Wester Interview by Paul Marino

The local music scene of Staten Island has a never ending flow of sound coming from its home shores. While there is a rather large collection of Hardcore bands saturating the isle there is at least one band that alters the formula and throws a melodic-indie twist on their own version of it. The band Wester has gone through more than one name change but every member has stayed within the band, all since their start in a much larger band, Super Happy Fun Band (now defunct). Band-mates Steven Bacas, Christopher Peters, Michael Scionti, and Jason Roschbach wanted more out of their music and came together to form the group Story, which stuck to more traditional Hardcore music.

After some time playing as Story the band changed their name to Sink You Fool, a shout out to a favorite movie of the artists (points to anyone who knows which film). Under this alias they wrote, composed, and covered a broad variation of Ska music, but late in 2010 the bands direction changed yet again and they became what we know now as Wester.

The band has stuck to it’s Melodic Hardcore mix to produce two EP’s; the first called, Freight in Limbo, released in 2011, and the second, Flux, coming out late 2012. Steve, the bands lead guitarist, described both EP’s as music driven by “relatable sadness.” Lead singer Jason compares some of his lyrics to the feeling of heartbreak, something he and many of us know all too well. Unable to comment on the EP was the bands drummer, Chris, and bass player, Mike. Though both were unable to attend the interview, Steve and Jason spoke on behalf of the absent members.


Wester compares themselves to bands like Brand New and Lifetime and hopes that with the release of Flux, playing shows through out the year, and accumulating fan support they can get signed onto a record label, which is most bands dream.


Steve had made it clear throughout the interview that he did not want to see this group “die out,” as he has seen of some of his past musical endeavors. The four piece wishes to tour within the coming months but said that nothing is currently planned. When asked why there were no definitive tour dates Wester explained that with all the band mates either attending college or working full time that it was becoming difficult to work around all their schedules. They did promise, however, that it would not affect their future in music and pledged to keep working with what they are given.

If you’re interested in Wester check out their music at www.reverbnation.com/WesterNY (which has their first EP available for your listening pleasure) and look for updates on their facebook page at  www.facebook.com/WesterNY. Be on the look out for Wester as their album release gets closer and their vision of making it big moves forward.