gold dust woman | daisy jones & the six

CAMERON WEST: introduction

Cameron West (lead guitarist, Daisy Jones & The Six): When you asked me to do this interview, I was surprised, to say the least. I mean, who still cares about some band from the seventies? However, I couldn't say no. Maybe this would give me some closure.

Everyone agreed to this? To talk about everything?

I'm going to be honest, I don't remember all of the seventies. Drugs will do that to you.

This band was my family. I cared about them, they cared about me. It gave me opportunities, they changed my life. Hell, the band almost killed me, but I would do it all again if I had the chance.

Here's the thing, when you're apart of a band like this, you're all connected. You're all apart of each other, you need each other. That's what made it so hard when it ended.

So, where do we start?

Interviewer: Start at beginning, tell me about yourself.

Cameron: I grew up in Pittsburgh during the fifties and the sixties. My dad was a session musician. He played on a lot of great albums from the fifties to the seventies. He was the one who taught me how to play guitar, he's the reason I fell in love with music.

Back then, mental illness wasn't treated the same way it is now. If it was, I'm sure my mother would've been diagnosed with BPD or something like that. She was an addict, she left when I was nine. That destroyed my family, my dad turned to drugs as well. He was a great father, don't get that wrong. He got clean back in sixty eight. I was proud of him.

But me? I started writing. I loved writing. It helped me to escape from whatever harsh reality I didn't want to face. By the time I turned eighteen, fresh out of high school, I released my first album.

I started playing gigs all around Pittsburgh. They were mostly at bars I was definitely too young to be at. When I was up on those stages, I didn't care if nobody knew the words, or if they even knew my name, I was just happy to be there. I was having fun.

(I do not own any of the plot / characters from Daisy Jones & The Six, but I do own Cameron West and her story)