Here's a song from a metal/heavy rock band I was in circa 2005 named Arizona Bay.  I was the bass player in the band, but I'm also playing drums on this recording.  I had a great time with this band even if the music is a bit heavier than I usually play.  My bass was tuned to drop-D on this recording and was played on a passive 4-string Warwick Corvette Standard bass.  The tone is pretty chunky.  The drums are Tama Starclassic Performer.  

Unprovoked Attack (Arizona Bay)

This is a song from a band I was in circa 2003 named "Unscathed."  I was the drummer in this band, but am also playing bass on this recording.  It's a decent radio-rock type song, with some pretty cool bass lines.  

The bass was recorded with an active 4-string Warwick Rock Bass, and the drums were Tama Starclassic Performer.  

Fallen Through (Unscathed)

This is a demo track from a band I was briefly in named "Vermeer's Edge."  It's just a practice recording as I was writing the bass line, but I kind of like the groove and it shows my bass line writing style from a slightly different genre than most of my old recordings.  The bass was recorded with an active 5-string Warwick Corvette Standard.

The rest of the music written by Erik West.

Lines (Vermeers Edge)

This is another rough practice recording from the same band from the "shuttlebox" track.  Again, this recording is no where near good enough quality to share, but it's a slightly different genre than most of my bass recordings, so I decided to share it anyway.  At least there is a scratch guitar track on this one.  Circa 2009.

I recorded the bass with the Warwick Corvette Standard 5-string with active pick-ups, drums programmed with FL Studio, and the keyboard and bass are by two other band members.

Fast (J&M)

This is just a VERY rough practice recording on a band I was playing bass in for a short period of time.  It really isn't something meant to be shared, but we never got a better recording.  It shows my bass playing in a slightly different context than other samples, so I thought I'd share it anyway.  I don't have many "good" recordings of me on bass.  The guitar is missing on this track, too, which makes the song make even less sense.  The bass is pretty low in the mix, but hopefully it's audible.  I have since lost the files so I can't adjust it all.

The bass was recorded with my Warwick 5-string Corvette Standard active pick-ups, drums programmed in FL studio, and the keyboard was played by another band member.  I think this was circa 2009.  

Writing credits: J

Shuttlebox (J&M)

Here's a simple funk "song." It's not really a song as much as it is a couple of riffs I pieced together. I was going to try to make it more of a "song," but I thought I'd go ahead and post it for now. Maybe it will turn into something more later, especially with some outside perspectives. I write a ton of these tight and simple funk riffs. Most of them are pretty fun, but it can be tough to piece them together to make anything more out of them than random riffs.

Bass was recorded with my current bass (Warwick Corvette Standard 5-String, active), guitar on the nylon string acoustic (only guitar I have), drums programmed in FL Studio Producer Edition.

Simple Funk

Song currently in progress. I recorded the guitar with an old nylon string classical guitar, and I am definitely NOT a guitar player. It's just a way to communicate song ideas to other band members. This is rough draft #1. The bass was recorded using a Warwick Corvette Standard 5-string. Drums were programmed with FL Studio Producer edition.

I actually have a different second verse but this is the first one I came up with, so I'll eventually record both and see which one sounds better.

Cruising

Bass player and drummer currently living in Visalia, CA.  This page is a place for me to show some of old music as well as upload new tracks I'm working on.  Ultimately, hopefully it will help me find other similar musicians to jam with in the Central Valley of CA.  I would consider my style as some combination of the following: rock, funk, heavy funk, melodic, clean, energetic, good-feeling but dark at times, deep, seeing beyond traditional societal norms, meaningful, and spacy.  I also derive influence and inspiration from hip-hop and electronic/techo music.  Ideally, I will create a sound that pulls from all of those influences, but most of the basic songs I write are more bouncy rock/funk songs.   Hopefully as I move forward I can realize my influences more to create something that represents me appropriately.

Bass influences: P-nut (311), Flea (RHCP), Dirk Lance (Incubus), Tim Commerford (RATM), Victor Wooten, John Myung (Dream Theater), Mark McDaniels, Mark J. Smith, John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), Jaco Pastorius, Ryan Martinie (Mudvayne), James Leach (Sikth), Thomas McCoy (Minivoid), Chris Wolstenholme (Muse), Justin chancellor (Tool), and several more.  I'll add more in time.

Drum Influences: Chad Sexton (311), Chad Smith (RHCP), Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater), Billy Seals, John Bonham (Led Zeppelin), Tony Royster Jr., John Blackwell, Jose Pasillas (Incubus), and any other drummer who knows how to groove and keep it in the pocket.

General music that I really enjoy but that do not have a specific musician that I am influenced by necessarily include: John Frusciante, Remy Shand, Soulive, My Morning Jacket, Buckethead, Opeth, Slightly Stoopid, Stephen Fesperman, Myers Gilmer, Lance Jones, B-Fresh, Troy Russell, Tribal Seeds, Pepper, Norah Jones, The Shins, Modest Mouse, Zac Brown Band, Pearl Jam, Eddie Vedder, Telefon Tel Aviv, Radiohead, Kaskade, Bela Fleck, Daft Punk, Rebelution, Afrojack, Ralph Stanley, Iration, Alpha Blondy, Old Crow Medicine Show, Nathan Fake, Umphrey's McGee, Ziggy Marley, Twista, Snoop, The Avett Brothers, The Doors, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Animals As Leaders, and the list goes on and on.

Ultisol

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