Music Review
Band: West Coast Sleeping
Title: Failures Of Investing

Rock / Alternative

West Coast Sleeping are: Adam Seiler - bass, Kyle Klika - rhythm guitar, Ryan Petersen - drums, Nathan Smits - vocals, and Brian Klika - lead guitar. They appear courtesy of Rock Garden.

I’ve been exposed to massive amounts of amazing undiscovered, under-appreciated, and/or unknown bands in the last couple of years. West Coast Sleeping is now one of my very favorite undiscovered bands.

WCS is not getting constant radio play throughout the U.S. like another Milwaukee band we all know now... A band I won’t name, a good band, but not nearly as special as West Coast Sleeping. Bottom line is, these guys are perfectly suitable for the big stations like Milwaukee's 102.1 (WLUM) and Chicago's 93.1 (WXRT) yet, they're pretty much only getting scattered airplay on smaller Wisconsin stations. We all know about radio station politics so we'll move on.

I am completely blown away by this album! Each and every song completely rocks. Yes, every-single-song! The melodies are infectious, raw, and fresh. All songs are written by the band… and you couldn’t pay for better songwriting as a whole.

You also couldn’t pay for better vocals. Nathan’s vocals are nothing short of amazing! At times I hear a little Eddie Vedder, at others Kurt Cobain… even some Paul Westerberg (Replacements) slips in from time to time.

Then there’s the rest of the band. Ryan is fierce on the drums and we love Kyle’s perfected distortion on the guitar. Add the talent & skill of Adam on bass and Brian on lead guitar and you have a band that could very well be destined to make some rock ‘n roll history. If only we can get everyone to give 'em a listen.

Lyric Samples:

You can't tell from the lyrics themselves but 'Wasted' offers an infectious chorus that you'll be singing along with in no time:

Fall away. You took everything,
I lost everyone. I'm just wasted.
Far away. You are enigmatic,
incapable. I'm just wasted.

'Well-Kept Note':

Within resignation
I can reach franticly.
The failures of investing
I do not fail to see.

My favorites on this album are ‘Take It Back’, ‘Wasted’, ‘Magenta’, ‘Well-Kept Note’, ‘Regeneration’, ‘A Ways Away’, ‘To Save This Child’, and ‘Stay’. All of which are just as good, if not better, than the majority of songs I hear on constant rotation on the cool radio stations. By the way, I just mentioned 8 songs as having the potential to be major hits. How many cds out there have 8 hit songs on it (no, you can’t count the "best of" comps)?

The remaining 3 songs are solid tunes that I have NOT found myself forwarding through, despite listening to this cd at least 20 times in full! If the ‘Failures Of Investing’ cd is under 50 bucks, and it totally is ($11.95 @ cdbaby.com), it’s a steal.

This review may sound a little over the top but it’s simply one of the best overall releases I have heard this decade. West Coast Sleeping has a growing Midwestern following and the potential to take over the continent. Hear for yourself.
Official website
Official MySpace
Buy WCS From CD Baby
WCS @ iTunes
WCS @ Yahoo Music