Is West Seattle the rock ’n’ roll capital of Seattle? (Shoreline: fingerprints, home)

[homesinseattle]

Article link here: https://www.seattletimes.com/enterta...al-of-seattle/

“There’s no mention on the “Welcome to West Seattle” sign greeting drivers sloping up the end of the newly reopened West Seattle Bridge. But anyone who’s been around the Seattle music scene longer than a two-minute Fastbacks song can tell you: West Seattle is crawling with local rock stars, artists and music biz shakers whose fingerprints are all over the past, present and future of the city’s musical identity.

“I’ve lived all over Seattle — Queen Anne, Madison Park, Capitol Hill, Shoreline, whatever,” says Matt Vaughan, owner of West Seattle’s nationally known Easy Street Records. “West Seattle for sure has a disproportionate amount of people in the business or artistically minded [people] — those that are making a difference on our scene.”

It might be time for the local Chamber of Commerce to spruce up its signage with a splashier tagline: “Welcome to West Seattle, the rock ’n’ roll capital of Seattle.”

It might sound a little dubious, given the neighborhood’s obvious dearth of music venues besides the Skylark Cafe, but hear me out. Seattle’s offbeat, beachy hideaway is home to Eddie Vedder, members of Mudhoney and The Head and the Heart, the city’s most famous record store and a swarm of prominent staffers at Sub Pop and KEXP, local institutions with worldwide acclaim. Matter of fact, if the chamber wants an artist’s touch to update that welcome sign, call one of Sub Pop’s go-to art directors and West Seattle skate shop owner Sasha Barr.“

It also wasn’t a coincidence Sub Pop brass picked Alki Beach as the site of its 30th anniversary bash, one of the music community’s biggest blowouts in recent memory.

“Part of it definitely was a little bit of self-interest, because a bunch of us live over here,” admits Chris Jacobs, Sub Pop’s senior vice president and a 22-year West Seattleite. (Though that Elliott Bay backdrop, with views of the Olympic Mountains and Seattle skyline, and Alki’s distinctly Seattle-summer vibe may have factored in.)