News: New Haven, Connecticut’s WESS MEETS WEST Sign To Hassle Records

Hassle Records are pleased to announce the signing of New Haven, Connecticut four-piece Wess Meets West who are set to release a new album in 2018.

Label co-owner Wez commented on the news: “We’re very excited to announce we’ve just signed a fantastic US act called Wess Meets West. We love what they are doing musically and in keeping with Hassle’s policy of not signing acts with any one particular sound we snapped them up. The band will be touring Europe next year and we’ll be putting their new album out in the first quarter of next year”.

To celebrate the news, the band have released a video for a brand new track, ‘Direct Experience’, in full today - a slow-burning, riff-driven racing track that cleverly utilises an array of competing melodic lines to emulate vocals.

Watch and share here: https://youtu.be/2bOWmNLV7SA​

Commenting on the creation of the song, drummer Andy Porta said: “I demoed the first half of ‘Direct Experience’ after going through a very complex disagreement with a loved one. At one of my lowest points, I raced to my studio battling bouts of anxiety, sadness, and anger. I picked up my guitar and started playing. I distinctly remember trying a new tuning inspired by American Football and just started playing the beginning chord arpeggio over and over again. The song took shape rather quickly and I didn't mind how repetitive it sounded. The repetition and movement of it helped me feel better so I just left it that way.”

The new record will be the band’s third full-length studio offering, and sees them continuing their eclectic journey of musical self-discovery in typically ambitious style. Mainly known as purveyors of a defiantly optimistic strain of instrumental rock the quartet began life as the project of lead guitarist Sam Stauff, and have now grown to incorporate elements of electronica and live programming into their sound.

“I think this album represents many feelings we collectively have as a band and as individuals,” explains Stauff of the concepts behind the new record “Be it feelings of hope, despair, joy – they’re all very visceral feelings towards life and the constant shifting that comes with it. 

Prolific writers, the band have so far released two EPs - Live At Riverworks(2014) and Barricades (2015) – and two studio albums, their 2011 debut Chevaliers and sophomore record When The Structures Fail Us (2014), as well as a full remix record titled Migration : When the Structures Fail Us Remixes (2014). They have been featured in Paste Magazine, Electronic Musician magazine, Premier Guitar, NPR Morning Edition, CBS, Wrangler, ESPN's X-Games and, most recently, in Spotify's Deep Focus Playlist which racked up over four million plays.

Over the years they have shared the stage with the likes of The Appleseed Cast, This Will Destroy You, Caspian,…And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, Maps and Atlases, Pianos Become The Teeth, This Town Needs Guns (TTNG), And So I Watch You From Afar, The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die and many more.

Cathartic, intelligent and passionate, Wess Meets West are a band full with the spirit of audacity, demonstrating a confidence to tackle an enduring scale that most bands—of any level—would be discouraged to dirty their hands with.

Further details and live dates TBA

‘Direct Experience’ artwork: