The Red West is a modern rock quartet hailing from southern California. It all began in 2001, when college students Jayson Belt and Andy Smith started writing songs together in their dorm room. Soon the project expanded to include drummer Ryan Gleason and bassist Matt Bathancourt, and the band began gigging in and around Orange County. Their eponymous, self-released debut found support among California's thriving surf community, and with additional support from local radio a buzz began to build for the Red West. The quartet soon signed with Atlantic, which released a remixed form of its debut in September 2003. ~ Johnny Loftus