An Interview With Jacob Westfall + Blindside USA - "Wave Of Regret" EP Stream

Blindside USA at The Sandbox

Jacob Westfall moved to Kansas City from West Virginia last year and has already become an active member of Kansas City's thriving hardcore scene. He's been in multiple bands before but is very excited to be playing guitar in Blindside USA, KC's premier youth crew hardcore band. Read my interview with this rock-n-roll transplant while you stream the band's new 7" below it!


Describe yourself in one Integrity lyric.
"A chain is only as strong as its weakest link."

Tell me about your move to Kansas City.
I moved here on July 8th, 2014. I moved here because the girl that I was dating at the time was from here and we had visited a lot. I loved it from the start and after two and a half years of dating we moved to KC.

Circumstances have changed but I still love it here and can't imagine living much anywhere else right now. Kansas City forever.

What are the biggest differences between here and West Virginia?
I'm from a fairly "large" city in West Virginia and it's only 65,000 people at most, counting the suburbs. Kansas City is roughly 3/4 of a million so it's a huge change in that sense.

West Virginia as a whole is very rural and small in pretty much every way imaginable, which a lot of people love that about it. It's very charming and most people are extremely kind and down to earth. The state itself is is very into outdoors; primarily mountain climbing, skiing, and white water rafting. It's sick. If you love the outdoors or want to experience a place like no other, then go to West Virginia in the summer and go on a canoe, white water rafting trip and you'll see the state in a whole new light.

The scenes are vastly different between the two too. Here there's an extremely strong scene that thrives well and has great bands always popping up or ones that have been around continuing to do cool stuff. West Virginia has virtually no scene right now and it's very depressing for me. I booked shows there from when I was 16 until I moved when I was 24. I have a lot of attachment to the scene but pretty much anyone and everyone who has/is involved with booking shows in the Mountain State has moved away or doesn't care to try to bring tours to the area when no one comes out. 2007-2010 was when WV was really thriving. I miss those days sometimes.

Did you play in any bands back in WV?
[Laughs] Oh lord. I did play in some, nothing worth mentioning, honestly. But the bands I am proud of that I played in were Nature Of The Beast, Misfortunes and Enlighten (which was my first band).

How did you meet the rest of Blindside USA?
Okay, so I knew David from meeting him at the first Midwest Blood Fest because of Antonio. I told him I was moving to Kansas City and that we should start a band. It was a thing in passing and never really thought much of it. So, I finally move to the city and get a job interview at Guitar Center, which is where Alex worked at, he helped me get a job without even knowing me. We started texting and talking and become good friends. I actually met Max at a Dick's in Zona Rosa before Blindside ever practiced, which was hilarious because we now live together and are inseparable most of the time.

For all the posers reading, what does the band sound like?
We sound like the Where Wild Things Are comp. Fucking 2000's Boston hardcore sprinkled with some weird Clevo bands. We like dive bombs and weird noise sometimes too.

What's your favorite show you've played with BSUSA?
Spine's record release show for "Time Has Gone," our first show with Glue at Art Closet Studios, any date of the tour with Modern Pain, and both our shows we've played in St. Louis.

What's the biggest difference between the demo and the new EP?
Our demo was half written by Alex and half written by me, guitar wise. For the 7" I wrote most of it, as far as riffs and stuff go. We of course hashed it together and made every song badass together. The 7" is much more natural because we actually all wrote every single song together and it came out badass. To clarify, I love every single song on the demo; the 7" is just better and sounds like all of our fucked up brains writing badass hardcore together.

Which date of your tour with Spine will be the most lit and why?

I don't really have a specific show that I'm most excited for, mostly excited to be back in my favorite places and watching Spine every night. I would say I'm looking forward to Chicago, Buffalo, Boston, DC, Richmond, Indianapolis and St. Louis the most.

Which band would win in a back alley brawl, BSUSA or Altered Beast?
Probably Altered Beast. Leech has probably killed someone already. I'm not fucking wth them.

What are your other projects and what should we be looking out for?
Right now I'm working on a new straight edge band with some of your favorite idiots that sounds like Brotherhood, Confront and Floorpunch. Also, doing another band with some more idiots that sounds like SSD, Agnostic Front, DYS, etc. I also do some solo stuff but that probably won't ever get heard by anyone except Max [laughs]. As far as Blindside USA goes, we've got some badass plans for 2016, but I don't want to say too much yet. Just know that we aren't slowing down and our next recorded music will hopefully be a split with a badass Texas band.

What's one thing you think the Kansas City hardcore scene should be doing differently?

Promote our shows. The Internet is fine and dandy, but let's get on the streets and flyer. We need to be reaching out so we can get younger people involved again. Other than that, I think we're doing a great job. Start a band, go to a show, book a show, ask for help, reach out, shake someone's hand, introduce yourself, say what's up to a new person.

Be the change you want to see and become your words.

Pre-order the 7" here or the cassette here.