This Friday, we’re taking to New York City for our special showcase at The New Colossus Festival. In the wake of the SXSW cancellation, that’s sadly meant one of the acts due to perform at the festival – Singapore’s The Pinholes – have sadly had to pull out. Lucky for us though, Tom West and his band were available, and we’re thrilled to be adding the Adelaide artist to our lineup, joining Jaguar Jonze, Wolfjay, Knife Wife, Safer, and more!
In advance of this show, we caught up with the singer/songwriter to learn more about his new life in New York City, and what he’s got going on right now.
Tell us a little bit about your origin story?
My origin story is long and curious after many years of performing in Australia I got an opportunity to try my luck here as a singer and songwriter and guitar played and I have been pounding the pavement since then meeting a lot of awesome people and making a lot of new friends.
You’re not in Adelaide anymore – where do you currently call home? And what’s the music scene like there?
I’m from Australia, but I have been working in the ‘States for almost two years. I am currently residing in New York City so the scene feels obviously pretty hectic to me, being from provincial Australia. It’s such a ruthless city that in order to survive you have to lift and lift your game and your hustle, so there’s a lot of really top notch people to collaborate with on your doorstep.
Always a terrible question to ask to the person who created the music, but how would you best describe the music to someone who hasn’t heard it before?
I also play and sing in a Neil Young tribute show, so that probably gives you a pretty big clue. They’re contemporary folk / pop songs performed by me on a guitar, often as a soloist but sometimes with a band.
Tell us what you’ve got to promote while at TNC!
I’m nearly finished working a new record, so my quest at the moment is to just meet as many people I can and hopefully get them interested in my music before we get ready to release it out into the world. I have plenty of stuff on Spotify so please for forth and stream and follow as much as you like.
What else do you have coming up?
I’m also playing at City Winery Philadelphia on Thursday 12 Mar, I have some shows in Austin during the resurrected, unofficial SXSW event, I have a show at City Winery in Chicago on Mar 24 and then back in NYC at Rockwood Music Hall on Mar 28.
Who else should punters check out at The New Colossus?
Haven’t had much of a look yet! Definitely check out some of the other Aussies – Wolfjay & Jaguar Jonze for sure.
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For more about Tom West, head to his Official Facebook Page.
The New Colossus Festival’s 2nd edition takes place on the Lower East Side of Manhattan from March 11-15, 2020. For more details about the event, and to grab a badge for $100 – which gives you access to all showcases (including ours!), happy hour mixers panels and more – head to their official website HERE. For more about our event on Friday 13th March at Lola, head HERE.
Standalone tickets for this event are $10 and you can grab them HERE.
Photo by Isabella Cuan.
