Westend, the Power of Nostalgia: Elevated Frequencies Episode #2

Olivia: Okay. West end AK Tyler AK West end. Thank you for joining me.

Westend: Thank you for having me. I'm super excited to do this.

Olivia: Yeah, tell me where you're coming from. Are you in New York right now?

Westend: Yes, I'm in New York. I live in a neighborhood called Long Island City. So I don't know how familiar you are with New York, but it's in Queens, kind of like right across from Manhattan, right across from the East River. And yeah, this is home base for me.

Olivia: Yeah, I know it well actually. My husband was born in West Hempstead. I think that's pretty

Westend: Long

Olivia: somewhat

Westend: Island.

Olivia: close. Yeah, it's Long Island. Long Island city is different than Long Island, right?

Westend: Yes, yeah, people get confused all the time. So Long Island City

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: is literally right next to Manhattan. It's

Olivia: Yeah,

Westend: the

Olivia: yeah.

Westend: closest you can get in Queens. Long Island kinda starts right when you're, Queens goes pretty far out onto this island and then there's Long Island and you have tons of different towns. So West Hempstead, that sounds familiar from the train rides and stuff. It's

Olivia: Yeah, right.

Westend: like, yeah.

Olivia: I've taken the Long Island Railroad. It's a long

Westend: Yeah.

Olivia: journey when you're going out in Manhattan and then you got to take it when we took it back to stay with his family. I was like, damn.

Westend: Yeah, I drunk people on the train. That's a whole experience

Olivia: Yes.

Westend: I'd never really experienced because you know, I've always I was born in New York and so I would go out to Long Island because my family had a house near Montauk So like

Olivia: Mm-hmm.

Westend: all the way at the end of the island So we would take like the train ride out there, but you know people would kind of go party in Manhattan come back

Olivia: Yep.

Westend: out

Olivia: I love

Westend: It's

Olivia: Montauk.

Westend: all thing

Olivia: It's a beautiful area.

Westend: Yeah,

Olivia: It's

Westend: I love

Olivia: like, I mean, I could be wrong, but I feel like everybody goes to the Hamptons, right? So then when I went out there for the first time, I was like, let's do Montauk instead. Cause they're like, they're like across from each other, if I remember correctly.

Westend: Yeah, so Montauk is like the total tip of Long Island. It's like the

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: most

Olivia: Okay.

Westend: Eastern you can get in New York. And then the Hamptons are like the towns that are like right before it. So like Montauk's

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: the last one. It's definitely a different vibe than the Hamptons. Like the Hamptons is very much like, kind of like, you know, what do you think about when you hear the Hamptons? Like very luxurious, kind of

Olivia: Right.

Westend: old money vibe. And like Montauk's always been like more of like a surfer kind of fishing town, which

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: is why I love it. Cause I do a lot of fishing there. But I would say in the last 15 to 20 years, it's gotten very popular where it's like, if you wanna stay a night in a hotel in Montauk in the summer, it's like $700. It's like

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: crazy expensive.

Olivia: Yeah, totally. Okay. So you kind of are jumping ahead when you mentioned fish. Cause I have in my notes, fish guy,

Westend: Haha.

Olivia: like circled and starred and arrows pointing to it.

Westend: That means my branding, my marketing, my branding is working because

Olivia: It's spot

Westend: that's

Olivia: on.

Westend: my goal. I want people to be like, he's the fish

Olivia: That's

Westend: man.

Olivia: the fish guy. I love that. Okay. So I talk to other creatives about this all the time. We all have endeavors, right? Outside of what we do in the creative space. I think that is kind of like keeps us sane. You know, I talked to Will yesterday and his thing is like food and podcasting.

Westend: Will

Olivia: You

Westend: Clark.

Olivia: know, Will Clark. Yeah. He

Westend: Yeah.

Olivia: has all these different ventures, right? That he kind of delves into to take him away from music and I have my thing. So I'm assuming fishing. is one of your things.

Westend: Yeah, I think it's like, it's really interesting because, you know, if you're able to turn your passion into your dream career, kind of, which like I was able to do with music and producing and DJing, you still like kind of need something that's not work that you're really passionate about. Because as much as you love what you do, and like I love my job, there's parts of it that is work and you need something that in your life you can like go to that's like a true escape, I guess, from the stresses of whatever you're doing for your career. So yeah, fishing is that for me. I kind of got into it as a kid. My dad got me into it mostly because we were in Long Island and there's really great, you know, we would go out to this town called Amigansa. It's really the last one before Montauk. It's kind of in East Hampton. But my grandma bought a house there when I was like 94 when I was born. And I would do a lot of fishing out there during the summers. And I really loved it as a kid and then as like a teenager, you know, I was like living in New York City and you know, I just wanted to party and like socialize and stuff. So like fishing wasn't like that cool to me anymore. I kind of stopped. And then it wasn't really until like the end of college and kind of like right when I graduated school that I got back into it. And I was like, wow, I really love this. And you know, kind of like, I watched a lot of like fishing. content creators on YouTube and I still watch that all the time. Like it's relaxing to me

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: and it's a whole sport. It's really fun. It's you know, for me, it's like the best thing about it is like when I go fishing, like I can literally go like seven hours without looking at my phone because I'm just focused on like

Olivia: Okay.

Westend: what's going on or like, you know, if I'm on a boat, it's like beautiful and there's always something going on and like that is so important to me like the digital detox because you know, my when I'm not doing something like that. I'm literally on my phone all the time because it's like getting messages on Instagram, checking email, I'm like, you know, doing all this stuff, and it's like, it's getting worse, to be honest, like just how much I'm on my phone. So to be able to have an activity that like I don't do that at all is like amazing for me.

Olivia: 100% and you said something you reconnected basically with what you loved as a kid. And I'm a huge believer in that, that reconnecting with your inner child literally helps you be successful in the modern day. And for me, believe it or not, it's like $15 crafts I get on Amazon, right? Like I'll make some like, like, do you remember Shrinky Dinks? I think I'm a little bit older than you, but have

Westend: Trinky,

Olivia: you heard of

Westend: what is it? What

Olivia: Shrinky

Westend: are they?

Olivia: Dinks were like these things where you like cut out a shape. and you color it and then you put it in the oven and it comes out like a hard glassy like trinket.

Westend: Oh, was it like, did it have like a cross section kind of like almost

Olivia: It did,

Westend: like clay cross

Olivia: it did,

Westend: section?

Olivia: it did. Well, there was clay and then there was like, it was like paper, like literally paper. And it would turn into

Westend: paper.

Olivia: like hard plastic. And so

Westend: This

Olivia: I,

Westend: is like an early 90s thing maybe.

Olivia: yeah, yeah, it was. You said you were born in 94.

Westend: I was born in 94. Yeah,

Olivia: Okay. I'm not that

Westend: I'm terrible

Olivia: much older.

Westend: with names. It sounds familiar. I think if I saw it, like

Olivia: the

Westend: the

Olivia: infomercial,

Westend: packaging,

Olivia: if you saw the

Westend: yeah.

Olivia: inf, like those old school infomercials. So I randomly, like the other month just bought them on Amazon and I was like, and I turned off my phone and I put on music and I made fucking Trinketix and I was like, wait, this is really helping my creative process and other things. Because like you said, it's that digital detox

Westend: Yeah.

Olivia: of just getting back into something that you enjoyed as a kid. And I think that can like

Westend: I think.

Olivia: open new pathways in your brain.

Westend: Yeah, I think especially like when we were kids, because of, you know, what generation we came from, you know, I think the interest we had, like, it feels like I'm sure this is for like any child, but it's like a lot more pure, like, you're not really like basing what you enjoy, like, kind of like, on, you know, what you may think is cool, or like social expectations as much, it's more of like, you know, this is like what you were doing. And I don't know, I don't know really anything about like, child psychology. But

Olivia: Yeah, me either.

Westend: But it would make sense to me that the stuff, that your brain is kind of like, the pathways are establishing when you're a kid and creating enjoyment from these activities have long lasting implications in your life and it's like, to go back to it, it's like the same. And for fishing for me, it's like, it never gets old, the feeling of it, the excitement about it. It feels like it did when I was younger and it was the night before we were going on a boat trip and I was jittery because I was so excited. I still kind of get that so I totally see what you mean about reconnecting with that stuff and yeah,

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: it's amazing

Olivia: I mean,

Westend: for me.

Olivia: I was born in 92, so same generation. We had cameras, but we didn't have the camera. Like we weren't capturing everything that we do now. So a lot

Westend: Yeah.

Olivia: of what we remember is a literally from recall of our memory of like, this is how it looked, this is how the ocean smelled, this is what I felt. And it's really nice to be able to jump back into that and just like, I don't know. It's, it's therapeutic.

Westend: I keep getting these TikTok, I don't know if you're on TikTok, but like,

Olivia: Yes.

Westend: okay, so there's the slideshows where they'll put a

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: song and you swipe through, and it's all these 90s nostalgia stuff where it

Olivia: Yeah, same.

Westend: has that retro song, and then it's all these food products and stuff from your kid, and you're like, I literally haven't thought about that. One of them was on it was the Scooby-Doo snacks.

Olivia: Yeah,

Westend: where it was

Olivia: yeah.

Westend: like the gummy candies and stuff. I was like, but it's crazy how like your brain, like you all, you know, it could be a smell, it could be a, an image or sound or something. And it's like, you instantly get like kind of teleported back to that period in time. It's really cool. So, yeah, I think that's it. I think that's it. I think that's

Olivia: It is really cool. And, uh, I think that's why so many artists are doing that with music too. Like, I think we're

Westend: Yeah.

Olivia: kind of out of the era of like, there was a, it's still going on like we're nineties and two thousands remixes were so big, but for us millennials, like that was, I don't know, that's like great nostalgia.

Westend: Yeah, I think it's like, it's when you look at like the kind of house music scene, because like, that's all I can really speak out speak on is like,

Olivia: course.

Westend: you know, house and tech house. Yeah, there was definitely a big like 90s kind of revival. And I still think that's the case of like 90s rave and like, especially a lot of like European like trance 90s, like Calvin

Olivia: Mm-hmm.

Westend: Harris's new song Miracles very like trance influence. And I think it's it's kind of funny, because it's like now we're in 2023. And like the stuff that was big, like, 12 years ago, 10 years ago, it's kind of like a throwback now. And it's kind of like has that cool vibe where like if you did that remix of something, like what one song that like Fisher and Chris played and like their Coachella set was somebody that I used to know the

Olivia: Yeah. Yeah.

Westend: how do you pronounce the artist's name? Go- Go-D?

Olivia: Go, Godier or something?

Westend: Go-D-A or something?

Olivia: I don't know.

Westend: But like that what was that like 2010 or 11 or something?

Olivia: I think,

Westend: Or

Olivia: no,

Westend: later.

Olivia: it was 11, 11 or 12. You're right. Yeah.

Westend: It was like something

Olivia: It was when

Westend: around

Olivia: I was

Westend: then.

Olivia: in college.

Westend: Yeah,

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: yeah, yeah. It was like, yeah, late high school for me, early college. And, you know, like that kind of remix. If you did it like five years ago, it's kind of like, you know, whatever.

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: But like, it's kind of like, we're moving forward in the timeline. It's just crazy to me because I'm like, wow, time's going by so fast. But

Olivia: Right?

Westend: people always look back for stuff. It's, you know.

Olivia: Yeah. So let's talk about, about you and your music. Your name comes from where you grew up, right? That's, that's what inspired it.

Westend: Yeah, it's the app. So I grew up in Manhattan and a neighborhood called the Upper West Side. It's kind of like, I don't know, if you know Manhattan, there's Central Park kind of in the middle.

Olivia: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Westend: You have the East Side on the East and the West Side. And then there's another park all the way on the West Side on the Hudson River called Riverside Park. And there's like an avenue that runs down there called West End. So I pretty much like lived in a building there, you know, growing up and like when I kind of chose the name West End. Cause I had a few like other artists projects before, like one was a duo. You know, I had, when I first started, it was just like DJ Tyler Morris,

Olivia: Thank you. Bye.

Westend: but I kind of like needed a name quickly for something. And I really liked just the word West End. And I was like, you know, it's tied to me. It's like where I'm from. It's this avenue I've like always kind of grown up on and embraced. But yeah, that's the story behind the name.

Olivia: That's really cool. And, you know, me being from Chicago and I live in Chicago, there's so much to be said about the Chicago sound. And then there's also the New York sound. And so how has really, I mean, I think it's pretty unique to grow up in New York. A lot of people are transplants just like they're here in Chicago. So there's got to be like a sense of pride that comes with that just as a person and as an artist as well.

Westend: Yeah, for sure. I mean, I can't speak to growing up anywhere else because this is where I grew up. But I think growing up in New York City, it's probably one of the most unique places you can grow up just because of how urban it is and just the things you do as a kid. You know, it's not like you live in a house and you have a backyard. It's like you're kind of... I was taken in the subway in sixth grade and, you know, you're kind of thrown in the city and you're traveling around and, you know. It's really unique, but the sound of New York, so I kinda got into electronic music in the middle of high school, so when I was like 15 or so. And at the time, artists that were really popular, it was kinda like the blog house era. So it was artists like Justice, Bloody B. Roots, Mastercraft. Daft Punk was already kind of big at that point, but. You know. That was kind of like the scene I got into. And there was a venue called Terminal 5, which is close to where I grew up. And Destructo used to throw a lot of parties there, Hard. So it would be like, before Hard was kind of acquired by Insomniac, they would do, that's kind of where I would go to my first shows. I never actually never been to a concert before an electronic music show. Like I'd never seen, who was the band? Green Day, for example. Like all my friends would go see Green

Olivia: Oh,

Westend: Day.

Olivia: never. To

Westend: I

Olivia: this day

Westend: nearly

Olivia: you sp-

Westend: never, well, I've never been to a concert before like a rave. That was like my first like

Olivia: Okay,

Westend: music experience live

Olivia: got it.

Westend: because like my family was not really like, they never took me to like a show and like I would just like listen to music at home pretty much.

Olivia: Mm-hmm.

Westend: So like that that was my first experience like just getting into live music was like in New York. And I remember I went to Electric Zoo Festival in like

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: 2011 and that was like, whoa, this is like crazy because I'd never been to

Olivia: Wow.

Westend: a festival before. But yeah, I would say that sound kind of and like that era of music like really influenced me I wasn't at that point. I wasn't like super into like house music specifically. It was more of kind of This kind of electro house sound and

Olivia: Mm-hmm.

Westend: I really got into like progressive house and like what was going on in Europe Like I love like Dutch house music Afrojack

Olivia: Like base, like, I was gonna say like base hunter. Do you remember?

Westend: I did actually, so Bass Hunter I liked before this, like when I was like in middle school,

Olivia: Yeah,

Westend: cause I would listen

Olivia: same.

Westend: to like, I would listen to Bass Hunter on like YouTube,

Olivia: Yeah,

Westend: like

Olivia: I

Westend: Dota

Olivia: saw

Westend: and

Olivia: him.

Westend: shit.

Olivia: I

Westend: That's

Olivia: saw

Westend: crazy.

Olivia: him. Why? I know. I still can't believe it. That was like a deep buried memory.

Westend: Hehehe

Olivia: There was this club called zero gravity. It was like a teen club. I

Westend: Yeah.

Olivia: think it was like 16 to 20 or something like that, which was a little weird, but uh, he performed live there. I think it was like a foam party or something like that. So

Westend: That's

Olivia: yeah.

Westend: crazy. Yeah,

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: that was actually like, I had listened to electronic music before that, but I didn't really understand what it was or anything.

Olivia: Mm-hmm.

Westend: And I wasn't like obsessed with it. It wasn't until I discovered Justice where I was like, I remember I tormented that album and I listened to it over and over again. And that's when I was like, oh, this is cool. Like, this is gonna be my thing. Like, this is what I want to do. But yeah, Dota and stuff, like all those bass hunters songs, they all sound the same kind of,

Olivia: They

Westend: but

Olivia: do.

Westend: they're all

Olivia: They

Westend: really good.

Olivia: have the, I don't know the technical term, but they do sound the same, just with different, and then he released them in what language? What

Westend: It's

Olivia: is

Westend: like

Olivia: he

Westend: Swedish,

Olivia: Swedish?

Westend: I think.

Olivia: He released it like in his native language and then in English too. So there's like two versions of every song.

Westend: Yeah, it's so funny because I used to play games that are similar to Dota, because Dota is like a Starcraft kind of... I forgot how it works exactly, but he used samples in the song, like in the breaks. I don't remember if you can remember, but it's like fight or something like that. He

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: used these character sounds, I think, in it. Super nerdy shit, but that was huge. That kind of sound is really popular again. That kind of bouncy...

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: melodic

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: type sound.

Olivia: That's so funny. Okay. Um, I'm gonna

Westend: Sorry, we

Olivia: put

Westend: got

Olivia: myself,

Westend: distracted a little.

Olivia: no, no. I mean, this is good. This is what this podcast is all about because it's, it's interesting to see like, to go down these rabbit holes of music

Westend: Yeah.

Olivia: because it just like, we've been talking about it, like unlocks memories. I, I want your opinion on something you might judge me. You don't know me well enough. We've, we've known each other for a very short

Westend: for

Olivia: time,

Westend: 20 minutes.

Olivia: but um. I it's so funny because I'm like a, you know, purist house, tech house, pretty much everything that's not super bassy. I don't really listen to dubstep, any of that. But

Westend: Yeah.

Olivia: my introduction into electronic music was hard style, like show tech. And I used to listen to that in like fucking eighth grade.

Westend: I definitely had a hard, I wouldn't call it a hardstyle phase, but what I would say when I kind of got into the more commercial electronic music, so this is like, I would say right after the electro kind of stuff, because that's when Avicii got really popular,

Olivia: Mm-hmm.

Westend: and I used to listen to the old Avicii stuff, kind of before Levels even, but even after that, this was what people called the golden era of EDM, of progressive house, which

Olivia: Yes.

Westend: is like... when you hear all those big songs like Calling, Alesso and levels

Olivia: Right.

Westend: and stuff. But there was like a hardstyle did get popular then. I remember Showtech, who's the bald guy?

Olivia: I don't remember,

Westend: Headhunters, Headhunters.

Olivia: Head Hunters, yeah, yeah.

Westend: Yeah.

Olivia: Cause this was on my iPod mini. So like there wasn't any like visual, you know what I mean? Like it was like on my pink

Westend: Yeah.

Olivia: iPod mini and I'm blasting. Like I don't even remember. I don't even remember the names of these songs where they were aggressive. No 13 year old girl should be listening to Hardstyle at seven in the morning on the bus. I don't even remember the names of these songs where they were aggressive. No 13 year old girl should be listening to Hardstyle at seven in the morning on the bus.

Westend: It's funny, I feel like when you're back in that era, like before Spotify, it was really like what ended up on your whatever you had, like your iPod or iPhone, because like you couldn't like stream new music really and like, you know, data and stuff like that. You know, people didn't have that much data. So like, if you just had like one album on your thing and like that was, you know, you randomly, you know, bought that album or got it offline wire. that was the thing that you would just listen over and over again.

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: And like you get like, it's kind of like funny how like that has so much influence on you because it's kind of like a chance thing. So like I remember for me as a kid, like way before that, like even before iPod mini is like my first album, my cousin got me, it was like the black album by Jay Z and then the other one was like the Eminem show, which was like the one with like the red cover, like that

Olivia: Yeah,

Westend: classic

Olivia: yeah.

Westend: Eminem album. And I remember like, those are like, I didn't really have that many CDs. So like you just, I would be in car rides. and I would just listen to that like front to back and like know every single word.

Olivia: Right.

Westend: And it's like, it's so nostalgic. Like I could like listen to it now and like the lyrics would start to come back to me and stuff.

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: But it's so cool how it's just like whatever you kind of had at the time, like that, you know, leaves an impression on you.

Olivia: Totally, because if you want a new music, you're going to have to sit and wait four hours for one song to download

Westend: Exactly, it's like a whole

Olivia: on your

Westend: process.

Olivia: ethernet. Yeah, yeah. So, okay, I want to pivot a little bit because one of the reasons I reached out is because I love what you post on Twitter. Because you

Westend: Ha ha ha!

Olivia: show, and the funny stuff, yes. Okay, definitely. I mean, I think even before I followed you, your tweets came up on my feed every single day because of who else I follow. interacts with your posts

Westend: Yeah.

Olivia: and you're just like there. Like you're big time on Twitter. But I love what you talk about when you talk about what it's like to be an artist, make it to the top. You said something about having that afterglow after a major success, maybe it's a record, maybe it's a show, and then kind of dealing with the come down from that and not letting that affect you mentally. And I think

Westend: Yeah.

Olivia: that's relatable to everybody, not just artists. So can you talk to me about why you posted that and just expand on that a little bit.

Westend: Yeah, for sure. I appreciate also the compliment on the Twitter game. I think my Twitter game is mediocre. There's some people that are so witty and good and funny. So I appreciate the praise, but I'm like, I feel

Olivia: No

Westend: like I can improve a lot on my Twitter game. But yeah, so to answer your question, that basically, I wanted to send that message out, because I feel like it's something that's not really talked about. But. You know, so many people have this dream of being a full-time kind of producer and DJ and like whatever goals that is, it's like, you know, it's kind of sold a lot in the way that people post about themselves on social media, the lifestyle of being a DJ, blah, blah, blah. And I wanted to kind of like highlight the fact that, you know, the journey to do it and to get there, it can be like really hard and discouraging. And even if you get like a big win, it's, you know, there's so much that goes into doing this that like that win isn't necessarily gonna like push you. And my conclusion was kind of that like, you need as like, if you want to be like, you know, an artist in this space, you need to kind of like love the process of being an artist and like the grind of like, doing it rather than like going and looking at the accomplishments and just like, kind of getting your happiness from that. And like, you know, I think for me, I could relate to this because I kind of quit my job in 2018 to do music full time. And, you know, I had some minor wins at the time of like, you know, other DJs playing my music out or, you know, I was like so obsessed with getting a song signed to Dirty Bird Records, which was like my favorite record label at the time. And I was like, okay, if I get a song on Dirty Bird, like, I'm set because like, that's my favorite record label. They're so hot right now. I'll start getting shows and I'll start getting festivals and all this stuff and I'll be part of the crew and blah blah blah. And it's easy to kind of think that way that's like, oh, I just need this one accomplishment and it'll kind of solve all my problems. And I got that record signed and I was so happy, blah blah blah. I got a few shows out of it. But eventually that kind of dwindles down and you're back to, okay, maybe I have a little bit more. little bit more on the resume, but there's still so much work to do. And I've realized that like after, you know, I get to do this full time. I make a good living out of it. Um, I, you know, get to play all these shows and festivals. It's amazing. I've had Beatport number ones, all these accomplishments, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's like, that doesn't really matter because the speed at which everything moves is so fast and like that can kind of go away at any moment and you have to really constantly like push yourself. And even the big guys, like the guys that are bigger than me. they feel the same way as well. It's

Olivia: Mm-hmm.

Westend: kind of like, I used to think it was like a small, medium artist kind of thing where it's like, oh, when you're just coming up, you have these like growing pains, but it's really, you know, I realized that like the artists that you look up to that you think have everything sorted, like they're also, you know, they have anxiety and they wanna,

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: you know, keep innovating and stuff. So it's like, you have to just love that process of, you know, always trying to kind of improve upon yourself. It's not really about comparing yourself to what others are doing. It's more of like... How can I be better than I was last month, last year?

Olivia: Great.

Westend: So that's kind of what inspired that tweet, because I was like, I want people to realize that it's not always easy for everyone. And I don't know. I.

Olivia: Yeah, despite what they may post or share, because people just share their highlight reel, right?

Westend: Exactly. Yeah. And,

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: you know, and then the high and the highlights, as much as they help and can get you somewhere, you know, I think it's so hard for people that like it really was like people that like, let's say they still work like a full time job and they're, you know, music is like, they're, they're kind of like side thing at the moment, you know, getting, getting an accomplishment that makes you think, okay, I can really do this full time now. And even though the reality is, it's like, maybe the money's not there. Maybe the opportunities aren't there. But it's like that conflict where it's like, I'm getting this, but I don't know if it's, I can totally go for this full time. I just felt really, not feel badly, but I wanted those people to kind of like be heard a little bit, because like

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: I've been in that position. And

Olivia: Mm-hmm.

Westend: so that's really what inspired it.

Olivia: And I think it's, it's kind of fucked up to say, but it's comforting in a way that you know that the big guys are feeling this way too, like it's not something that ends, right? I mean, once you get to the proverbial top, you have to figure out how to stay up there.

Westend: Yeah, it's really hard. It's, you know, staying relevant is like, yeah, it can almost be more difficult because like, you don't have, momentum can be a really big thing.

Olivia: Mm-hmm.

Westend: I'm actually like kind of happy I'm like not an artist that like had like a really big hit that like blew up. And then because I feel like then you have so much pressure to kind

Olivia: to

Westend: of

Olivia: stay

Westend: compete,

Olivia: there.

Westend: yeah,

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: to stay there or like do is like, you know, if your first kind of big song gets like, half a billion streams or something crazy, the amount of pressure you have for the next song to kind of do well and you start measuring everything against that, it's just like, yeah, that seems like mentally super hard. And like what you said, it does kind of sound fucked up. And for me, when I see other artists, not struggling in any way, but when I see other people open up about something like this. it does make you feel better because you realize you're not alone. And that's why I think I like, I want to share that kind of stuff and be like honest and transparent because

Olivia: Yeah.

Westend: like you said, so much is like a highlight reel. And I feel like people nowadays they want like realness and transparency and like that kind of gets rewarded, you know?

Olivia: Yeah,

Westend: Um,

Olivia: no,

Westend: so.

Olivia: it's super important. And I've always had this philosophy in my space, which is, I have a business, I do different things, but this is relevant to anybody. And not everybody will agree with this, but it's like, okay, this is the top. I wanna be like right here, always, always.

Westend: Yeah.

Olivia: Because then all the things you were saying, I don't have to top what I did before, right? I don't have to compete with other people. I get to stay. up here and coast and continue to produce, put out good things for my clients or whatever, but not feel that pressure. I think it's so alluring to have that big win, like you said, half a billion streams or whatever it is, but there's always a calm down, always a calm down. Being so accessible online can be a double-edged sword because people are brutal, right? Like you can put out a great track and then you put out another one and people are like, oh, this isn't as good as whatever, he's fallen off or whatever it is. So it's

Westend: Yeah.

Olivia: a really delicate ecosystem to be a part of, I think, when you are a public figure and you really have to learn to protect your mental health so it doesn't affect you like that.

Westend: Yeah, I think what you said is like, it's really interesting. And I think like, obviously sometimes you can't control where you go, especially when you're just putting

Olivia: Mm-hmm.

Westend: things out. Um,

Olivia: Great.

Westend: you know, you, something could blow up and, you know, you have to deal with it. I

Olivia: Mm-hmm.

Westend: do think that like life is interesting. Like you said, it applies to anything, but you know, what comes up must come down. There's always like

Olivia: Mm-hmm.

Westend: kind of, I'm not really a spiritual person, but I do, you know, I do believe in that, like, uh, positive, negative yin yang balance

Olivia: Yep.

Westend: and stuff. So I think, you know, for the people that do achieve like great success, Like obviously there is like the growing pains of that, but I do think that it makes you a more resilient human because

Olivia: Mm-hmm.

Westend: you know how to deal with something like, people comparing you to your last release, for example. Or you kind of just figure it out. It's definitely like, it's not fun and it's, for me as well, it's like, there'll be periods where it's like, oh, you have a song that's super well. Your next release doesn't do that well. You start to doubt things. You start to, you know. think imposter syndrome, maybe I just got lucky, blah, blah, blah. I feel like when you go through that enough and you start to develop tools and healthy habits for dealing with it, it kind of makes you a better person and then you can share that wisdom with someone else. That's a big thing for me

Olivia: Totally.

Westend: is sharing. I run a production community called Kickin' Bass and a lot of it is about sharing technical knowledge on producing music. But a big part, and we've realized with a lot of our community... And our members really want is like that human connection of like, well, you know, I'm feeling insecure about this and, you know, they want to hear about like producers stories and journeys and kind of how they dealt through that. So a big part of me is like realizing like, okay, I've kind of realized some things being an artist for my short period of time that I've done it, you know, five years or so, kind of like, it was a full-time thing. I want to help other people so that they don't, you know, they can get to those conclusions a little bit quicker. Like

Olivia: That's

Westend: that's really

Olivia: amazing.

Westend: important for me.

Olivia: That's amazing because the technical stuff, it's great that they can learn it from you and other experienced people, but that is something that you can get pretty much anywhere. That support, that one-on-one mental health support really, and just assurance that, hey, we get it, we've been there. That's so invaluable to have that from someone like you who's been through the journey organically. And like you said, People value transparency and authenticity so much nowadays. And I think that that's what will take people like you even further, because you're willing to be that resource for people. Not everybody's willing to do that.

Westend: Yeah, I think it's a big idea is just like you want to, you know, always give as opposed to like ask for things all the time. And I've realized that like by giving stuff, you actually get a lot more back. So it's kind of

Olivia: Yes,

Westend: it all goes back to karma.

Olivia: it's the universe.

Westend: It's the universe.

Olivia: I'm a big believer in that. Like you said, you're not spiritual. I'm not spiritual. I don't define it that way, but it is the

Westend: Yeah.

Olivia: universe. Because the more you give, the more you will receive. I think that's almost indisputable. So

Westend: Yeah.

Olivia: that's really amazing. So tell me, before we wrap up, what is that community and where can people find it?

Westend: Yeah, so it's called Kickin' Bass and you can find all information about it on our website, www.kick-bass.com. It's a Discord community, so we have different membership prices. We're looking to launch a new tier that's going to be very affordable for people, so if they want to get access to the community, they can at a really affordable rate. But yeah, it's a monthly membership and it's really aimed at... creating like a community and a space for house music producers to learn from people that are producers in the space. There's a lot of people on YouTube that have amazing technical knowledge, but we really pride ourselves on having artists that are constantly releasing on labels and touring that are very like on the end of what's going on in tech house kind of teach these tutorials. We offer feedback on people's tracks as well. We do a lot of group feedback sessions. We have guest coaches come in all the time. It's like an amazing community where it's kind of like, you can get everything you need to be a producer because so much of music production is isolating. You're at home, sitting on your computer,

Olivia: Right.

Westend: just trying to figure something out and you're like, should I be doing this or should I not? So you can open your Discord quickly, ask a question, someone will get back to you in like five minutes. Yeah, it's a really great

Olivia: Wow.

Westend: community, so.

Olivia: That's amazing. That's amazing. Well, it was so great talking to you. Thank

Westend: Yes,

Olivia: you so

Westend: this

Olivia: much

Westend: is

Olivia: for,

Westend: super fun.

Olivia: for being authentic and honest. And I know that the viewers will really appreciate it.

Westend: Thank you so much for having me Olivia, I really appreciate it.