Something Out West Talk New EP ‘Leaving Hollywood,’ Moving to Nashville & More…While Playing With Puppies!

Nearly ten years ago, Chet Hanks and Drew Arthur met through mutual friends and quickly bonded over their shared journey into sobriety. That connection soon sparked a creative partnership, eventually leading them to form the duo, Something Out West.

Now based in Nashville, Hanks and Arthur are chasing their musical dreams with the release of their debut EP, Leaving Hollywood. Ahead of its release, the duo stopped by the Country Now studio for an episode of The Pupdate, where they opened up about their decision to leave Hollywood behind, the origins of their musical partnership, and the stories behind songs like “Leaving Hollywood” and “You Better Run.”

The Origin Of Something Out West

While rescue puppies from Proverbs 12:10 Animal Rescue played around the room, Hanks reflected on how their friendship began and revealed how the idea to start making music together first came about.

“We had both just gotten sober at the time, so we had that in common, so we kind of became friends over that and ended up hanging out a lot,” he shared. “[We] eventually started to work on music together. He’s always been writing music his whole life, and those were the beginning days of what would become something. I think we kind of knew that since we both did music, we should try working on some stuff together. And then when we did, turned out to be pretty good, so it was kind of like a no-brainer.”

They started making music together in L.A., but during the pandemic, they found themselves craving a change of scenery — that’s when the idea of relocating to Nashville came to be. 

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“We were doing music in LA for a while, and then around covid was like, I wanted to get out of LA. We had been talking about Nashville for a minute,” Arthur explained, adding that he “made the jump” before Hanks. 

Now settled in Music City, the duo has assembled a team and even signed to Big Machine Records. 

The duo made their official debut earlier this year with the release of “Leaving Hollywood.” Written by Drew Arthur with Heath Warren, Eric Paquette, and Eric Van Houten, the track holds a deeper meaning than it initially lets on.

“I guess..the song is about getting out of a relationship, but just us coming out of LA to Nashville and also kind of like getting into a whole different genre of music,” Hanks, stars in Netflix’s #1 hit series Running Point, explained. “It was just really poignant and applicable to my life. I mean, we’re getting into the country music world, but obviously I’m from the West coast, so you don’t really think of country when you think of Los Angeles, so I think that was just appropriate for our first single.”

“You Better Run”

Something Out West continued building momentum with their follow-up release, “You Better Run.” The music video racked up over 500,000 views in its first week and features a familiar face close to Chet Hanks, along with a playful nod to the iconic film Forrest Gump.

Arthur recalled a hilarious moment they experienced when filming the “You Better Run” music video, telling us, “I hadn’t been to a music video set like that. We pulled up at 6:00 AM and there were barricades and cop cars, and I was like, dude…I think a murder happened here. I don’t think we’re going to shoot today. And [Chet] was like, ‘Drew, that’s probably for us.’”

Debut EP Is Out Now

As the puppies continued to wreak havoc on the set, Hanks and Arthur shared that they were “super excited” to release their EP.

“We’ve worked hard on songs, recording. People have started listening to Spotify and all that. I’m excited to give ’em some more songs to listen to,” Arthur stated.

Out now, Leaving Hollywood includes five original tracks and showcases the duo’s unique sound which is a mix of country and rock. Throughout the project, they lean into their musical influences, which range from The Eagles and Blink-182 to The Beatles, and more. 

To celebrate the release, fans can catch Something Out West performing on TODAY and The Kelly Clarkson show on Tuesday, June 24.