Mustard had the pleasure of speaking with Dundalk, Ireland’s Future West. Together we discussed their origins, their potential sponsorship with GPS companies, their upcoming album “Who Will Forgive My Sins” out this Friday, and so much more! Check it out below!
1. Hello! Mustard would like to thank Future West for joining them. How is everyone?
Hello Mustard, thank you for having me. I’m currently sitting on a train in the sweltering heat but otherwise I’m good. I hope you are too.
2. All stories have a beginning even if that beginning is actually the end. What is the beginning of Future West’s story?
The beginning of Future West’s story is that of many people’s really. I was writing a lot of music as a solo artist and had intended to just do it on the side but then I started demoing and recording the first record properly and well, I got a bit trigger happy doing overdubs which prompted me to get a band together for the project.
3. Has Future West been contacted by any GPS companies to help promote their products?
Haha, we have not. And I didn’t do a name check before settling on the name for the band because I genuinely thought, “There’s no way anybody has used this combination of words for anything else before.” About 2-3 years into the project I was trying to change our bandcamp handle to something simpler than what it is. Bandcamp wouldn’t let me do it which prompted the google search. In doing that I found that there is not only another band with the same name but like you asked, there’s some sort of Moto GPS company with the same name. Wounded.
4. What is Future West’s songwriting process?
I would actually love to know the answer to this myself. I wish I had a process but I don’t. I have hundreds of ideas on a hard drive though. Some begin with a drum beat that I think is cool or a bass line that I think is grooving. And yeah, some begin traditionally with me writing some chords and vocal melody on guitar or keyboard but really, there is no set way. It’s kind of just what I’m feeling at the time and more often than not, I have an idea that doesn’t get finished for years until I find it and decide to tie it all up and make a proper song out of it.
5. Mustard has never been to Dundalk, Ireland. What are some local spots that Future West frequent? Where do you recommend humans visit if in the area?
There’s lots of great places to visit in Dundalk. For your music fix you gotta go to Classified Records, our local record shop run by music guru Neil Waters. He stocks some unbelievable collector second hand stuff as well as a great selection of new music too. Their webstore is here https://www.classifiedrecords.net and they have a discogs page too. If you’re looking to see live music the only place to go is the Spirit Store. It’s cemented in Dundalk’s history as the prime spot for original live music and they have given us and many other local bands a great platform for getting our thing going. If you want an unforgettable view of Dundalk town, head up the Ravensdale mountain for a hike. It really is a thing of beauty from up there. Thank you for asking that question by the way. That was a real fun, wholesome one to answer.
6. Who (or what) influences/and inspires Future West? Where can listeners spot these influences in your music?
For me, the band that inspires me most musically and ethically are The Cribs. A band from Wakefield in Leeds. They’re outlook on what it means to be in a band and why they play music is so inspiring and they’ve led me in the right direction and guided me to do what I do for all the right reasons. Nice try but I’m not going to tell people where to find my influences in my own music.
7. “Holy Shit, Here Come..The Future West” captures your attention both in name and as an album. Did superheroes or general human surprise inspire the album name? Reflecting on it now, how do you feel about your debut album? How have you grown as an artist since?
This is a fantastic question. The name was not inspired by superheroes but I guess human surprise would play an element in it. Our old guitar player, Sean Bradley, great guy. He fights bears and wins. Well, he came up with the name after watching an old horror b-movie one night I believe. So we tried to replicate how they look on the old VHS covers with the small text up top and big text in the middle. Also, as a debut album name, I just thought it was so good that once it was said it wasn’t up for debate anymore. Oh Mustard, since that record came out I have done a lot of reflecting on it. I’ve hated it, I’ve loved it and everything in between but, I think that’s because it didn’t do overly well and frankly, it fell clean under the radar. That’s what put me off it for a period of time but after growing as a person I realized that basing my opinions of my own music on whether or not others like it is not the right way to be at all. It’s as if, because I thought others didn’t like it then, it must not be that good. Completely absurd way to think I know. But, as I said, I have grown a lot since then and I have listened to it recently and I gotta say, I really like it. It’s a product of one person basically learning how to write/record/produce and mix all at the same time on their own and I gotta say, I think it turned out pretty well all things considered.
8. Your next release, “Who Will Forgive All My Sins” comes out in a few days. What can fans expect from this album? How did it differ from your debut?
This album differs from the debut in a lot of ways. Structure wise and arrangement wise, the songs are completely different. They’re a lot shorter, less noisier and just generally more well crafted in my opinion. A lot of this stems from myself just always trying to get better as a musician but also the fact that there was 3 producers (including me) involved with this one. So with that, if I was getting too ahead of myself there was always someone there to tell me to reign it back in. But the opposite happened as well. There’s a track “Give You My Time” on the album which I didn’t like at all. I even cut it from the track listing at one point when Peter and Pauric (producers/drums/guitars) had to talk me in to putting it on the album because it was such a “banger” apparently. I’m glad they did because it’s now one of my favourites on the record.
9. Future West was on the Blowtorch Records Podcast. What was that experience like?
That was a great experience. It was awesome just sitting there having a casual chat with Richard who runs Blowtorch records and who basically signed us to the label and took us under his wing. He’s a great guy and his outlook on releasing music is awesome too. He does it for the right reasons which is simply because he lives and breathes music and that’s mainly why we wanted to release with Blowtorch Records.
10. Do you have any upcoming shows?
We have yes, we have our album launch show in the spirit store, Dundalk on august 20th. Vantastival festival in Drogheda on September 16th and Annesley House in Dublin on September 23rd. Hopefully we’ll have more by the end of the year too.
11. Where can readers listen to your music?
Readers can listen to our music by going onto our Bandcamp and buying our record or messaging us on Instagram to get one delivered to you easier. If that doesn’t suit, it’s in all the usual streaming spots!
Music Shelf With Mustard 