Blacklist Union have released the title track from their upcoming new album, Letters from the Psych Ward. This will be Blacklist Union’s fifth album and is slated for a September 2023 release. We catch up with singer Tony West to find out more…

1.What is your earliest memory of music?

My earliest memory of music is when I was five years old and I pointed to a poster and asked my uncle, “who is that girl?” And he said, “that’s no girl, that’s David Bowie.” My life was never the same for me. Shortly after that I discovered punk rock, hard rock, and all kinds of music.

2. Tell us about the first gig you attended?

That same uncle took me to see AC/DC at Madison Square Garden when I was 11 years old and in seventh grade.

3. And the first gig you played?

First gig I ever played was at a club called FM Station in North Hollywood, CA. I was in my first band that was a Ramones tribute band that’s still around. They are called Gabba Gabba Hey. And Lemmy from Motörhead came to my first gig.

4. You’ve worked Todd Youth (Agnostic Front, Cro-mags, Murphy’s Law,
Danzig), Jay Gordon (Orgy), Kevin Wood (Malfunkshun), Saliva and Jon E. Love (Love/Hate) – that’s quite the list! Who would you most like collaborate with in future?

I am honored to have worked with all those people. I tell you who I would like to work with is Johnny Rico. He is the guitar player in Warrior Soul. I’d love to work with him. Of course I’d love to work with Slash or Duff or both… Jerry Cantrell would be awesome. Dean DeLeo from Stone Temple Pilots. I respect them all as songwriters and would like to work with those guys. Especially Johnny Rico… I’m hoping we can write the next Blacklist Union record together.

5. How does the new Blacklist Union album differ from the previous releases?

We are on a much bigger scale for this album than we have ever had for any of our four previous releases. This is a much larger playing field for us. We are working with professional top-class musicians. We have been shooting two videos at a time in Houston, TX with pros. We have a great management team and are working with campaigns in the UK for European representation.

6. Which track in the forthcoming album are you most proud of and why?

I am proud of the actual album itself. Recording the vocals for “Mia” was epic. Here’s a great story about that…

When I was about to record the vocals for ‘Mia’ I was texting Josey from Saliva that I was scared to do this. He was like, “you’re gonna kick ass.” Then the producer and engineer were both like, “you know, this is kind of a hard song.” I was like, “no I’ll be fine.” So, I did one pass of the song and I’ll never forget… Our producer Chris and our engineer Ghian both stood up in the control room with their arms up in the air cheering because I nailed the song all the way through on the first take.

I’m also proud of the way the songs come together and come to life. I love listening to the playbacks. There were a couple times it made me cry. ‘Dancing with the Angels’ has made me cry. ‘Mia’ has made me cry. ‘Dirty Halo’ has made me cry. And then there’s the up-tempo songs like ‘Letters from the Psych Ward,’ and ‘Out on a Jones.’ I’m just so proud of those songs cause they’re such rockers.

7. What has been the highlight of your career to date?

My swan song moment was singing in Malfunkshun with Andy Wood’s brother, my hero’s brother… In their hometown with all the camps there. Soundgarden camp. Nirvana camp. Alice In Chains camp. Everyone was there including Andrew and Kevin’s mom, who I took out to lunch that day.

That was the moment in my world I knew I made it because I’m singing in my hero’s band who I learned everything from. For me, all the haters that told me I couldn’t do it along the way for whatever reason, that all ceased to exist because here I was singing in my hero’s band in front of his mother, his friends, his family, his fans…

And I remember that right before I went onstage, I prayed on my knees backstage and I said “Please God, please let Andy use me as a channel. Please do not let me make this about myself. Use me as a channel for Andy’s mother, his family, his friends, his brother… And that’s exactly what happened. That shit was so heavy. I took Scott Willis… He’s a road dog motherfucker. He’s worked for Saliva; he’s been my tech when I’m touring and stuff.I remember after that gig we were so elated from that whole experience.

And then when we were walking into the fuckin’ airport in Seattle, all of a sudden I look at Scott and I am like, “Oh my God listen!” We stop, and out of all the fucking songs in the world to be playing in the airport in Seattle leaving a gig was fucking “Stardog Champion.” It was playing throughout the whole airport man. If that wasn’t a sign from the universe, from the Gods, from the fuckin’ spirit world… It absolutely was. That is my most beautiful moment so far.

I’ve had other moments too where my son and I sang onstage together. I’ve performed in front of people I really respect. I would have to say hands down the whole Malfunkshun Seattle experience was my most triumphant moment.

Video: https://youtu.be/GdmZlf59Hvw

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