WESTWARD… “Cowboy Space Rock?”

Westward, the band from Salt Lake City, Utah. Formed from the Mind of Andrew C. Marshall (Lead Vocals/Lead Guitar), with Matt Morrison (Drums) and Karl Grimm (Bass). Founders of "Cowboy Space Rock"

Andrew Marshall has been playing and studying guitar since the age of twelve. One of his mentors was Scott Graves, Founder and Director of the On Track Music Guitar School in Salt Lake City. He also studied with renowned Broadway actor and vocal coach, Jeff McLean. Prior to completing the music program at Salt Lake Community College in 2013, Andrew performed as a freelance artist throughout Utah’s intermountain area as well as in Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina. His most recent musical creations were inspired from his three and a half month stint traveling throughout Europe.

Karl Grimm has been playing bass guitar with Westward since 2015. He taught himself to play guitar at the age of 17 and played in several local bands like Byron and the Cha Cha Chas and Luscious Lou over a four year period. His main genre was alternative/blues/rock. Karl has written dozens of songs and his influences include Jimi Hendrix, John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin and Marcus Miller. Karl has played numerous gigs sitting-in with local bands as a guest guitarist as well. He also enjoys tinkering with electronic gear and has an impressive collection of guitar amplifiers, guitars, basses and pedals.

Matt Morrison began playing drums at the age of seven. He has studied with Mike Sorich, Van Christensen, Andrew Hopkins, Jay Lawrence at LIJA Music, and Rick “Sneez” Senese at the Groove Doctor’s in Salt Lake City. Matt is an alumni of both the On Track Music AMP’d program and the Paul Green School of Rock, and is currently teaching drums for the Groove Doctors. His many musical influences include Neal Peart, Steve Jordan and Steve Gadd. He has performed with numerous bands over the years and is known for his powerful, yet dynamic, drumming style.

When these three musicians first got together in January of 2013, everything clicked immediately and fans quickly crowned their music “Cowboy Space Rock.” This is primarily because Westward’s original songs are flavored with a mixture of western trail music combined with modern rock… and every song takes listeners on a musical journey through time and space. Westward’s music has been influenced by bands such as Muse, Wilco, Led Zeppelin, Jack White, Marty Robbins and Dick Dale. Their influences also go back as far as Nat King Cole, The Ink Spots and The Andrew Sisters.

In 2013, the Salt Lake City based rock band, Westward, began performing shows all over the state of Utah. Their genre, affectionately referred to as “cowboy space rock” by their fans, is uniquely demonstrated on their first full length album, “The Deadly Rapture of Space” which was released in March of 2015.

Their 2015 “Deadly Tour,” expanded their reach from Utah to Idaho, Nevada and southern California.

Over the past three years Westward has shared the stage with other popular touring bands such as Cheers Elephant from Philadelphia, Purple from Beaumont, Texas, The Redwood Plan from Seattle and Crobot from Pottsville, PA. Westward has also been busy with some significant charitable work that includes partnering with the Utah Jazz of the NBA for a charity event to benefit under privileged children, and participating in fundraising activities for a humanitarian trip to Guatemala.

They were honored to be featured at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival with a performance in the renowned Indie Lounge in Park City, Utah. And, 2016 has also given them the opportunity to perform at the legendary House of Blues in Las Vegas, Nevada.

They just released their 2nd full length studio album in October of 2017 and it has been a hit. After doing a small west coast run in November 2017 to support the album, they took a much needed break for the holidays. Now with 2018 fully clutched, they have some new exciting things in the works.