Music Morsels - Serge Entertainment

ALBUM CAPSULES  by Mark Waterbury

Angel Pam West - Evolution
Angelfly Records

The first thing you hear on "Evolution" is Angel’s beautiful voice, and 
that’s enough to hook you before the music even kicks in. Like a cross 
between Chrissie Hynde and Sass Jordan but with her own emotive fire 
propelling it, the music has a brooding intensity that caresses and drives 
the passionate lyrics into the listener's soul. With stylings ranging from 
driving rock to diva-esque pop and luscious acousticity, the diversity and 
feelings on this album let you experience, not merely listen to the music. 


 UNSIGNED BAND SPOTLIGHT 
- ANGEL PAM WEST by Mark E. Waterbury 

Michigan native “Angel” Pam West has been making quite a stir in the rust 
belt region and well beyond since her 1997 CD release “Evolution”. Originally 
trained in classical music on instruments ranging from piano to bassoon, 
Angel decided to become a solo artist and hasn’t looked back. Entertaining 
crowds at clubs and music conferences from the Midwest to the east coast, she 
has also gained attention from all corners of the globe with the downloads of 
“Evolution” through the MP3 format. Now, poised to release her second CD, 
“Dweller In The Threshold”, this Angel may be ready to soar. And now for a 
little insight of how she got her wings...

MM: What’s your first musical memory, the first thing that really clicked 
with you?

APW: My mom playing “Fur Elise” by Beethoven on the piano. I was three. We 
always had music. My mom was a bassoonist. We listened to a lot of Rogers and 
Hammerstein and a lot of classical music, as well as The Doors, Led Zeppelin. 
My dad listened to honky tonk country music. So it was this massive diverse 
musical background from an early age. I started playing the piano when I was 
four and picked up the flute when I was nine. Then I started the bassoon when 
I was twelve, the mellaphone when I was fourteen. (Laughs) I was always in 
the marching bands, jazz bands and concert bands, state fair bands, all kinds 
of things. I was more of a classical musician.

MM: When did it really hit you that you wanted to make music your career?

APW: I think maybe at twelve when I started playing bassoon. I asked what 
instrument I could play that would  guarantee me a career in music. Everybody 
said the bassoon, some kind of string instrument or the oboe probably. 
(Laughs) So I picked the bassoon because my mom had played it, and I didn’t 
realize it was this four foot tall monster beast. (Laughs) I eventually 
started looking at advertising to become a session musician. I won my first 
talent show when I was fourteen, and I had written a few songs, mostly for my 
boyfriend, on twelve-string guitar. But by the time I was sixteen, my parents 
said that if I don’t become a musician they would send me to law school. So I 
chose to join the Army. (Laughs) I talked to some lawyers and they asked if I 
could defend someone if I knew they were guilty. I said no. I’m a terrible 
liar and just honest to the core. Besides, music is the fire that burns 
within me.

MM: You originally performed classical music. What made you decide to switch 
to do your own writing in the pop and rock genres?

APW: Part of it was a disenchantment with the classical music scene. People 
think that there is cutthroat competition in the contemporary music scene, 
but if you go into the classical realm, it’s like this little incestuous 
family of control freak conductors and all types of things. I auditioned for 
a lot of orchestras, but since I was in the Army, I’m actually a disabled 
veteran. I lost partial use of my left arm. But I fake it really well. 
(Laughs) My piano stuff is one and a half handed, and I’ll never be a lead 
guitarist or play bar chords, but with a band I stick to real simple stuff 
and it sounds like I’m doing more than what I am. But the (classical scene) 
was screwed up.This was not good. I had a friend who was doing a coffee shop 
thing, and he wanted to work with a female singer. So he talked me into going 
and picking out a bunch of classic rock cover tunes.  And I was scared to 
death. I had horrible stage fright, having played in the middle of an 
orchestra for twelve years. Finally, he got me to go up there gradually, just 
two songs and then starting to write my own stuff. About that time I was 
going through a rather significant emotional transformation. I was in therapy 
for a lifetime of abuse I had experienced, and when I was twenty-five, I had 
a nervous breakdown. Not a full breakdown, but it was very transformative, so 
I used songwriting as sort of a catharsis, get a lot of that out. I just kind 
of made the transition from rock and roll to more contemporary music and 
eventually totally writing my own music.

MM: When did you first actually start seriously writing songs?

APW: I remember 1992 as being a fairly significant year. Of the first couple 
of songs, one of them will be on my second album, but it was the first demo I 
had ever recorded. I started writing a significant amount in 1994, and I have 
about 100 songs now. I’m getting there. The producer I work with has written 
over 600 and recorded about 400. I feel fortunate he’s involved with the 
process.

MM: Is songwriting a spontaneous thing with you?

APW: Part of it is totally inspiration. Something will just click, or I’ll 
have been working on a musical part for awhile doodling with a couple of 
different tunes, and then it will just come some day. I just have to wait for 
them, because if I try to make them happen they won’t come. I believe I’m 
more of a receptor. I’m a very spiritually based singer. I’m into the 
metaphysical side of it. I don’t want to call it new age because that’s kind 
of a generic term these days, but sort of ancient, showing that music has a 
greater power than what we are aware of. But I also believe in revision. I 
have a bachelors degree in creative writing. So my rhyme and my meter are 
always very carefully chosen where it has a meaning. It’s a kind of a balance.

MM: What was the reaction to your original music when you started performing 
it?

APW: People have been supportive of it from the start, and that’s been my 
encouragement to keep going with it. They like the fact that it’s very 
positively oriented. There’s too much heavy angst-ridden music out there. 
People are ready for a little bit of a change - not necessarily poppy. One 
song on my first album is about rape and violence, but the music is very 
enrapturing - kind of a contrast. People like it because it’s meaningful. 
Playing in bars, I can do that. It does work on a rock solo basis. I like to 
play in traditional places. I like to play in schools, nursing homes, parks, 
libraries. I’ve played kids concerts with upwards of 300 kids and their 
families.
 
MM: How big would you say your fan base is, and have you watched it 
progressively grow over the years?

APW: Actually it has grown significantly since my introduction to the MP3 
format about six months ago. Before that I had a mailing list of about 400 
people. I was starting to get a little bit of international attention because 
I’ve been very fortunate, and I believe that this is a destiny thing like a 
calling to the priesthood or something. So I have seen what I like to call a 
lot of little miracles surrounding my past. A lot of people have come to my 
assistance within the past year, and I performed for Robert Plant last year. 
Atlantic Records has had my material for about a year and a half now. Lately, 
I’ve had about 8,000 downloads from MP3 in the past few months. I get a lot 
of response from Russia as well as Costa Rica, South America and Australia. 
MP3 has been very helpful for me. So many people have contacted me and said 
that they really like the music and want to help out.