well as Jamie Kenney, Jimmy Robbins, Eric Arjes, Nathan Chapman, and Alysa Vanderheym.

How would you describe the overall vibe of the album?

Since all of us came from different backgrounds, myself (Colbie) in the Pop/Folk genre, Nelly in Country, Jason in Folk, and Justin in Hawaiian music, we wanted to incorporate all those elements we all love that are our foundation. Organic acoustic instruments, four-part harmony, steel guitar, light production, rhythmic but also soaring melodies, and storytelling in our lyrics about all the highs and lows we all experience in life and in love. Which is why we named our EP “Tides”.

What do you hope fans take away from the body of work?

We hope these songs can be therapeutic and help the people listening to not feel alone if they’re going through a breakup or a loss in life, and we hope the happy songs warm their hearts and are songs they want as a soundtrack to their life that’ll bring back good memories when they hear it again.

Is there one song in particular off the record you’re most excited about sharing?

“When To Say Goodbye” is the first song we ever wrote as a band with our friend Jimmy Robbins over 2 years ago. He was the first person to believe in us and it’s still our favorite song on the record! It’s rare when the first song makes an album, so this one is very special to us. We wrote it about our friends who were going through a hard time in their marriage.

Can we expect to see you on tour soon?

We’ve been having a blast touring all summer and are now winding down for the winter, but planning a tour for 2020 that we’re really looking forward to! Also, we’re excited cause we just got a band cell phone number that fans can text us at and they can stay updated on our upcoming tours and our new music! So if you’re interested, our number is 615-205-7557 and it truly is us texting you back! Otherwise, our website gonewestmusic.com has all our info plus how to follow us on all our socials.

What’s the rest of 2019 looking like for you?

We’re finishing our album, playing some fun radio shows and soaking up being at home with our dogs!

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Feature Photo Credit: Patrick Tracy.