WESTBOUND TRAIN INTERVIEW
Westbound Train recently pulled into The Pier's train station and bassist Thad Merrit disembarked for a quick stop to give us the lowdown on what the latest happenings are with this Boston reggae/ska/soul crew.
The Pier: Welcome to The Pier. So are you excited to be playing the Hometown Throw Down with the Mighty Mighty BossTones this year? You have played with them before they went on the hiatus right?
Thad: We did play with the BossTones a few times before they went on hiatus. Strangely enough we played the last Hometown Throw Down before this year and played a second show the same night opening for The Slackers. This year is not going to be much different! We are super excited to be playing the Throw Down Show and then playing a second set the same night opening for Catch 22.
The BossTones have always been strong supporters of Westbound Train. Mr BossTone, Tim Burton (saxophone), even managed Westbound for a bit. The advice that he gave us was very crucial to our existence as a band today. Once they went on hiatus Tim moved from Boston to LA Cali. The first couple times that we toured out there I used to stay at Tim’s house and pick his brain for hours about how the BossTones made things work as a band. He never seemed to get tired talking to me and giving advice. Westbound will always be in debt to Tim for the many things he did to help a young band get started.
During a portion of the BossTones hiatus, Chris Rhodes was playing with The Toasters. During this time, The Toasters were the first band to take out Westbound as an opening act on national and international touring. We shared a bus with them in Europe and got to know Chris very well. To this day you might see him show up to Westbound shows with his trombone and blow some killer solos!
The Pier: So obviously the BossTones were a big influence on you guys when you started?
Thad: In our infant stages they really had little of an influence on us. We were into more traditional sounding ska and reggae. I don’t think that Obi Fernandez (vocals/trombone) and I listened to anything but The Slackers and The Skatalites for about a year.
Once Tim Burton came into the picture he really opened our eyes to other aspects of what a show is. He would always give us advice on things such as what our appearance was like, or how we should be promoting for our shows. He even held a CD release party in the BossTones office for us the day our CD came out. I think that we were such music geeks that it never occurred to us that these other things mattered. Tim never tried to change the way we sounded… I think that he really dug the Westbound sound and wanted us to have as much opportunity as possible in a music scene that is just as much of a show as it is a musical experience.
The Pier: What was the huge International Ska Circus show in Vegas like this year? Quite a lot of great bands on the bill, like English Beat, Mustard Plug, The Slackers and MU330.
Thad: The Ska Circus this year was such a fun time! We saw so many familiar faces that it felt as though it was a huge ska reunion. Having toured with so many of the bands on the bill it just turned out to be a huge party. I felt as though the vibes all around were very good and everybody there was just there to hang.
(Check out a short vid of Westbound Train playing Ska Circus)
The Pier: You played in England earlier this year too. Were you well received by their audiences? I can imagine they must have some pretty serious Rudies over there?
Thad: Haha. Yeah there are some characters that’s for sure. The people over there really seemed to get into the sound. Had we been there at the right time we would have had at least one on stage appearance with our friend Lynval Golding (Guitar for The Specials) We were supposed to be there at a different time of the year but it worked out that Lynval was not on his native land while we were there. He actually called me afterwards by accident thinking he was dialing Dave Wakeling’s phone… Once he figured out whom he was talking to he expressed his interest to performing in England with us at some point in the near future. Lynval is truly an inspiration for all of us Westbound guys. I have never heard a negative thing come out of his mouth. He always seems so thankful to have the ability to play music on a regular basis.
The Pier: You have been on some pretty fun ska tours over the past couple of years. Do you have a favorite?
Thad: All of the touring that we have done has been extremely fun and extremely tiresome. I would say the tour that did it for most of us was the English Beat tour with Pauline Black and Lynval Golding as special guests. Not to mention that you already have Dave Wakeling as the English Beat front man! There was something about that tour that really worked well for us and I think for them as well. Another tour that was a lot of fun was the Fall of Ska tour we did with Reel Big Fish, Streetlight Manifesto and Suburban Legends. I think when on tour with such a high profile group of guys you can’t help but have fun.
We are all really excited to be hitting the road with some of our friends from Canada Bedouin Sound Clash in February. We have never had a chance to get to know those guys and look forward to spending time with them.
The Pier: Transitions was your first album to come out on HellCat Records. How did your relationship with labele owner Tim Armstrong (Rancid) come about?
Thad: Within the first couple years of being a band we decided that we wanted to be on the road as much as possible. I don’t exactly know where Tim Armstrong caught wind of us, but I think it had to do with King Django who recorded our first album, Searching For a Melody at Version City. While we were recording King Django was on HellCat Records. I think Tim heard our recording and decided that he liked it.
Obi and I got jobs sweeping floors at a local club in Boston called Avalon. One night Rancid came through and played the club. Somehow Obi got himself into Rancid’s green room. Tim recognized Obi and told him that if we could ever make it to LA he would have some recordings for the Westbound horn section to work.
That became Westbound’s mission to get ourselves to LA. Once we got there we played a show at the Knitting Factory and Tim came out and scooped up our horn section to record on Skinhead Rob’s solo album. The next time we were there, Tim got the horns to record on the Transplants album Haunted Cities. During this session Obi and the others got a bit more bold and asked Tim if he would consider Westbound to be on HellCat Records. It most defiantly was not an overnight deal! Obi and I flew out and met with Tim and Chris LaSalle and just talked about music in general. A year later we were finished with the paper work and started to record Transitions.
The Pier: Nice. So were you happy with how the album ultimately turned out and how it was received?
Thad: You know… I don’t think I have ever been completely satisfied with anything I have ever recorded. I feel that if you get comfortable in a musical situation your work can sound stale and boring. I feel that there is an element that is lost if chances aren’t taken musically in any musical situation. I am happy with the way it was received but I feel that we can do much better! That was our first experience recording with a real budget. Everything else before that was us scrounging up money where ever possible. Grandmas, Aunts, Uncles, crappy part time jobs… Where ever!
I also feel that there is an element that comes along with the recording when people see that you are working your ass of to make the recording. When it felt as though we had money to spend on a recording it seemed as though outside people involved with the album didn’t seem quite as concerned in helping us get a good sound but more about where the money was going. I think the album sounds great just gotta keep an eye out for scavengers!
The Pier: Transitions came out in 2006, have you started work on your next album and if so what can you tell us about it?
Thad: At this point a few of us have some tunes that we have been working on. I feel as though we want this album to be one that really sets us apart from anything else that we have done. I feel as though we are in a place where we don’t have to rush ourselves to put out an album. We have a HellCat release and we plan to make another. Let's do this one in our home part of the country and really be able to focus on what is going to make it great for everyone involved.
The Pier: What has been the best and worst thing about being in this band?
Thad: Best thing - Seeing the world and meeting some very amazing people! Worst thing - No girl will ever put up with me living the life I live for more than a couple months!
The Pier: Yeah that would be tough. What has the band got coming up for 2008?
Thad: Hmm. We have a Bedouin Soundclash/Westbound Train full US tour in the works for February. We plan to get back over to Europe in 2008 and record a new album. We hope to hit new places such as Japan and someday Australia. I can’t say that either of these will happen in 2008 but one can hope.
The Pier: Final question. What is your favorite summer hang out destination?
Thad: Hmm. Summer is usually the months that I am not worried about. Being from Boston the Winter hang is more of the question! I would say that summer time is the perfect time to be in Boston or New York. The Winter time would be the time to get down south to Flordia or Cali!!
Thanks to Thad for taking the time to answer these questions. To check out more from Westbound Train visit: