True West rolled through California’s paisley underground like a piece of purple sage in a dust devil. The band adopted Syd Barrett as a father figure (True West’s first release was a single of his “Lucifer Sam,”) and took Rocky Erickson and Alex Chilton as uncles. They played echo laden, dense drone with eerie guitars and vocals that souded like slippery rocks under water. Co-produced by guitarist Russ Tolman and Dream Syndicate’s Steve Wynn, the True West EP put group’s best foot forward. Russ, Gavin Blair and Steve had worked together as the Suspects, but they never busted sod like this. Hollywood Holiday contains the whole EP plus three more-polished tracks recorded later with a new rhythm section. Drummer Jozef Becker rejoined Thin White Rope before True West went back to the studio to record Drifters. The album’s nine new songs and another version of “And Then the Rain”, highlight Gavin Blair’s vocals as much as Tolman’s think and chunky chime like guitar work. A quieter record than Hollywood, Drifters hangs on to enough edge so as not to leave anyone asking where the rock went. The album has a thick atmosphere like an old mining town. The songs invoke cowboys without sounding anything like today’s alt. country bands or roots music. Russ Tolman left the band after Drifters, but True West was in no mood to quit while they were ahead.
Hands of Fate got guitar help from the great Matt Piucci of Rain Parade and Chuck Prophet from Green on Red. True West broke up in 1987. Kevin Staydohar made albums with Thin White Rope and True West before he died tragically and unexpectedly of a heart infection. Singer Gavin Blair and guitarist Richard McGrath went on to become the Fool Killers. McGrath also played guitar with Wall of Voodoo’s Stan Ridgeway. Jozeph Becker joined Game Theory and Frank French. Russ Tolman has made too many great albums to get into here. Russ has his own Myspace page, but the his other web pages seem to have gone missing. At least 6 compilations, reworks and repackages have been released since the band broke up. West Side Story came out in 1989 and features unreadable liner notes(tiny,tiny print) from Tolman.
The 1983 demos make up the Best Western CD are as good as anything previously released. There’s a pre-Drifters version of “Look Around”, a cleaned up version of Hollywood Holiday’s “Throw Away the Key” and a studio take of West Side Story’s “Burn the Roses.” TV Western has three live tracks from 1985. The Big Boot was recorded on a Sony D-6 Walkman with an Alwa stereo microphone at a club in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1984. This 63-minute disc is mostly made up of stuff from their Hollywood Holiday and Drifters. There are covers of “Lucifer Sam,” “Lust for Life,” “Happenings Ten Years Time Ago,” and, most unexpectedly, Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds.” Two True (another fun pun) is Hollywood Holiday and Drifters with a live version of “Throw Away the Key”. In August 2006 Blair, McGrath and Tolman reunited for two gigs in Seattle and Portland. In December they opened for the Violent Femmes at The Filmore in San Francisco. They’ve been playing a gig or more a year ever since. True West still has a sound as big as it’s name. Listen and you will be swept away over the mountains and into wide open spaces. Put your head between your stereo speakers, drop the needle and you can hear the rocks and stones bumping and grinding under the muddy waters of the Rio Grande (good old vinyl!).
