Look West
With a first album under her belt and work well underway on her second, this lady is establishing herself as a force in the music industry. Her talent as a bass player and dynamic stage presence are recognized by industry professionals as well as the media. Meet the new face of Funk, bassist Nik West.
I&S: You’ve said that you are at your best when surrounded by high-energy fellow musicians. You’ve also mentioned that you like to embrace flamboyance in your stage presence. Is your look a way of prompting/encouraging yourself to stretch your musical talent and live up to the image you created?
NW: I almost feel like it is the other way around. The image I created with Arlette Pender of Hairloksmatches is my larger than life personality. My image makes me feel like it is okay to actually just be myself in all aspects without feeling like it is too much. I’ve always had high energy and crazy/funny ways of expressing myself. I guess, for me, the image validates who I am inside.
I&S: You’ve spoken previously about being left-handed but playing your bass right-handed. Do you think that the modern amps, instruments and mixing technology can compensate for a player who is not using their strong hand for the rhythm? Use of your stronger (and perhaps more sensitive/dexterous) hand at the frets seems like a natural advantage. What has been your experience?
NW: I think that instrument companies have done a great job of accommodating artists that are left handed. Of course there are not as many options to choose from, but I think that if someone REALLY wants to learn an instrument, it is going to take hard practice and at some point, one hand won’t be as strong as the other. My fretting hand is the strongest, but being able to play fast notes (like Jaco) really requires the right hand to be very disciplined….and I’m still working on that!
I&S: You have said you want to be known for bringing back the Funk style. How is that going? To your ear, which musicians/performers currently represent this style? Do you think you’ll eventually form your own group to lead this campaign?
NW: I love Funk! For my parents it was a way of life. For me, it was something new. So I embraced it and held onto it for dear life. I really feel like Funk fits me best because I don’t like rules and in Funk there are no rules. Funk looks like space creatures and went crazy with it. Larry Graham created the Slap and Pop for bass and that was by accident. He broke the rules. People have told me that no one really wants to buy funky music or hear bassists slapping anymore…so you know what I did? I ignored them and broke the rules by doing exactly what labels have told me not to do.
The person who I currently hear representing some aspects of funky music with funky musicians is Justin Timberlake with Push Your Love Girl. That song got me excited about the future. About forming a group…who knows? Maybe that will happen by accident too!
I&S: Your voice has been compared with Erykah Badu…but then she is not playing a bass while she sings. Do you notice a difference in your voice quality when you are not playing? If melody and rhythm play off of each other and your voice is the melody, does it feel like part of you is missing?
NW: Yes I do notice a difference in my voice quality when I am not playing. My focus tends to change. When I am not playing, there is nothing standing between the audience and me so I can really play off of that and give them my full attention. When I am playing bass, I just love playing so much that I get so excited and put my energy into my bass. So I seem to split my attention between the audience and the bass. I am still working on that part.
I used to be so afraid to sing without my bass – almost like I was naked in front of strangers. But when some of my fans told me that they loved when I just sang to them, I decided to make it a permanent part of my show.
I&S: What with being a track star and straight A student, how did you manage to fit in a career as a model? Does that experience transfer to your life as a performer?
NW: Well, like I said a bit earlier, I had too much energy in school. I was always in trouble for something. I got straight A’s but that came too easy… which was why I disrupted the class. So my mom put me in modeling since I was long and lanky. It gave me something more to do. I was such a tomboy but agencies signed me for some reason. They taught me how to walk because I was terrible at it. I walked like an athlete. No one could believe I became a model and actually made really good money on the runway because I was such a weird, goofy, boyish person in high school.
I&S: You talk about the hard work it took to get through school and your ability to immerse yourself in a subject. Were you born gifted or did you have to learn how to learn effectively? What inspired you to achieve?
NW: Okay, here’s the no-bars-held truth. Getting the grades was easy for me. My dad will tell you that he dreamt that I would be a genius before I was born (I don’t know if I have lived up to that though). My mom and dad actually had me doing 6th grade math before 1st grade. Calculus is my all time favorite! I tested into gifted schools and was bussed to gifted schools as a kid. In middle school and high school, I broke track and field records but I think that was more of a genetic thing because I had 3 uncles go to the Olympics and one actually won a silver medal. But I never really put much practice into it. I was actually kind of lazy and the coach always yelled at me because of it.
Honestly, playing bass was/is the only thing that I really struggled with and put lots of sweat and work into. I have a short attention span so I had to learn how to really study and keep my attention on practicing and playing correctly. That’s how I knew there was something different about bass. It challenged me. It made me work and it made me sweat and it made me focus.
I&S: You want to start the Queen of Strings Competition as a way of inspiring girls to pick up and play instruments with confidence. How is that going?
NW: I thought it would be an interesting way to get girls playing and get the rest of the world to notice them. But after finding out how many legendary people wanted to be a part of this, it became bigger and more exciting to people than I expected. So I am taking the time to debut it in a big way. So stay tuned!
I&S: Fender Guitar asked you to be one of their new faces in 2013. Were you working with Fender at the time? How has it been to dabble in the modeling world again?
NW: Fender is great! We just debuted a new line of basses called the Dimension Bass. It is very innovative and you’ll see me playing these basses almost exclusively now. I love the tonal options on the HH series. I have been working with Fender since the beginning in 2009. They are generous and awesome!
I have actually been the face for some other products as well so for me, modeling never stops, which is great because it keeps me in shape!
I&S: Can you tell us about any upcoming performances?
NW: I am mostly in the studio working on my second album, but I am on the plane as we speak headed to a music video shoot that Prince asked me to be a part of. I will be hosting a citywide music competition on Nov 18th at House of Blues and performing a few of my songs there.
I have a newly released single on ITunes entitled My Relationship. As for the video that goes with it, all I can say is you all are going to think I am crazy. My choreographer, Jenzi Russel, has me swinging the bass over my head and break dancing with my bass!
I&S: We have talked about the importance of giving back. If you had one wish you could grant for the children in your Arizona hometown, what would it be?
NW: I would own my own math and music school. Learning a musical instrument is so important and it has been proven that kids score higher on standardized tests if they play an instrument. Also, music heals the soul. We would teach music and math and I would have all of my friends in the industry come and speak to the kids.
A beauty, full of talent and seemingly limitless potential, is this a snapshot of a future superstar in the making? We think so. In fact we believe her parents were blessed with the genius they were hoping to have. Image and Style Magazine will be following this young lady and wish her success in all her ventures. To learn more about Nik West follow her at:
http://www.nikwestbass.com
https://www.youtube.com/user/NikWestBass
https://www.facebook.com/nikwestmusic
https://twitter.com/Nikwestbass