Leslie
Four years after rock legend and guitarist Leslie
West had his right leg amputated after a decades
long battle with diabetes causing the musician to
rethink a career whose foundation had been built
on live performances, the outspoken and muchloved rocker has returned with Soundcheck a new
studio album consisting of both originals and
years and years.
West is planning on doing a limited number of
live shows, including a possible stop in Chicago
sometime in the next year. In the meantime, we
sat down with him to discuss his years with
Mountain, his life as a guitar hero, and his brilliant new album.
Leslie West
IE: Are you excited about the new album?
Leslie West: Yeah, I was excited when I first
started it.
IE: How long was the process?
LW: About a year. I took my time. Once I had
the new material on there, I took my time
with the songs that I could do my interpretation of. I don’t like using the word ‘Cover’
because they are not covers. They really don’t
sound like the originals. It took me a while,
12•2015
revamped arrangements of classic songs, which
hits stores this month and promises to be one his
best solo albums ever. While many artists would
have thrown in the towel and simply retired after
such radical surgery, West, did the only thing he
knew how to do: survive. With compelling tracks
written by or co-written with his talented wife,
Jenni, such as “Winter Bayou” (dedicated to latefriend, Johnny Winter) or “Left By The Roadside
To Die,” (about the depression that followed his
surgery), Soundcheck returns West’s song writing skills to his golden days with Mountain. The
re-arranged versions of classics such as Tracy
Chapman’s “Give Me One Reason,” and Jeff
Beck’s “Going Down,” show that West can breath
new life into songs we've heard countless times for
because, in the past I have had albums where
I had to do the whole thing and finish it in one
month. I hated doing that because your performance becomes redun [