JAMES WEST by Mr. Bonzai Photos and text ©1999 all rights reserved Permission to reproduce must be granted in writing by the author/photographer

Suspect: James "Jim" West Ancestry: English, Canadian. Occupation: Guitarist, composer, producer, arranger, engineer. Birthplace: Toronto, Canada Residence: Hermosa Beach, California. Vehicle: Plymouth Minivan. "Utterly theft proof!" Diet: Omnivore. Identifying marks: Guitar pick surgically implanted on first finger. Pet Peeves: "This is more than a peeve: big media companies that are taking writer's royalties for themselves. Oh, and you can imagine the endless comments about the Wild,Wild,West character, like 'Where's Artemus?'" Credits: West has recorded ten albums as guitarist with "Weird Al" Yankovic - most recently the new release, "Running With Scissors." Previous album, "Bad Hair Day," was certified Platinum. For TV he has scored "The Weird Al Show," "Iron Man," a Cousteau documentary and the films "Lady Dragon," "Blood Warriors," and "Land of Dreams." West's commercial clients include Honda, Nike, ESPN, Nestle's, Yamaha Motorcycles, NASCAR, and Straw Hat Pizza. Notes: West and his wife, Jan, have a nifty little studio in a 100-year old redwood beachhouse, and a second home on Maui. An accomplished slack key guitarist, his new solo album of Hawaiian-inspired tunes is "Coconut Hat" on Westernmost Records. BONZAI: How did you happen to meet up and work with Al? WEST: There was this contest for the world's stupidest guitar solo. The winner got the gig with Al. As fate would have it, I won with a twisted rendition of "Mary Had a Little Lamb." No, it wasn't like that at all. A former bandmate of mine, bassist Steve Jay, hooked up with Al on his first album. When Al was putting together a live band, I got a chance to audition. I've always considered it an extremely fortunate and bizarre twist of fate. What is the most important thing you've learned from Mr. Yankovic? Never to take myself too seriously. And how to avoid the dangerous objects that people throw at us when we perform live. It certainly doesn't help things that he's named his new record "Running With Scissors." Here in your studio, what are your main recording tools? The main brain is a G3 Mac with StudioVision, ProTools hardware, three SampleCells and various plug-ins. Most of my stuff starts out MIDI, even if it's just a click, so I tend to record direct to disc because it is so convenient. I do have DA-88's as well. I have the obligatory rack of synths and samplers - Roland 760's, 1080's, 990, Emu stuff and others, and way too many CD-ROMs of sounds. I love my Neve and API preamps and EQ's, and my ADL and Urei compressors. As far as mics, I've been using a Lawson M-47 on my acoustic guitar - it's very cool. For reverbs I've got Lexicon PCM-91, PCM-70, and 200. For effects, an Eventide H3000/DSE, a Boss SE-70, an RSP unit, and a Zoom thingamajig. How did you learn about engineering? I started playing with tape recorders when I was about ten years old. My older brother, Allan, had a Webcor reel-to-reel that I would fool around on - you know, record the toilet flushing and play it back over the phone-sort of prank stuff. Once I got to college, my friend John Esak and I would sneak into the electronic music studio at two in the morning to do our band demos. He sort of knew what he was doing and I picked up a bit from him. Later on I got a TEAC four-track and learned how to get a good sound by bouncing between two machines. Since then I've had many opportunities to watch real engineers in action and I always learn something valuable from them. I also learn tons from reading recording magazines. Which are your favorite guitars? As far as electrics, I use a couple of Tom Anderson guitars. His are by far the best I've ever played. I also have a small vintage collection, including a nice old Silvertone [manufactured by Sears], a Danelectro, a 50's Martin Tenor Guitar, 1938 Rickenbacher lap steel, a great 60's Guild acoustic, and a couple of Martin ukuleles. The other day, Martin Simpson showed me his Stefan Sobell acoustic and I HAVE to have one! It's the most beautiful sounding guitar I've ever heard. If you could go back in time before the birth of recording, what would you like to hear? The first human singing would be cool - I could sample it and use it without any hassles. I'd also like to hear the sound that gigantic meteor made when it hit the earth and caused the Ice Age. Is there anyone in the world you would like to record with? That's tough - there are so many. Right now I'd love to play with any of the great slack key artists: Ledward Ka'apana, Cyril Pahinui, Ozzie Kotani, to name a few. What is the secret of Hawaiian slack key guitar music? It's harmonically simple, but the great players play from the heart. It's a deeply felt music. How would you like to be remembered in history? To be remembered by a melody or two would make me happy. Or as that Canadian guy who played with Weird Al and composed a bunch of music and played slack key guitar a lot . What music would you like played at your funeral? "It's My Party" by Leslie Gore. Anything but "Stairway To Heaven." Do you know any interesting business tricks? Use one of those voice changing boxes when you answer the phone, to make clients think you've got all kinds of receptionists and secretaries and such. Can you recall your most ridiculous experiences in a recording studio? Al had his dentist show up with a huge drill and a human tooth so that he could record the ultimate tooth drilling torture for one of his parodies: "Cavity Search." For another Al session, the band was called in to do some backing vocals - on helium! Who do you think you were in past lives? This nutty guy who didn't believe in re-incarnation. What animal do you identify with? Eric Burdon What is the biggest mistake of your life? Investing heavily in that slide rule company. It wasn't a mistake it was a "learning experience." Any advice for getting a good start in the music business? It's gotta be fun and something you love doing, and if you can make some money - great.