Interview: West End Blend

Making a name for themselves throughout the northeast with their captivating and energetic live performances comes 8-piece ensemble, West End Blend. The soul-infused big-band collective pays homage to classic throwback sounds while adding their own distinctive flair of the acid jazz movement. The group is fronted by powerhouse vocalist Erica T. Bryan, who is joined by Sam Horan (drums), Mike Dipanfilo (guitar/synth), Jesse Combs (guitar), Mike Badundo (vocals/trumpet), John Mundy (trombone), Tom Sullivan (bass) and Paulie Philippine (keys).

With two studio records under their belt, West End Blend recently welcomed their first live record, Live At The Waterhole, recorded during a 2-night performance at the Saranac Lake, NY venue earlier this year. Together with the band, GRAMMY Award-winning engineer Brendan Morawski built a studio-style soundboard side stage yielding studio quality recordings of both evenings.

In celebration of their recent release, we sat down with vocalist Erica T. Bryan and guitarists Jesse Combs and Michal Bafundo to get better acquainted with the band.

Hi West End Blend! Congrats on your new live album. Can you tell us a little more on who you are and how you first got into making music? I understand there’s an interesting backstory to the band’s formation, can you elaborate a little on that?

Erica T. Bryan: The band was founded by our drummer, Sam Horan, and one of our guitarists, Jesse Combs, who essentially wanted to put together a collective of musicians to just get out and gig. Almost all of us went to The Hartt School in Greater Hartford or lived and performed in the Hartford community (specifically the West End of Hartford), so getting us together was fairly easy. Funk music seemed to be something a lot of members had in common, and after a huge basement dance party back in 2012, we booked a residency at a spot in downtown Hartford that was half hot dog joint, half venue, playing funk covers, and filling the stage with as many people as possible. We packed the place every week. At some point in those months, a few of us, myself included, began bringing in originals to rehearsals, which the crowd also seemed to get into at our shows. At the time, the funk scene in the area wasn’t enormous, so eventually more and more folks in and outside of Connecticut heard about us, and we started to flourish. In my case, fronting and emceeing a huge, loud, funk band was very new and very outside my comfort zone, so it was tricky and awkward for me initially, but with the help of years growing up listening to classic soul, I grew into it, and we’ve all grown together.

What’s your songwriting process like?

Michael Bafundo: Our songwriting process is something that is unique with each individual song. We all contribute ideas, and sometimes we’ll team up and demo something out, or somebody will write out a chart on their own. There is a lot of collaboration, whether it’s in the early or late stages. We all have our own musical backgrounds and personal styles, and when somebody brings their song to rehearsal, we all add our own flavor to turn it into something that we feel is our sound.

What was the inspiration behind “Too Heavy”?

ETB: Many lyrics I write are a reflection of personal efforts to see beauty in dark times. “Too Heavy” is a good example. When our keys player, Paulie Phillippone, brought in the musical framework for that one, and the group expanded on it together, the lyrics came pretty quickly. It doesn’t always happen that way, but when it’s right, it’s right. “Too Heavy” is about a struggle to understand the “heavy” world surrounding us. It seems sometimes we lose control of even ourselves. But ultimately, it’s accepting the realities and imperfections of life, even letting them wash over you (“let all the heavy bring me under like a thunder steady coming around”) while reclaiming the negativity and learning lessons from it. It’s about not only surviving but thriving. And it’s something I’m still working on every day.

Who are some of your biggest influences/favorite artists?

MB: We all studied jazz in college, where the majority of us met, but we found common ground in funk. Parliament-Funkadelic, Sly Stone, Chaka Khan, and Stevie Wonder are some of our collective favorites, but we all have our own individual influences that spill into our sound with artists like the Grateful Dead and AC/DC.

Any new artists/venues/purveyors of the arts you could turn our readers onto?

MB: Some of our favorite up and coming bands are Bella’s Bartok, Strange Machines, Root Shock, Six Fox Whiskey, Phat Astronaut, and Harsh Armadillo. We love getting the opportunities to play shows with so many great artists and constantly being exposed to new original music.

Where can we follow you and where can our readers catch you live next?

Jesse Combs: We are really excited about heading back down to North Carolina in a few weeks to play in Raleigh and Charlotte. We’ll be back in Upstate NY and have some more Northeast plays before the Holidays as well. CT should stay on the lookout for some surprise show announcements very soon…

Any parting thoughts?

JC: To echo some previous statements, we are so proud of this new live album. It was recorded in Saranac Lake NY at a venue that is near and dear to all of us, The Waterhole. We felt so lucky to be able to capture this music in such a beautiful location surrounded by a very supportive music community. Please take a listen, we hope you enjoy it!