Hard rock in mind, his new record All Pointz West features a very confident and capable sounding Ray West doing what he does best, namely opening up into big choruses and pulling off hairpin turn vocal stunts. The gritty and raspy yet melodic sounds are not for effect, though. Ray doesn't let his skills on the microphone turn into showboating for the sake of demonstration on the record. West has shown both his growth as a performer while retaining qualities people loved all along about him, and it makes for a very loud, very good time. This is your "Burn Notice"!

MORGAN Y. EVANS: Most people know of you through your old band Spread Eagle and I have to say "Scratch Like A Cat" really holds up still. A lot of bands, you go back and look at their stuff and some of it is cringe-worthy, but you guys had extra punch, almost like how Skid Row had a little more “oomph” than a lot of the other bands that were on the scene then. Your records or their Slave To The Grind really had some balls. And since...well, we saw metal lose popularity to grunge and then the rise of boy bands and bad pop coming back. Then it was rap metal for quite a while on to electro until now it seems for a lot of people that real metal is kicking ass again and heavier than ever, though I also have to add that I disagree with people who say grunge was bad because it wasn't as fun as hair metal. It seems to me there is something for everyone out there that can benefit their life whether it is hedonism or feminism or flying V's! The reason I'm going through all this is that you have done a wide variety of music and All Pointz West is a different sound than people have heard from you at times, though still very “Ray” sounding. Could you talk about your evolution as an artist and also what you think the next decade is going to bring for music, heavy or otherwise? Where are we headed next?!

RAY WEST: You got people with Mac Pros, recording software , video editing software… Throw some money at an online marketing company to get your name hyped online, get them to spam people through MySpace, etc. so it looks like you have thousands and thousands of friends. You know, make it look like enough people are checking out your tunes, when they're really not. [laughing] Shit man ! Anybody can be a rock star with enough attitude and money. Or at least enjoy the illusion. I know lots of people like that. Let me give you just a little more and I'll chill on the question of where I think music is going. I think you have two groups of people making music. You've got purists and you've got the manipulators. I'll explain. The purists are the ones that actually learn to play real instruments, learn how to sing and take care of their instruments. They practice. They have a sense of music appreciation. They know who Zeppelin and Sabbath, are. They know who Sly & the Family Stone are. Ya see where I'm going with this? Real artists are able to write or truly contribute to the writing of a song. And I mean a song that makes you say, "Damn, that's some slamming shit!! I'd go hear them live!!"
Let me add, I believe the kids who listen and play heavy rock, metal, and all its genres, are going to find ways to play angrier, faster, need I say heavier. I say this because our metal youth have been cut out of the mainstream. Metal is the new underground .
The MTV generation has left a big pile a shit for heavy metal kids to clean up. It's a Disney world out there musically.

MYE: Speak it! Right on, man.

RW: Which brings me to the second group. Pop music culture, there are a huge percentage of kids and adults who think that because they have a computer program, then sample someone else's musical efforts, cut it up, get the drum machine, tap, tap on it, run it through an "auto tuner" then it's,"Hey! Look at me. I'm a fuckin' songwriter !!!!!"
I think I just repeated myself but it just really burns my ass!!! I forgot the third group . The American Idol auditioners. You get in that top 10, you are gonna have yourself a career my friend. "God Bless America." Sometimes you find an awesome pop talent like Adam Lambert, though. You go, girl. [laughing]

MYE: Let's talk about your musical working relationship with Miguel Gonzalez. How did you meet and realize you should work together on an album? How did you hit it off as far as initiating discussions of music?

RW: I'll try to give you the abridged version. I'd known Miguel from my life and times living in South Florida. When I was a young cocky Leo playing the Ft. Lauderdale rock scene, I would cross paths with him. A million years go by, and I get a call from a mutual friend saying, "Miguel is looking for a singer to work with." Because I know the guy is talented, I'm interested. So I ask when does he wanna talk. When can I hear some music? I start to give up my mailing address, then I hear somebody laughing in the background. Miguel gets on the phone and says, "Yo! I'm here in NYC doing a gig for someone. Ya wanna meet up and talk music?" So I go to the spot he's at, we catch up a little and he plays me a couple of rhythm tracks. I'm sold! I swear to you, it's the type of sound that is tailor made for me.

MYE: Yeah, man.

RW: It's got cool percussive rhythms, and lots of room for vocals. I'm a sucker for really open choruses. It makes ya feel like your flyin'. We proceed to discuss the best method of attack since I'm livin' in NYC and he's down in South Florida. We decide he'll send 4 tracks and I'll do my thing. I lay some ideas down on my little home recorder, send 'em back down and wait for the jury... and I am pronounced "good to go". From there it's just a whole lot of flying back ‘n’ forth, hangin' out in the studio, on the beach... writing and spending money. Working with Miguel can get expensive, but that's another very long story. [laughing] We have great chemistry in the studio. It's easy to work with the guy, mainly ‘cause he's so damn talented. He has the same sense of lyric and melody as I do. He understands where I'm coming from. As a singer that is key! To write with someone who can react to what I'm throwing down vocally, percussively, etc... It's a very gratifying thing. Also, he has a very sick sense of humor, so we're a lot alike. [laughing]
So with all that said, the APW CD has taken years to become a physical collection of 10 songs. Like my evolution, it's taken a long, long time.
I live in NY full time. Miguel is still based out of his studio in Miami... so ya never know. Maybe one day we'll make time to put some new material together. I'm sure if we got started today, on another batch of songs, we'd be done by the time they find a cure for procrastination.

MYE: Your vocal background includes a wide array of influences! You listened to Van Halen and showy stuff growing up, but David Lee Roth could also really sing. Plus, you liked not just classic rock, but soul music also and the roots of rock’n’roll. Do you think people sometimes are too narrow-minded? It is good to be able to scream, but sometimes I think people hide their insecurities behind a macho growl, which is why I like singers like Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory or someone like you who can howl but also really create other moods. Don't get me wrong, I love me some straight up death metal also, but it's cool how your song “Novacaine” has these expansive, trippy verses and then really grabs you when you unload your guts into the microphone!

RW: I think I'm able to create different moods because I'm a moody bastard. [laughing] Seriously, I think I'm a case study in mood swings. "Hey Doc! Pass the medication, please!!!" As far as people who are narrow-minded, that's their loss.
You can't change people who don't wanna change. Fuck 'em. I say this from experience. I'll break ya off this piece of knowledge I've learned over the years. There are two kinds of people when it comes to music appreciation. I despise music bigotry,which is the 1st group: 1) People who are narrow-minded. "The music bigots". These are folks who are afraid to change the station. 2) People who are not narrow-minded. These are people who just dig cool music, no matter what the style.

MYE: If it's good, it's good.

RW: I feel you have to strive to be a complete singer. "Learn your voice," like I said in my long-winded answer to your first question. "You have to listen to everything."
It's great to hear someone with your sense of music appreciation say you not only dig what I do, but that you "get it". You get the vocal approach. Anybody can scream. A great scream is like an exclamation point! It's a way to get peoples’ attention. But what do you do when you have their attention? Do you just keep giving them the same thing over and over again? I think that gets boring. In my opinion I think it's best to show some variety, take them on a rollercoaster ride. You mentioned "Diamond Dave". I dig Dave because he had (and still has) a great sense of style, as you said. That guy is one of the greatest entertainers to ever front a rock band. Cool vocal style, funny as hell.

MYE: Absolutely.

RW: I felt like a school kid when I saw Van Halen reunite just a few years ago at the Garden.What's that David lee Roth saying: "In the end I'm just a song and dance man looking for a place to sing my songs, and strut my stuff!” [laughing]

MYE: [laughing] How do you feel about the internet these days in terms of independent marketing of music? I've heard that Spread Eagle didn't have the best time on MCA. How do you feel about the changing paradigms that you've seen during your time as a musician? It is cool how someone like Donita Sparks (ex-L7) or Radiohead have been able to figure out new ways to market themselves on their own terms. Not that all record labels are evil. Lots of great people work at labels big and small, but it does give the artist more power at times.

RW: Information is power. It's the new frontier. If you can stay a step ahead of the marketing trends you have a shot at reaching out to so many people. I'm glad the big companies got a good scare. It’s making them have to rethink the business of music.
I've seen first hand the damage a big label can do so I'm very happy to see the musician is now empowered by the internet.

MYE: You created two rock courses, "Grit to Aggression" and "Melody to Madness", to help teach people how to sing rock’n’roll with confidence. How much do you think singing can be taught and how much does it have to come from the soul of the would-be singer?

RW: You can teach a person the mechanics. The breathing. The basics. Get them to practice, "maybe"...but you can't teach confidence. You can't teach passion.
You can only pass on your experiences and hope they get it. If I feel the student is in it for real, I try my best to pass it on to the fullest. Singing is the the most honest form of communication. That is my opinion. If you can help someone harness their energy, help find their tone, make a connection to their soul so they can vocalize what they feel... that's a very, very amazing thing! I love teaching, passing it. When some kid says, "Hey, can you teach me to sing like you?" That shit blows my mind.

MYE: You've done theatre and also stand up comedy. Are those more nerve-wracking pursuits than heavy metal? I mean, on a good night you can crack-wise to a rock crowd and that can lift the mood of a room or win the crowd over, but telling jokes without the music to smash into before anyone can react...that seems like really being naked out there and vulnerable. [laughing]

RW: You really do feel naked up there! [laughing] If the audience doesn't know you , or your material, it can really fuck with your mental state. You've got about 20 seconds to make people think you’re funny, to show your personality. It's the worst kind of silence imaginable when they don't. With a theatre group or band, there's safety in numbers. Stand up is just you all alone—a one man army. You're either gonna kill, or wish you were dead. [laughing ass off] I love stand up. I should get my ass back out there. I've got a lot of material to work with.

MYE: How did you get the All Points West band together? Can you talk about writing the record and becoming tight as a live band? I like that you cover a lot of styles within your current sound. It is cool when bands do that and makes for more multi-faceted rock, like Incubus's Morning View, for example.

RW: I really dig Incubus, as well. Those guys know how to write a tune!! Great singer!! With the songs on my CD you can listen to all the variety and it still sounds like the same band. I think that's important...to have a signature sound. Putting the band together has taken a long time. I had to find guys that really believed in this music and would put aside their egos. Trust me, I have found some players now that really pay attention to the details. They've taken what was done in the studio and taken it to a higher level. The live arrangements have such cool guitar solos that I'm ready to record the band live, and put that out instead. [laughing] The hardest part has been trying to find a bass player that can play the stuff like Miguel. He's that good!

MYE: Can you talk about the making of the “Novacaine” video? There are a lot of live videos of bands, but I feel that tried and true format works for this song well. It doesn't really need a fancy story to go along with it. The song pulls you in.

RW: The making of the video was the idea of my very good friend Frankie Fulleda. The guy is all about getting shit done. He's a one-man production crew.
We talk about getting some footage of the band live, and doing something quick ’n’ raw. But he's a very gifted editor and says he's got a better idea. "Dude fuck that!!, We're gonna make you something cool." Now when my bro Frankie says he's got an idea, he moves fast. Next thing I know he's got a plan. We take a day and go out to a warehouse in New Jersey. He has all this great gear, lights, some bad ass cameras. He says he's got it all planned out. "You go and get yourself ready, while I set up." So while I'm suitin' up to play the lead in my own video, he's setting up lights, cameras, audio, etc... I mean he's a ball of creative energy, rigging this and that, climbing ladders... He's all over the place.
Then he says,"I want you to stand in front of these speakers, and just have fun." It was the most fun I have ever had making a video. There's some real intense video from all that work. In my opinion the video is a sincere piece. I'm very proud of the way Frankie put it together .

MYE: It seems like every year there are more rock or celebrity casualties for a wide variety of reasons. It was sad recently learning about The Rev from Avenged Sevenfold dying at such a young age, and then you have someone like Michael Jackson who still had so much talent. You've been through some very decadent eras of rock’n’roll and managed to get through it all. Do you think that having the cathartic release of art goes hand in hand with the danger that it will open up and release too many demons with some people? I mean, that still has to be better than keeping them pent up, as long as you can keep things in check. It's a dangerous game, especially in the public eye when people often have very human insecurity at times.

RW: The danger is always there, whether you're prone to alcohol addiction, or whatever vehicle you use to shelter yourself from the poison of the scrutiny of the public eye and or ear.

MYE: I like in your MySpace bio how you said that singing in a rock band is never to be taken for granted. I think it was Ian Mackaye from Fugazi who said in that band's Instrument documentary how every time you get on a stage it is a gift and how he doesn't understand how some bands don't give it their all, and I totally agree with both of you. I wish that the public also would support people more who are really giving it their all and not just go for the trend of the moment. That said, I am still happy that we have someone in pop as interesting as Lady Gaga now who is way more inventive than the mainstream has seen in a while, (even if she took many of her ideas from the last 30+ years of gay culture). And even the American Idol machine that has turned out a ton of crap has delivered a better artist like Adam Lambert. That “Aftermath” song he did with Howard Benson really jams. But on the whole, people still need to support real rock and roll and the underground more and not just have a lot of stuff handed to them.

RW: Your very right about that. You've pretty much answered the question... [laughing]
I think that Lady GaGa and Adam Lambert are mixing visual art and music in the coolest of ways. They have great management, and the world is their oyster.
As far as supporting rock’n’roll . I think that it's all up to the bands. They have to work hard to get peoples’ attention, and keep it. Rock’n’roll is hard work!!!!! Some people are just lazy, that's all.

MYE: What are you most looking forward to about the future and how do you feel about life these days in general? Any words of inspiration for your fans or...all of humanity?

RW: I'm very comfortable in my own skin nowadays. I've made mistakes and learned from most of them. To me, every day above ground is a good day. I think the most important thing I can pass on is, "Don't sign anything until your lawyer gives you the ok." [laughing] I'm happy that I'm at a point in my life where I can look back without regrets.
Life's too short, so just enjoy the ride!! I mean after all, we're not building rocket ships, we're just playin' R’n’R!!!!! I'll end here by saying my evolution has been a long road to find my true voice, to find the place where I'm most honest. Singing is the most honest form of communication. That's a fact!