Meet Kailynn West of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kailynn West

Hi Kailynn, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
In 2011, I was working at a bakery in West LA when my coworker and I were robbed at gunpoint while closing the store. After that happened, my whole life fell apart. I lost a lot of friends, became isolated, my band broke up, I lost my relationship, and had to move to a new part of town and lived by myself for the first time in my life. I started to write really candid songs about particularly painful moments that were seared into my memory like still frames from a movie- so I called the project Tiny Stills to capture that. Even though I’ve worked through a lot of those dark feelings, at one point, these songs were my reality of what I was living through.

We’ve had a few lineup changes, but now Tiny Stills is made up of some of my best friends: AJ Peacox (guitar), Jenny Merullo (drums) and Chris Clark (bass). We put out our third record on June 7, 2024, and I’m writing this currently in a van while on tour with Dikembe and Aren’t We Amphibians. We’re having a great time, and have another tour in July with Wellwisher.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The decline physical sales and measly streaming royalties eroded the middle class of musicians years ago. Now, with a backlog of artists who postponed tours competing for the few venues still open post-COVID, coupled with a inflation we’re worse off than we were four years ago. Touring, the final stream of income that was supporting musicians, now isn’t viable.

I’d like to see the Fair Music Act passed. I’d like streamers to pay fair royalties to the musicians who created the value for their company. I personally would like to see Live Nation and Ticketmaster broken up. I want a musicians union or equivalent to independently purchase Ticket Master once it breaks off, and I want it to become part of the infrastructure to create pensions or form of universal basic income for working musicians. This is part of my dream for something better for the people I love, who I’ve met through this community.

I dont want to do a gofundme when I inevitably get sick: I can’t meaningfully contribute to the gofundme campaigns my musicians friends create when THEY get sick. With an equal passion for both; I want my musician friends to thrive and support themselves through their talents and hard work, and I want to see the entities that eroded that possibility burn to the ground.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Im a touring musician, songwriter, and producer/engineer. On top of that, I create music, podcasts, books, and shows and work in audio in all forms. I love stories, and have a passion for great storytelling that has spilled over into podcasting, and I’ve been actively creating audio content for the past 14 years. I’ve directed, edited, mixed and sound designed audio dramas. From the official adaptation of Orphan Black to Dungeons and Dragons games- I think that great stories help us understand ourselves better.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
I want to leave this world a little better than I found it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.tinystills.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tinystills

Image Credits
Photos by Candace Whalen