Inside the Rhythm: WEST OF EDEN Shares Their Musical Journey, Creative Vision, and Exciting November Releases!
By. Alicia Zamora
A Conversation with West of Eden
During an exclusive interview conducted by Alicia's Studio, we had the pleasure of sitting with the Seattle-based music group, WEST OF EDEN. The group consists of eighteen members, including artists, producers, videographers, graphic designers, and marketing and management professionals. They shared insights on the origins of their group and the significance of the name "WEST OF EDEN"
The interview shed light on the diverse motivations driving the members of WEST OF EDEN. They expressed that the concept of "WEST OF EDEN" reflects their individual quests to find their own version of paradise, and that this pursuit holds different meanings for each member. It was evident from the interview that the group is united by their shared goal of creating and finding their own paradise through their music and creative work.
The members of WEST OF EDEN articulated that their collective mission is to create and discover a sense of paradise through their music and creative expressions. Their interview conveyed a deep sense of individuality and shared purpose within the group. It was clear that their passion and dedication were the driving forces behind their artistic futures.
Diving In
Alicia: Welcome back to Alicia’s Studio! We have our thirteenth special guest!!
Alicia: Can you introduce yourselves and tell us a bit about each member’s role in the group?
jun.e: Hi! We’re WEST OF EDEN, a Seattle-based music group consisting of artists, producers, videographers, graphic designers, marketing, and management. Right now, we have six members out of eighteen.
jun.e: My name is jun.e. I’m an artist and the leader of the group
keanu. : I’m Keanu. I’m an artist
riensu: I’m Riensu, and I’m an artist.
byul: I’m Byul, and I like to take photos and sometimes take videos
slone: My name is Slone, and I’m also an artist
halle: My name is Halle. I do management
Alicia: How did you guys get started in music? What or who inspired you to begin your musical journey?
jun.e: Well, I’ll start off! For me, it was actually K-pop. Back in Middle School, I was really into K-pop and trying to become a trainee. But then I kind of scrapped that and found artists like Dean and Keshi. This made me realize that I could make music by myself. I got my first heartbreak and wrote my first song. That's how it started.
keanu. : I had a lot of influences growing up because my dad was really into music, but the one that inspired me the most and helped me take music more seriously was Brockhampton. They were a heavy influence on me, and they made it look doable for a lot of people, so that was a heavy influence for me. I had a MacBook, so I used GarageBand, and I’m still on GarageBand.
keanu. : I don’t like change, so *laughs*. I just make it work. But yeah, I started off uploading on YouTube and then figured out how to release it on all platforms.
riensu: So two to three years ago, I wasn’t in school then, and I had just started listening to piperpop, like Grave and Eric Doa, and I was like, “Yo, this is kind of cool.” So I was just bored and started making music.
slone: I started off with rapping, and Little Uzi and Playboicarti heavily influenced me, but then during COVID, I kind of had a switch on music taste, and I started listening to a lot of the Asian artists like Keshi, Joji, Rei Brown, and yeah that's how I got my inspiration
jun.e: I actually knew him back in high school as the SoundCloud rapper. He was one of the good ones that popped up.
Alicia: What made you guys come up with the name “WEST OF EDEN”?
jun.e: This is a bit of a long story, but to make it more concise, two years ago, we went under a different name called The Ways of Expression. But we decided to rebrand, and coincidentally, we ended up keeping the acronym WOE.
keanu. : East of Eden is like a popular saying. If we could find a real meaning for it for all of us, I think we all have different reasons for doing this. So we're all chasing that on our own Eden in a way that could mean many different things for all of us, so that’s basically the meaning behind WEST OF EDEN.
jun.e: We're trying to make a or find a paradise for ourselves in a way
keanu. : Yeah, exactly!
Alicia: What drives you to create music, and how do you stay motivated during challenging times?
slone: I think just being in this collective inspires us, and doing in-person stuff like this LA trip. We came all the way here. You know, doing a couple of shoots and stuff like that will keep us motivated.
jun.e: Each other
halle: Friendship
Alicia: How did the group come together? What was the inspiration behind forming the group?
jun.e: So basically, when I first started university, I was looking for a community because I made music, but I didn't have friends around me who made music. So, I joined clubs. I go to the University of Washington. But the clubs that I went to didn't fit the vibe, so I just decided to find my own people. This was inspired by Kevin Abstract from Brockhampton because he did the whole forum on the Kanye forum. But I went to my university subreddit and made a post. But that's not how I found everyone. Yeah, it was random. It was pretty organic. Like, we knew someone, and someone knew someone, and then, yeah, it ended up being these guys.
Alicia: What challenges did you face when starting out, and how did you overcome them?
jun.e: There are 18 of us, so it's quite a lot of people. Communication can be really difficult when it comes to organizing and scheduling things. But yeah, that's something we're still overcoming, but it's slowly getting more efficient.
slone: The weekly meetings we have are pretty efficient. We talk about whatever. It's like our therapy session, you know?
jun.e: On Discord, though.
keanu. : Therapy session on Discord *laughs*
Alicia: How do you approach songwriting and composing music? Does each member contribute in a specific way?
riensu: Someone gets an instrumental or a beat from one of our producers, and then they make what's called an open, which is basically, they record a verse or a hook and then leave open spaces for other people. Then we send that through Discord. Then we have other people hop on it, and by the end, we'll have a full song demo. Then we also have each artist mix our own vocals, and when we're done with that, they send it to me, and then I master the track. Then it's done.
Alicia: How do you guys overcome creative blocks and creative differences?
jun.e: I guess because there are 18 of us, like someone referred to, it's easier to get inspired by each other. Like I'll be having a very bad creative block, and then Keanu will drop something in the open channel on Discord, and I'll be like, ' Okay, I' ‘m ready again.
keanu. : Yeah, I think, like, being around each other, we're all very different in our individual artistry, and so keeping that open mind really opens the gateways for inspiration too.
Alicia: What themes or messages do you aim to convey through your music?
jun.e: I mean, our music. If you focus on the lyrics, it's relationship-based stuff. But I'd like people to focus on the vibe of l how we work on these songs. There are usually four different vocals on the songs, and that chemistry is because we're having fun making these. We’re not putting too much, like trying to make it more meaningful than it really is. We're just having fun, and I hope that vibe is in our music.
keanu. : yeah, I think portraying that relatability is huge for us
slone: friendship* laughs*
keanu. : Yes, and friendship and love* laughs* watching a lot of artists like as, just a listener, it's like we were all inspired by something similar to what we were doing right now, and so giving the listener that belief is like huge yeah
Alicia: Diving into some management questions, Can you describe your approach to managing the band? What strategies do you use to balance their creative and business needs?
halle: Yeah, so obviously, 18 is pretty difficult. So we've got to keep very consistent communication. We have a lot of group chats going on that we're always going back and forth in. However, balancing creativity and business can be pretty difficult because some of the business end of things can make artists feel like a chore or block their creativity. So I have to be very aware of that and ensure I'm handling most of it and making it accessible to all the artists. But yeah, that's an ongoing process.
jun.e: W manager
jun.e: Because we're so big, we actually have two managers. Hallie mainly handles the business side of things, and then we have our other manager, Livy, who helps us with internal scheduling. So yeah, they're helpful—very helpful.
keanu. : They carry us like crazy
Alicia: What drew you to work with this group specifically?
halle: I actually went to a house show where they were playing a year and a half ago. No idea who they were. I wasn't even inside the house for the majority of it. I had an emergency outside with a friend. There was an ambulance and all that. But I went inside at the very end and was like, let me listen. Why not?
halle: And my favorite singer of all time is Bareface from Brockhampton. Keanu sounds a bit similar. And you also don't hear this kind of music in Seattle much. Everything's like pop punk or indie rock. So I was just kind of like, this is the exact music that inspires me. So, you know, after that, I reached out, and the rest is history. Yeah.
Alicia: What has been the most rewarding part of managing West of Eden?
halle: Definitely seeing the personal growth with the artists as well as the music. But personally, I had a dream of working in music for a really long time, and I gave up on that dream five years ago. So, doing that again is the most fulfilling thing ever. Yeah.
Alicia: What advice would you give to someone aspiring to work in management?
halle: I'm definitely no expert, and it's been a big learning process for me. I’m just constantly studying the industry. But the advice I'd give is to make connections, respond to your DMs, be very personal and open, and be willing to learn.
Alicia: How do you plan and execute the band’s marketing and promotional post?
halle: I started in marketing with the group. That's what I was doing at first. Now, it's run by Yi and Eric, who do a lot of the marketing. But we start with Byul, will move forward with a song, and then marketing will take inspiration from that and go from that, creating different promotions on TikTok, or I've run ad campaigns on Instagram. We have shoot dates where we film. And, yeah, just keeping consistent is the biggest thing with marketing.
Alicia: What role does social media play in the band’s overall marketing strategy?
halle: A pretty big one. We have more in-person things like hanging up flyers on campus. But social media is everything. It's the way that we communicate with our fans.
Alicia: Can you discuss any successful marketing strategies that have worked well for the band?
halle: For our recent release, “LIKE THAT,” we did a lot of lip-sync videos that did pretty well. But our strategy is just to get together, go with the flow, and create videos that we have fun with.
Alicia: I also heard you guys signed with Future of Asian Music (FAM)! I just wanted to say congrats. How does it feel to be signed with them?
keanu. : pretty awesome* laughs*
slone: Yeah, we grew up listening to 88 Rising, so it feels surreal, you know, being in their sub-label. Shout out, FAM!
jun.e: it’s a big accomplishment for us, too. We've been doing this for a little over two years now, and this is our first actual step into the industry. Like, we have a foot in now. We have a network of people we can reach out to. Which is really cool. Shout-out FAM, Amir, and Peyton!
Alicia: Can you describe your creative process for recording an album or preparing for a new release?
jun.e: I mean, no album yet, we've tried, but it didn’t work. But yeah, usually it goes to what Riensu was saying, like the producers create a track, one of the artists hops on, becomes an open, and then it gets mixed and mastered by Riensu, and then we send it over to Byul, the creative director, mood boards it out, gets the graphics to work on stuff, gets the visual stuff ready and then at the same time we have it also sent to our marketing, and then they start planning out like a whole schedule for TikToks or promo materials and yeah that's about how it works
Alicia: What’s the most important lesson you guys have learned about yourselves through your music career?
slone: I would say stay consistent because I think in the end, you look back with all that progress and be proud of it. You know it's really easy to give up, but having people surrounding you will help you become more consistent.
jun.e: I've learned that you really can't do things on your own. Even if you were to pursue a solo career, I still need their help. You know, having people around you, having that Network, that solid community behind you, is really important.
keanu. : One thing I've learned is not to force your inspiration. Let it come organically. Be aware of when that inspiration hits and take advantage of it. But a lot of times, inspiration comes from each other.
riensu: For me, it's basically to have fun with whatever you're doing because there's no point if you're not having fun, and also to be okay with breaking out of your own comfort zone.
jun.e: Yeah, another big thing is, we all learn that sometimes we gotta do what we gotta do.
Alicia: Can you discuss a time when you guys had to make a difficult decision regarding your career or artistic directions?
jun.e: When you have so many people sharing a common artistic vision, it can be difficult because everyone has their own preferences and stuff like that. So it took us a long time to really get together and narrow in on one specific artistic direction that we were all passionate about, which caused some people to go out of the group. So that was a bit challenging because, yeah, there were a lot of sacrifices that needed to be made.
Alicia: Going into your most recent release, “LIKE THAT,” what was the inspiration behind that single, and what difficulties did you have while recording it?
keanu. : I don't know; I was on a Discord call with another producer named Dami, and we were chilling, and I was like, ' Can you make a West Coast beat?' And he's like. I don't know how to do that. Let me look at a YouTube tutorial real quick, and then, “LIKE THAT” was probably the first West Coast beat he ever made, and so I was able to come up with a melody pretty quickly in my head. So I recorded the chorus the same night, kept it in the archives for a little while, and returned to it. I actually liked this song. I'm going to send it to my boys, and then yeah, Dami joined WEST OF EDEN, and that was the green light to send it over.
Alicia: How do you handle the pressures and expectations that come with being in the spotlight?
slone: Sometimes we don't, but when we do, it's like those embarrassing moments are unavoidable, but we take away the good parts from them. For example, performances and shooting videos in public.
keanu. : Yeah, it’s pretty tough
jun.e: It's cool, though. We’ll be walking around the mall, and then Jamling has his camera on us, and people look at us, and we‘re like, ' Yeah, you probably don't know who we are.'
Alicia: What do you enjoy most about being in a group and working with your fellow members?
jun.e: I mean, back in high school, it was just me who was passionate about music and all this stuff, but now, being constantly surrounded by these guys, I see them every single day, and we've gotten to a point where sometimes I don't want to see them, but then if I'm not with them for like a day it feels like I haven't been with them for a week and I need to see them, but yeah they always fire me up.' We're all really passionate together, and that it’s really cool.
keanu. : Yeah, I think it's the fact that being part of something bigger than yourself is a very rewarding feeling that you can't just get from your own personal goals and stuff, so yeah,
Alicia: How do you guys use music to express emotions or experiences that are difficult to put into words?
riensu: For me, music is kind of like a coping mechanism because I don't really like talking, to be honest. So, using music and just putting my emotions into making a beat or just singing in general is good enough for me.
jun.e: I've never seen a guy cry so much while singing. This guy, yeah. We'd be on stage and then he starts crying.
keanu. : And then I’m the one that has to be like, um, so, um, he’s crying.
riensu: Yeah, he has to explain why I’m crying because I can’t.
keanu. : Every time yeah *laughs*
Alicia: What’s a musical idea or concept that you guys have always wanted to explore but haven’t had the chance to yet?
keanu. : Ballads, where it's just more focused on the vocals.
jun.e: Yeah, more focus on the lyrics.
riensu: That too!
jun.e: Yeah, and I guess an album for real this time.
Alicia: What do you hope listeners take away from your music, and how do you achieve that in your work?
Keanu: I guess, kind of like I said before. I hope they can relate to what we're going through and hope that they'll be inspired by the type of music we're playing.
jun.e: Like what Halle said before, Seattle doesn't really have much of an indie pop R&B scene like the type of music we make and I'm hoping that we can make an impact locally too.
Alicia: Can you share a story about a moment when you felt completely outside of your comfort zone in your music career?
jun.e: It's the very first performance we ever did. I walked into this, yeah, this club. Yeah, you know, they have open mics every week. And I thought going in was a good idea because we made our first single together and everything. We're like, oh yeah, we're going to perform live for the first time. So we brought our PA system. We put our fucking speakers on the floor.
jun.e: It pains me. We put the speakers on the floor. We knew nothing about live stages whatsoever. We activated seven mics in a tiny classroom.
jun.e: The feedback was crazy. It was just shrieking the whole three minutes we were trying to perform. And that was, yeah, terrible.
keanu. : And our auto-tune was maxed for some reason. I was also in my nursing scrubs because I came after class. So I can imagine the confusion *laughs*
riensu: And like half of us didn't even go to that school.
jun.e: We have a video, but I do t know if we can ever leak that.
keanu. : It'll hurt your ears like even through the video. *laughs*
jun.e: Yeah, through the phone speaker. Yeah, not a single person was moving their head in that room. *laughs*
keanu. : Yeah, it was pretty awful
riensu: It’s only up from there
Alicia: What are the main types of visual content you produce for the band (e.g., album art, music videos, promotional materials)?
byul: I do some photos and some videos. That's pretty much it.
Alicia: How do you develop concepts and ideas for visual content?
byul: I think concept-wise, we've struggled since the beginning of WEST OF EDEN. But I think the more I learned about the artists and their interrelationships with WEST OF EDEN, the more I wanted to hone in on the idea of friendship. That's pretty much what the concept is right now.
Alicia: What is your process for translating the groups music and brand into visual elements?
byul: So, in terms of the music, I don't really pay much attention to the lyrics because I think they’re about relationships and love. So I think with my creative team, we kind of go with the beat of the track and the vibe of the song.
slone: Kind of like bouncing back inspiration, and then we'll all try to find some vision.
Alicia: How involved is the group in decisions related to their music and brand?
byul: So, at first, there was no involvement, but now we're trying to get the artists more involved with feedback. We want a collective decision based on the concepts and the visuals. It's an ongoing process.
jun.e: But I think that, most importantly, we're trying to avoid being something that we're not. That's something we struggled with in the beginning. So, we are slowly coming to fruition of who we are.
Alicia: How do you balance the groups creative desires with commercial considerations?
halle: I mean, it's kind of like that what you mentioned before - sometimes you have to do what you have to do in order to do the promotions and stuff like that. But I'm sure you can agree that we have to find authenticity, and like you nailed everyone’s creativity together in a way that's authentic
byul: That’s true!
Alicia: What are the key priorities for the management team right now?
halle: We're working on an upcoming release called “FOR U”, that should come out around November, so for management, we're just prepping the schedules and everything and getting everything in order to promote that
Alicia: What does a typical day look like for you as the group’s manager?
halle: Chaos. Some days, there's not much; I'll post one TikTok and other days, I do 50 different things the entire day. I mean, I do like the legal stuff, the finance stuff for marketing, scheduling, talking to artists, meetings, like, it's there are days I've written lists of everything I've got going on, but yeah, it s a lot, but it's s’s fun. I like something new every day, it's exciting.
Alicia: How do you make decisions about the band’s career direction and activities?
halle: A lot of it's kind of just looking at the industry and seeing what’s best for a group like this and moving in that direction, but we meet about the direction that we want to follow, which is, as we've mentioned with 18 people, it's a lot, but we all have different perspectives. But I'd like to take everyone's perspective into account.
Alicia: How do you manage conflicts or disagreements within the band?
halle: I say communication is the biggest thing, but I think jun.e probably has a more detailed perspective.
jun.e: So I gather everyone up, and then we talk. You have to do it a couple of times but try to get it in person in the end, and then just talk it out. I think that's just important for everyone.
slone: He’s like the middleman of the conversations.
Alicia: What are the short-term and long-term goals you’ve set for the band?
halle: For short-term goals, just looking into our next few releases, building our relationship with FAM, and getting on the individual artists' set up with promotional material and that sort of thing. But in the long term, I know we'd like to go on a tour, eventually collaborate with different artists, and have some bigger shows in Seattle, which would be cool.
Alicia: How do you develop and execute strategies for achieving these goals?
halle: I work with our other manager, Livy, on scheduling and working with the artists, but a lot of it's just like coming up with ideas on our own- with all of us and the marketing team, we have to brainstorm and be creative, but yeah, and then implementing by communicating with each other and getting things done even if it's hard to coordinate in person especially
Alicia: How do you ensure the visual content aligns with the band’s artistic vision and message
halle: That can be a difficult one because we have to create so much marketing material to promote on a daily basis that it's hard to make it all align. But we often have Byul involved with making videos, like he'll shoot some of the marketing content or our other videographer Jamling will shoot some. But yeah, just coordinating and what we have, like a check process where we'll send the final product and ensure everyone's cool with it being uploaded.
Alicia: How do you adapt the band’s visual identity for different contexts, such as album releases, tours, and social media?
halle: I mean, a lot of it's kind of together, like we don't really do anything different. We haven't released an album, so we don't know yet about that, but we brainstorm different visuals for each release.
Alicia: What is your workflow for managing visual projects, from conception to final execution?
byul: We wait for a song from them. Once they send it over, I start mood-boarding. Then, I go over it with the other creative team members. We then start brainstorming concepts and more ideas about the song.
halle: Our graphics design team also has a pretty specific way of creating visuals. They hop on a Figma canvas and just go crazy. It’s a whole process that's really interesting to watch.
Alicia: How do you handle deadlines and coordinate with other team members or external collaborators?
halle: We try to be pretty strict on deadlines. Now that things are picking up, we definitely don't want to hold each other back because it's a whole chain of work, so if one person doesn't do something, other people can't build off of that. So that's important. Then, collaborating with other people is definitely just about communication and making sure that we're on the same page about scheduling time, location, and that sort of thing.
Alicia: As a group, what would you like people to think when they hear the name “WEST OF EDEN”?
keanu. : I would say if someone were to hear the name WEST OF EDEN. I want them to think that those are people who represent more than just music; they are people who represent creative desires and other avenues as well as management. I want them to see or think that this all started from the ground up and that it's not impossible to start something like this.
jun.e: WEST OF EDEN It's not just the artists and the music. It' ’s all 18 of us behind it.
Alicia: What do you consider to be your greatest achievement in your musical career so far?
riensu: Riensu and friends
jun.e: Yeah, we had our first headline show, which we started and organized by ourselves. It was called Riensu and Friends back in March. I guess before that, we've opened for Sean. Yeah, we also did a show alongside Rocco. And yeah, but I say it's almost everything because every step of our journey was a milestone in a way because it was fully independent.
Alicia: Out of all your released tracks which would you say best describes you guys as a band?
jun.e: What are we thinking?
slone: Probably ‘My Heart’
jun.e: Yeah, ‘My Heart’
keanu. : Yeah, I’d say ‘My heart’ because I feel like I can speak for everyone when I say it flowed the easiest, like for all of our voices.
Alicia: What's the best advice you can give someone trying to go down the path of being an artist?
riensu: I said this before, but have fun and keep trying
keanu. : Yeah, I'd say, like, if you have that itch to start or have that feeling like there are so many resources, especially now, that can help you get started easily, and eventually, you'll always find those people that think like you and have the same goals as well.
riensu: I agree. It’s a big thing to surround yourself with people. There's a different type of support, where you have yes men or other people who are real with you. You want people who will be real with you so you can progress.
jun.e: I think this is a pretty common one, but you can always think about doing something. The way you do it is by actually doing it. You got to do it, don't just think about it. I always thought about making music, but I procrastinated a lot for a while, so I never really dropped my first song until like four years after I started because I was always doubting myself. But you really just got to do it. You only improve from here, and yeah.
slone: Yeah, adding onto that this might be a little ironic because I don't release that much but like, just releasing music in general, you know, when you can because any progress is progress, so especially if you're a beginner, I would say I'd like to recommend just dropping I don't know an album and then in the future if you want to rebrand but just having that experience of dropping a song and like that you like is a good feeling.
Alicia: Do you guys see yourselves doing any showcases or a tour anytime soon?
jun.e: I guess we‘re aiming for late 2025 or 2026. yeah, I guess we'll start off in the U.S. or maybe like just the West Coast
Halle: It's possible that we'll do some shows in Seattle coming up, like early 2025, hopefully in Capitol Hill, and collaborate with some artists who’re looking forward to that.
Alicia: Ending the interview off, is there any message you want to say to your listeners?
jun.e: Thank you for supporting us! It’s crazy how many people actually listen to us.
keanu. : Yeah, if you guys have inspiration right now, take advantage of it. It's never too early or too late; just do it.
halle: Yeah, check us out on Instagram and all our platforms, upload on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple, and stream “LIKE THAT.”
