THE GOODNIGHT LOVING
We speak with Colin and Andy K about their amazing Goodnight Loving. Pick up their records on Dusty Medical and Wild Honey. And rumour has it they have an upcoming LP on In The Red.
What got you started as a band?
The band began as a country rock version of a local monthly music project known as Blue Balls, which as a rule, consists of just two members writing and performing a single sets worth of material, recording it, playing one night, and then breaking up forever. That version of Blue Balls never materialized but the songs written for it carried on, ending up scattered within our demos and albums.
What inspired and influenced you to sound like you do?
We love all sorts of music. Our touring van blasts the usual 60’s stuff and some newer stuff like the Compulsive Gamblers. On our last European tour we only had a tape deck, but no cassette tapes. In the states you can go to any second hand store and find hundreds of cassettes, but we couldn’t find any in Europe! Finally Mads from the Cola Freaks gave us two tapes. One of which was a Velvet Underground tape which we proceeded to listen to non stop for about two weeks. I don’t think any of us got tired of it. We always listen to a lot of folk and country. Recently we’ve been listening to tons of Roger Miller on tour. Sometimes he’s not taken seriously because he wrote kind of goofy songs, but he was a real badass. We could listen to Ma Carter from the Carter family play guitar all day long. John Lennon is an inspiration, so is Lee Hazelwood. Cowboy in Sweden! I don’t think we could sound like these people if we tried. Hopefully if you do your best to write honestly, you will always sound unique.
What bands do you feel do about the same thing you do? Who do you like to play with live?
We really loved playing with Jack of Heart and the Magnetix from France when we were in Stockholm and Berlin last year. Both bands were a complete sonic assault, and the songs were so great! It was really fun to see. As for bands that are doing the same thing, I’d direct you to the Dusty Medical catalog. The spirit is the same throughout his catalog, it’s just about good songs with that guy.
How’d you end up on Dusty Medical?
Kevin (Head of Dusty Medical) was a fan of the band. This was years ago when the band was just an excuse to drink and hang out and we really didn’t take it very seriously. Kevin kind of pushed us, in a friendly way, into being more productive because he loved the band, probably more than we did. He got us into a studio to make a record, and we ended up doing three full length LP’s with him! It’s our Dusty Medical trilogy. He just loves music and works really hard to make Milwaukee a cool place for rock n roll.
..and on wild honey?
We ended up with Wild Honey after Dusty Medical played Franz (Wild Honey label head with best gal Lisa) a cd-r of our first record while touring with his band in Italy. Franz liked it and wanted to work with us, splitting this newest release with Dusty Medical was the first opportunity and its worked out great!
How’s the reception been for the new record?
People seem to like it. It sounds like a culmination of our earlier records so people knew what to expect. It exists side by side with the first two LP’s. We had the same musicians playing on all three records and they were recorded in a pretty quick succession, so to me they kind of seem like one big statement. I think that is why we just named the record “The Goodnight Loving,” because it seemed like the end of something and the beginning of something new. Our new songs all seem to be branching out in strange new directions, which seems like a good sign.
How was your first eurotour? Any fun stories?
Our first time in Europe was a blast! We had never been treated so well on a tour before, having places to stay and food prepared before we even arrived to the shows was such a trip! Taking Scandinavian ferry rides from city to city was an awesome experience, completely foreign to our land locked travels in America. In Helsingor we played a club that had a skate park, allowing some of us to shred for the first time since we were teenagers. Dutch coffee shops, German beer prices (they practically give it away! it’s cheaper than water!), home-made Italian food… nothing could compare to seeing it all first hand. We shot-gunned a beer in front of the Colosseum (puncture the bottom of can, press lips to hole, crack the lid and try and drink it faster than your friends!), arm-wrestled until the light of dawn with the locals in Hamburg, and we had twenty euros stolen from us by a struggling French rapper! It was great!
Can you make a living off your music? Is that a goal for you or are you happy to have it as a hobby?
It would seem that we are trying to up the ante a bit with ourselves. While our ultimate goal is to just make good music, being able to see the world and get paid for it is a pretty sweet consequence of making records people enjoy. If your hobby makes you happy, why not do it all the time?
How much do you tour in the states?
We have been trying to tour as much as possible recently. None of us really have jobs at home. We go on two or three week trips every couple months. In between we do long weekend trips around the Midwest, or maybe out to New York City. We tour much more in the Midwest, South, and Eastern part of the country, because driving out West takes a lot of time, although it is much more beautiful. We come from a very flat part of the states, so when we see a mountain, its pretty amazing. We are always discovering new places to play.
I know you’ve recorded some new songs at the Matt-Mojomatics studio, when is that stuff coming out?
That’s a good question, it’s pretty up in the air as to what’s going to become of those tracks. Matt and Nene at the studio were amazing engineers, and we’re really excited about the songs we did, but again, there’s no solid plan to release anything just yet… time will tell.
[Franz and Lisa just told me it should be out in October 2009]
Final words?
I hope I can sleep in the red boat again! We promise not to get the “captain” angry this time.