"I'm going to be someone you can count on for a change."
Aaron West And The Roaring Twenties is the solo musical project by Dan "Soupy" Campbell, the lead singer and songwriter for the Pop Punk/Indie Rock superpower The Wonder Years. Aaron West... is as Campbell says, "...a character study conducted through music". The music is written as if Aaron West wrote the songs. All the music for the band is written by Campbell and he usually records guitar and vocals.
Wiki Links which include album personnel, track lists, release dates, and more.
We Don't Have Each Other is the first album Aaron West... released and is a nine-track LP with a cover track as a bonus. The album follows Aaron west straight after his wife tells him she wants a divorce. In "Grapefruit" we are given some background as to why she wants to leave, Aaron says he shut off after the death of his dad, and Diane, his ex-wife, says maybe it'll help to have a kid, but that only makes the situation worse as she ends up having a miscarriage. The album shows Aaron struggling with this news, he tries to quit smoking to win Diane back, finds himself getting drunk every night and wasting every dime he had, and attempts to drown himself. The cover of The Mountain Goat's "Going To Georgia" holds very little if any relevance to the story and is more so there as Campbell holds the band in high regard and cites it as an inspiration for the project.
Bittersweet Is the first and only EP released so far by Aaron West, and it features three tracks that detail Aaron West making his way home, where he discovers Diane sublet their old apartment away, after selling his Dad's old car, he also reflects on his life a bit during each of these songs. It helps to bridge the gap between We Don't Have Each Other and Routine Maintenance.
Routine Maintenance is the second and most recent album by Aaron west and it picks up where we left Aaron last, he had just discovered his old apartment was sublet away by Diane and now he has nowhere to go. "Lead Paint & Salt Air" starts us off with Aaron in Asbury, painting homes for a living. He's picked up smoking again because he likes it more that way. He also mentions singing at an old dive on a nearby boardwalk at the open mics. Things seem to be looking up, but it still isn't amazing. He finally legitimizes his divorce from Diane and although he feels sad to be without her, he feels hopeful that the ghost of what they had will finally stop haunting him. Now free of any reason to stay, Aaron proceeds to ride freight trains all the way out from Pennsylvania to Los Angeles. Once there, Aaron goes to Reseda in the San Fernando Valley. There he rents an apartment with Rosa, a waiter at a local diner who befriends Aaron. She and her boyfriend help Aaron buy a van so he can travel around playing songs. His mum tells him his sister's boyfriend has gotten sick and they're coming to the family home because they know a doctor may be able to help. He starts to drive around just playing songs, slowly making his way back home. He finds some guys with Philadelphia who want to join him in playing songs. After things going quite well for Aaron and the band, his sister, Catherine, calls him. Her husband has passed and Aaron drops everything to come home to support her. The album ends with two of my favourite Aaron West And The Roaring Twenties songs, "Winter Coats" and "Routine Maintenance" which tell us about Aaron helping his sister by taking care of his nephew, Collin. He's trying his best to be what his dad was to him for Collin. It's a very sweet ending to the album, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was the conclusion of Aaron West's story.
Live From Asbury Park is just as the name suggests, a live DVD of Aaron West And The Roaring Twenties performing.
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