RS: You never wrote songs on the road before?
Mike West: I write songs on the road, i write songs in the bath, i write songs changing diapers. I'll write songs any damn place.
RS: What usually happens on tours?
Mike West: Different stuff always happens... the only consistent thing about touring is breakfast... it's always two eggs scrambled, dry wheat toast and grits. That is our life's only constant.
RS: When you got home did you realize this collection would have this longing feel to them --hellos, goodbyes and all that.
Mike West: I write songs about dying... except i usually take all the words about death out of the song, so all that is left is Dogs and Squirrels and household appliances.
RS: So how do you find time to miss home and have all these thoughts of longing.
Mike West: Miss home! I don't miss home... I bring my home with me. I tour with my wife and two daughters. I don't bring the dogs or the chickens. So I guess I miss them.
RS: And your family is back there.
Mike West: Didn't you hear what i just said!
RS: And the "Perfectly Good Guitar" tour was hard rock, kick-ass rock & roll.
Mike West: I'm getting real bored of the adjective "Kick-ass"... I usually try to get out of the bar before asses start getting kicked. My band plays banjo and wash tub. If that's what rocks your world, then we will rock your world. By the way, what the hell is the "Pefectly Good Guitar Tour"
RS: "Walk On" seems to be a return to pre-"Perfectly Good Guitar" and "Hiatt Comes Alive at Budokan?" records.
Mike West: I'm not John Hiatt... I'm not even a big fan. He's OK, but I wouldn't be reading his damn interview, let alone answering his questions for him.
RS: Have you worked with any of the members of Little Village [Nick Lowe, Ry Cooder, Jim Keltner] since you ended that tour?
Mike West: No... but I used to have some Rockpile records
RS: What did you learn from the Little Village project?
Mike West: a great deal... but I'm not telling you.
RS: Are you still hard to work with?
Mike West: Actually, I'm real easy to work with... I think.
RS: Well you figured out you were hard to work with before.
Mike West: That isn't even a question. That's just a statement. I can't answer a statement. Who's interviewing who here?
RS: Who are some of today's songwriters that you admire today?
Mike West: My favorite songwriters are Pistol Pete & Pop Gun Paul... Paul plays pentacostal piano while Pete sings songs about love, sex and cocaine. Check them out.
RS: I'd like to know the derivation of that name...
Mike West: Ask my mother
RS: Do you get to see many performances?
Mike West: I produce quite a lot of songwriters, so I hear a lot of studio performances. It's been really good for my own playing to pay such close attention to other folks' songs and arrangements. I love listening to people sing and play.
RS: What was it like to have the freedom of recording your record without a label.
Mike West: I am on a label that is very free with me, Squirrel Records... They give me a little money and a lot of freedom... that's a nice balance, i think
RS: You're going to have to have one bitter fight.
Mike West: My personal life is my business.
RS: Tell me about your background in writing.
Mike West: I didn't go to college for it or nothing. My grammar is bad and my spelling is worse. I "write" orally... I sing the songs until they're done... then I write them down. I don't like to put an idea to paper too soon... it can make it harder to throw the idea out.
RS: Did you pick up other writers?
Mike West: No, but I've picked up two ex-convicts and some guy that worked construction in Jackson Mississippi.
RS: Did you reach back also?
Mike West: My personal life is my business.
RS: Was this all in Indiana?
Mike West: All that is in Indiana is my ex-mother-in-law and a club in Bloomington that never pays the bands a nickel... Actually the best breakfast I ever had was at a diner in Indiana.
RS: And doing it okay.
Mike West: best as I can.
RS: What do you think is ahead of you?
Mike West: A lot more interstate, two eggs scrambled with dry wheat toast and coffee... all else is uncertain.
