"You need to find it for yourself, and get to know Christ on a personal level. And it’s a never-ending journey. "..Mike

Straight out of Cali, East West delivers a powerful punch. They manage to grab the attention of rap enthusiasts, metal maniacs and the alternative scene and keep it. With their self titled CD and energy filled performances they prove that they can hold their own, and are ready to play with the big boys. To say the least, they are simply amazing. But don't take my word for it, you need to experience them for yourselves.

Part One:  Mike "House" Housen (Guitar, Background Vocals)

Part Two:  Joe Fulford (Bass)

Part Three:  Bob Vergura (Drums)

Part Four:  Mike Tubbs (Vocals, Guitar)

East West Interview:
Part One

GILBERT: “I’m here with Mike better know as House from East West who plays...”

HOUSE: “Rhythm and background vocals.”

GILBERT: “Yep, and background vocals. They just got done with the show today. Um, first of all I want to know what you think about um, Little House on the Prairie.”

HOUSE: “Uh, I think the dog is cute that puts his paws up on the fence and puts his head under the, you know what I’m talking about?”

GILBERT: “Yeah, the punk rock dog.”

HOUSE: “The punk rock dog, that’s right.”

GILBERT: “Ok, I want to know how did the band get started? How was it formed?”

HOUSE: “Um, well that’s a good question. Um, a bunch of uh, four very passionate guys got together and uh, had the common vision. And fortunately God like uh, led us all together. And um, we’ve all known each other for a long time so we were friends, we weren’t just like band mates so that was pretty much it.”

GILBERT: “How is it playing like on the road so much? I know you guys just got done with Cornerstone, right?”

HOUSE: “You know, it’s uh, there’s the camera, it’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of fun. We can’t wait until we go out on tour and see the rest of the nation, even the world and stuff. Yeah, we love traveling.”

GILBERT: “Are you guys signed with anybody right now?”

HOUSE: “Actually, kind of yeah. We’re getting ready to hook up with a label out in Huntington Beach. But that’s still in the works, and uh we’re getting major distribution.”

GILBERT: “I know you guys are like number one band and like, I don’t know much about it, but like the Guitar Center thing and could you tell us something about the radio station, Planet Rock could you tell us a little about that?”

HOUSE: “Yeah, uh Thru to You was in the top ten, or actually in the top five when it first came out. Then it went out of the top five and they stopped playing it and then after they stopped playing it people requested it even more and then it went to number one for about three weeks, which is kind of wierd for an independent band.”

GILBERT: “Are you guys endorsed by anybody, or do you guys have any endorsements?”

HOUSE: “No, not yet. There’s intrests out there but that is about all at this point.”

GILBERT: “I want to know what’s your focus in East West. What’s your main goal to reach and your focus?”

HOUSE: “Um, well that’s pretty simple. He’s sitting here eating licorace in front of me, and enjoying it.”

GILBERT: (To Tony Aiello) “Tony, the Italian Stallion.”

HOUSE: “Tony, do you have a piece of licorace for the interviewee? Thank you. Anyway, he’s such a nice fellow.”

GILBERT: “A nice young man.”

HOUSE: “Well, our focus is to inspire people with our music, you know. We want, we don’t want people to just buy stuff to support us or whatever. We want people to be inspired by our music, get excited you know and be curious about God if they are not, you know believers. But it’s inspiration man we want to inspire people.”

GILBERT: “Totally. Um, how is it um touring and stuff, because I know you guys go on the road a lot like you said and um do you guys have a favorite place to eat or what do you guys do about that? Do you guys ever get sick or you guys eat fast food, you know that really kills people.”

HOUSE: “Yeah, I know it kills people. Actually Jack in the Box, McDonalds or Arby’s, I mean CJ’s, Carl’s Jr. That’s where we eat a lot. But now we are starting to focus on Togo’s.”

GILBERT: “Uhhh. Wow. That’s really cool. Um, as a musician how would you rate yourself one through ten?”

HOUSE: “How would I rate myself?”

GILBERT: “One through ten.”

HOUSE: “Uh, minus four.”

GILBERT: (laughs)”That’s the lowest one in all the interviews I’ve had. It beats Chris’ seven and a half (laughs). Chris Centola the seven and a half. So do you guys all have the same focus music wise, do you guys all like the same style of music?”

HOUSE: “Well, there’s different influences but it all mixes real well. You don’t all have to like the same thing, you know, it kind of doesn’t work if you do that. With all different kinds of influences you can come up with something really different.”

GILBERT: “So how did you like playing at the Studio today?”

HOUSE: “It was really cool, man. Thanks.”

GILBERT: “Thank you.”

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East West Interview:
Part Two

GILBERT: “We are here interviewing...”

JOE: “Joe.”

GILBERT: “And you play...”

JOE: “Bass.”

GILBERT: “Lots of people tell me you look like the guy from the Supertones, how do you feel about this?”

JOE: “No comment.”

GILBERT: “Yeah, that’s a good one. (laughs) What do you think about the Little House on the Prairie?”

JOE: “I love it.”

GILBERT: “It’s a really good family program.”

JOE: “Very good.”

GILBERT: “Um, ok how did you like your performance tonight?”

JOE: “Very good performance.”

GILBERT: “So, how do you like playing with East West?”

JOE: “East West is a gift from God. It’s a blessing to me.”

GILBERT: “What do you think of all the other guys? Friendship wise, how do you get along on the road and stuff?”

JOE: “Uh, we get along pretty good actually.”

GILBERT: “I was talking to the guitar player about some of the places you like to eat. So where is your favorite place to eat at on the road?”

JOE: “Oh, Lord. There’s so many good places I don’t know, I can’t name anywhere. There’s lots of good country kitchens.”

GILBERT: “Oh yeah. What is your goal as in East West? Because I know all of you guys have different goals and um, you probably have the same goals as the band, but what’s your goal as a bass player and what do you want to see happen?”

JOE: “Huh. Um, I would like to see the band go as far as the band can go. But it all depends on what God’s plans are for us. I’m just doing what God wants me to do right now but plans could change at any time, so.”

GILBERT: “I heard you guys just got done playing Cornerstone.”

JOE: “Yep.”

GILBERT: “How did you guys like that?”

JOE: “Very good.”

GILBERT: “Was there a lot of people there?”

JOE: “There was a lot of people there.”

GILBERT: “Do you guys enjoy playing in front of like big, big, huge, giant crowds?”

JOE: “Sure, why not? Absolutely.”

GILBERT: “Yeah sure. So um, what is your favorite band you like to play with?”

JOE: “Favorite, you’re hurting me with these questions dude. It’s hard because there’s a lot of bands I like playing with I can’t really say exactly.”

GILBERT: “You ought to play with this band called Out Of Place, they are pretty rad.”

JOE: “What’s that?”

GILBERT: “They are called Out Of Place, you should play with them.”

JOE: “Oh, really?”

GILBERT: “They play dope.”

JOE: “I heard they are like some disco band from like Egypt or something.”

GILBERT: (laughs) ”Something like that. Ok, another hard question, very hard, how would you rate yourself as a magician one through ten? I mean a musician. A magician, a bunny out of a hat.”

JOE: “I’m a magician, not a musician. Uh, I would say a seven. Hoping to get better here soon, like actually getting better, it takes time.”

GILBERT: “It’s true you play a five string right?”

JOE: “True.”

GILBERT: “How do you like playing that five string?”

JOE: “True.”

GILBERT: “Why is it so cool?”

JOE: “Because you can get phat tones out of it.”

GILBERT: “If you were to talk to any other bass player out there, what type of advise would you give them?”

JOE: “No comment. No, just kidding. Just practice and continue to be focused, like be focused on what you are playing and stuff. Because if you don’t focus, you suck. Very simple.”

GILBERT: “Amen.”

JOE: “Amen.”

GILBERT: “What’s going on in your head when you are onstage? Because I know when I’m on stage I just like, you know it’s another world for me, and I don’t know.”

JOE: “Um, I think about having to go home and wash dishes and vacuum and dust the furniture, no.”

GILBERT: “Isn’t that a lady’s job?”

JOE: “Absolutely. Women must live in the kitchen.”

GILBERT: “Barefooted.”

JOE: “No comment, I’m just kidding, uh scratch that, uh rewind the tape, off the record. No but anyways, it depends on the day what I’m thinking, I don’t know.”

GILBERT: “On the album cover you seem to be getting some type of air with your bass jumping, what ever you call it. Um, do you like to jump on stage?”

JOE: “Yes I do.”

GILBERT: “I think that’s um really motivating for the crowd, do you think so too?”

JOE: “I do think so too.”

GILBERT: “Wow, that’s really cool. Do you like to jump?”

JOE: “I like to jump.”

GILBERT: “What’s the craziest thing you’ve done on stage?”

JOE: “I would say, I jumped and I landed on a mic stand and fell backwards and almost knocked the full stack over.”

GILBERT: “Wow. That’s pretty crazy man. Anyways, is there anything else you would like to add? Maybe you would like to let the people know, because this is our newsletter, maybe you want to let anyone know about yourself. Is there anything you’d like to add? Put a cherry on something, or maybe some nuts, I don’t know.”

JOE: “Hmm, I would say read Psalms 121. It’s a very good verse and uh it’s a good thing to focus in your own life.”

GILBERT: “Awesome. That’s Joe from East West. Thank you Joe.”

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East West Interview:
Part Three

GILBERT: “We are here with...”

BOB: “Bobby V, drums.”

GILBERT: “Ok Bobby, just to loosen things up a little bit, what do you think about Bugs Bunny?”

BOB: “Um, he’s cool, and the, ‘What’s Up Doc,’ thing, I like that.”

GILBERT: “Would you consider him punk rock or hard core or what?”

BOB: “I think he’s a combination there and he’s fast so, for whatever that’s worth.”

GILBERT: “Can you tell me um, what inspires you to play drums?”

BOB: “Uh, what inspires me, uh I don’t know I thing God kind of put a rhythm thing in me and uh I have to work it out. And it’s a way to get your aggressions out t sometimes.”

GILBERT: “What is you motivation in the band, what inspires you?”

BOB: “Basically I think God gave me a talent, it took awhile to learn but I think He wants us to use it for Him, and I think He gave me this ability to meet people like yourself and talk about Jesus. My motivation again is I just thank the Lord for the gift that He gave me and I just hope to use it to glorify Him, really.”

GILBERT: “So how is it working with so many different people in the band?”

BOB: “It’s like a marriage but four times over. You know, everybody has to work together and I don’t know how secular bands do it because it’s even hard as a Christian band sometimes to all agree. But somehow we seem to do it and what makes a good band is hanging through the heart of the bad times together and not giving up. I think that really helps.”

GILBERT: “So how is it like um being on the road with so many different people, big bands like Project 86 and POD and how is it just being around with those kind of guys, is it really like a humbling experience, or?”

BOB: “It is, you know. A lot of times I’ll see those guys play drums and I’ll think Recycler, just sell my stuff and give it up and do other things. But, no it’s a good thing, I mean they really encourage us, they’re humble, and like POD for instance, we kind of look up to them and uh they have been a big inspiration to us.”

GILBERT: “Cool, cool. Um, what’s your favorite place to eat at as a band?”

BOB: “As a band, um, it seems like we always end up at Denny’s after a show or something, it’s kind of weird but. I don’t know, just fast food in general, the American way.”

GILBERT: “The all American way. As a musician, as a drummer, I know I saw you back there and you are pretty good and, how would you rate yourself from one to ten?”

BOB: “Uh, I think about a three because my rolls are terrible and I need a lot of work, but somehow God has grace and mercy upon me and He gets me through it.”

GILBERT: “What goes through you head when you play drums? Because I know you have to be all pumped up and psyched up and stuff, do you have anything that pumps you up?”

BOB: “Yeah, a lot of times I’ll jog in place or jump beforehand you know, we pray beforehand and I don’t know. I just really like to give to the people and if I can make the people groove or feel good through the music or whatever, that’s my goal.”

GILBERT: “Awesome. When you are like on the road with different people, how do they look up to you? Do they look up to you? How does that make you feel when someone looks up to you?”

BOB: “It’s pretty cool. We’re just coming back from Cornerstone, and to have people from different parts of the country and Canada and stuff come up and say, man we love your band and stuff, it’s humbling you know. It’s a good thing. We work to glorify God, but it’s great when your work is appreciated.”

GILBERT: “Um, tell us about some of the awards you’ve got, I know you guys are like, something about Guitar Center and like the Planet Rock thing, could you talk about that a little bit?”

BOB: “Yeah, um we just thank God that the song ‘Thru 2 U.’ was the most requested song of the month of May, I believe, and um, this is my man Paul. You can kiss my anytime, you know I love this guy.”

PAUL: “Hi.”

BOB: “But um, oh the Guitar Center thing. They picked five bands out of, oh I don’t know I heard about a thousand bands to open for Motley Crue. We were one of the bands. We had to play against everybody else, we thought we did good, in fact we were the only band to get an encore request and we still didn’t win. But we just thanked God for that and moved on and it’s interesting the same guys contacted us about being on a compilation disk with bands around the country and our song ‘Sydwinder,’ we submitted it and it wasn’t picked because it’s anti-pornography. And you know, Motley Crue is like for pornography so I think we were scratched for that reason, but hey it was great just to hang out with them and plant a seed.”

GILBERT: “Is there anything else you would like to add, like um this is going to be on our newsletter, so maybe you would like to tell the kids out there something about the drums or about the band or about something you just want to talk to them about.”

BOB: “Yeah, for me honestly I was talking to someone about it, it’s just how do you live without the peace of Christ in your life, I don’t understand it. That is the most important thing I can talk about it’s the most important thing I can share. And we get our name from Psalms 103:12 in the Bible, but you should read 11 through 13. If I could say anything, you know a lot of critics of the Bible have never read it, just read it and you’ll find some good things in there. that’s the most important thing I can say.”

GILBERT: “Well, thank you very much.”

BOB: “You’re welcome. Thanks Gilbert.”

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East West Interview:
Part Four

MIKE: “Is it working?”

GILBERT: “Oh, yeah. It’s working.”

MIKE: “You’re recording over Brooks & Dunn.”

GILBERT: “Oh yeah, Brooks & Dunn is going away. Ok, we are here interviewing with...”

MIKE: “Ah, you broke it, man. It’s not working.”

GILBERT: “It’s spinning.”

MIKE: “It’s just the light.”

GILBERT: “Oh yeah it’s just like, see look ahh ahh ahh. Ok, name.”

MIKE: “My name is Mike, Mikey.”

GILBERT: “What do you do Mikey?”

MIKE: “I think I sing and I play guitar.”

GILBERT: “Awesome, you sing and play guitar. Mikey, before you leave could you, could your whole band sign a poster for me?”

MIKE: “Oh, you see that? He puts me on tape first and then he asks me. (laughs)

GILBERT: “We at RHYTHMSTX, we would like to know what you think of Little House on the Prairie.”

MIKE: “I like the Little House on the Prarie. I think it rocks.”

GILBERT: “It’s a good family based program, the Little House on the Prairie.”

MIKE: “Totally. Yeah, but this little house on the prairie is good. It’s a good thing.”

GILBERT: Yeah. What’s your main focus in East West?”

MIKE: “My main focus? I would have to say the main focus of East West is to play your instrument and play it well. But my main focus in life is to just be steadfast and stay strong in the Spirit which I don’t do very well a lot of the time. But I try. We all fall down, some of us get back up.”

GILBERT: “On stage and all you seen really like, your heart’s really into God and stuff. What goes through your mind onstage? Could you tell us some of the things that go through you mind on stage?”

MIKE: “Uh, onstage...tuning. (laughs) No, uh only when I can’t tune. On stage there are a variety of emotions I go through, it just depends on the song. A lot of the stuff is just uh, the feeling is anger and frustration towards sin first of all. And anger and frustration towards myself and my unwillingness to conform, to being more like Christ. A lot in myself I find, but if it were easy everybody would be doing it, you know.

GILBERT: “Yeah, um how did the band start and could you give me some of the things like friendships maybe or like if you guys met like in I don’t know, High School or what? Because you guys have been together for awhile right?”

MIKE: “Actually, yeah. Me and House have been playing together for about almost eight years, eight and a half years probably. But we’ve gone through drummer and bass player changes up through the years. So we finally got, two years ago we ran across, actually we brought back on the original drummer from East West which was Bob. Once our drummer who was playing with us at the time quit due to some things he wanted to do in life that didn’t include the band as being part of it he left. We hired Bob back in again and we started working together. Joe we found through the Recycler which uh...”

GILBERT: “Awesome.”

MIKE: “I don’t give the Recycler too much credit as far as finding musicians, it’s really hard. Especially good Christian musicians, who not only say they are Christians but actually act like it and show their actions too. But um, Joe came in and he fit the part completely. Not only with his looks which is not all that important, but he just turned out to be an all around awesome guy. So we’ve been going strong for about two years. It’s been rough sometimes, but easy other times.

GILBERT: “Do you guys like, I know you guys are like a Christian band so like do you guys like fellowship or like read together as a band how does that work?”

MIKE: “We consider ourselves Christian entertainers because, this is just on that subject real quick. To us our main focus is to entertain, but personally in our lives for us the main focus is on Christ. That’s where the ministry takes place, afterwards, after the show when everyone comes up to us and they want to talk to you which is a blessing, something that God has blessed us with. People want to come up and they want to talk to us, and I don’t want to sound like I’m all stuck up or anything, but it’s a blessing. Because a lot of people want to come up to us and they want to hang out and treat us just like friends, and that is just how we treat them because our friends are our fans. So, that’s where the main ministry takes place after the show, in our personal lives that’s where the ministry should be taking place all of the time.”

GILBERT: “How does it feel to be so much, I don’t want to say idolized, but looked up to in a way by so many kids, because I know a lot of kids like you guys and to get autographs from you guys. How does it feel, how does it feel to be like that?”

MIKE: “Um, it’s a big responsibility. I personally, I don’t know. I like that kids look up to us. At least we’re a semi-good roll model, especially what they see in us, they don’t see us. They don’t see us in our personal lives, sometimes it’s a good thing, sometimes it’s a bad thing. (laughs) But uh, I consider it a huge honor, I’m humbled, I’m extremely humbled by it. I’m glad that God’s chosen us to take that and be roll models for people.”

GILBERT: “As a singer and playing guitar, as a musician we would say, how would you rate yourself one through ten?”

MIKE: “How would I rate myself? I’ve got a long way to go. I would have to say in the grand scheme of life if I ever reach ten kill me and bury me because I will be learning until the day I die. Musicianship wise, I meet so many qualified musicians that are so much better than we are I meet guys who are in a band who are just starting out who are better than we are and bands who’ve been out for years that are oldies but goodies guys they are awesome. So I’m still learning, so I would have to rate myself probably about a three.”

GILBERT: “Could you give us the name East West and who thought of it and what does it mean?”

MIKE: “The East West name, the name East West is from Psalms 103:12 which says, ‘As far as the East is from the West so have you removed our transgressions from us.’ Simply means exactly what it says, God’s forgiven you. Whether you accept His forgiveness or not that’s on you, it’s not His fault if you don’t accept.”

GILBERT: “That’s really cool. Is there anything else you would like to add because this is going to be in our newsletter so do you want to tell the kids our there? Maybe something you would like to add to East West?”

MIKE: “Yeah, stay true to Christ, stay true to yourself, find your relationship in Christ out for yourself, don’t follow after someone else’s thinking you’ll find exactly what they have. Because you’ll be let down. You need to find it for yourself, and get to know Christ on a personal level. And it’s a never-ending journey. Don’t base feelings, don’t make your feelings your faith. That’s pretty much all I have to give because it’s what I’ve learned.”

GILBERT: “Well, thank you Mikey. East West guitar player, singer.”

MIKE: “Yeah.”

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