sandiegopunk.com

Young Goodman

How did you come up with your band name? It was quite a roundabout trip to get here- we had a ton of names when we first started playing together (some of them lasted maybe a couple hours), but the current name itself comes from a short story and the main character Young Goodman Brown. It’s an awesome short story about a character struggling with conflict in his life and trying to make the right decision… anyways, we don’t want to give away the ending.

How long has Young Goodman been playing together?

We have all been playing together for a modest two years- but our drummer Freddy and CJ the singer are brothers, so they have a bit of history between them.

What are each of your goals for Young Goodman?
CJ: Quite honestly I would be content with playing a gig in any two-bit dive bar if the place was packed full of people who were singing our songs back to us just as loud as we were playing them.  I mean, I think deep down that’s what every musician hopes for… your music enticing people to listen to your songs, relate to them either in the same way we wrote them or in a new way, and ultimately know them better than you do.

Kyle: Yeah CJ, yadda yadda yadda…. and you want a record deal.

CJ: Of course that would be sweet, don’t get me wrong- these days you almost need some sort of bigger and better financial backing or connections to even get a shot in “the biz”… So, yeah, a deal would be great, but I’m cool just having fun playing for some peeps.

Freddy:  I agree, a deal would be sweet and we are driven to keep getting better and write cooler songs, but the drive isn’t to get a record deal (that would be a bonus).  The drive is to keep having fun doing what we are doing while continuing to improve and bring something different every time we play out- both to our friends who have been with us since we played the University of San Diego Battle of the Bands and any new friends we are lucky enough to make along the way.

Kyle:  True.  My goal would be to be successful- and success to me is playing in front of a room full of people who know the words to our songs and connect with them to the same degree that we do.  I mean, these songs are us and it’s all we have to bring- that and as much energy as we can muster live.

CJ: Yeah

Freddy: Yeah

Who are your favorite bands/biggest influences on the music you write?
Kyle: Holy crap do we come from a diverse range of influences! I guess everyone can answer for themselves but my favorite bands ever are Bad Religion, No Use For A Name, Social Distortion, some SoCal punk with Pulley, Minor Threat was sick, and as far as bass playing goes Primus and Les have got that wrapped up hands down.  If I’m looking for something heavier I’ll go for some Avenged Sevenfold, In Flames, Tainted Warlock, or Dream Evil.  As far as what pushes me when we are playing are bands like Anberlin, Emery, Rounding Third, and the like.

CJ: John Petrucci from Dream Theater was the, and I repeat, the guy who made me want to play guitar.  His technique and ability are freaking awesome! Other bands I grew up listening to were Vendetta Red, Beck, Incubus, Emery, Anberlin, Allister, Finch, oh and definitely Coheed and Cambria. 

Freddy: The Buddy Rich Big Band is a huge influence for me in drumming, Rush is a close second, The Police, and the Foo Fighters (both Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl) are freaking good.  And they probably have the best band name ever.

Who does the song writing in the band?  What are your songs about?
Freddy: Well, CJ (singer/guitar) writes most of the initial riffs and vocal lines and then we all jam on it together and throw our two cents in.  However, for the most part, CJ’s songs are pretty good.

Kyle: I think the cool thing about our band is the fact that we are all given freedom when it comes to our instruments to do what we think fits the songs.  Everybody writes what they are comfortable with- CJ writes vocal lines he is comfortable singing and he wants to sing, I can write bass lines I want to play, and Freddy can bang the living crap out of his drums however he wants.  But then we are all open to suggestions on what might sound better and little things to bring the song together.

CJ: Definitely, the dynamics is awesome! We all feed off and challenge each other to try new things but in a way that doesn’t put anyone one on the spot.  We all have good ideas and we manage to fit it together into a final compilation that sounds better than what we each individually brought to the table.  The lyrics are usually about a wide variety of topics that I’m encountering or thinking about and if someone listening to them can relate to them in some way and be better for it, then that song is a success.

How do you describe your sound?
It’s always hard to put your own sounds into words but we’ll try.  We have heard comparisons to Anberlin, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Guttermouth, Cartel, Hidden in Plain View, and older Sugarcult.  We would like to think of ourselves leaning to (or trying to lean towards) a bit heavier side like Saosin and old school SR-71.  Basically we try to stay catchy and appealing to John Q. Public, but at the same mixing in tricky rhythms, off beat changes, and other more musical skills a la Dream Theater (but we aren’t that good).

How do you feel about the local San Diego music scene?
CJ:  I think the local music scene in San Diego is at odds with the weather.  If it was cold and snowed in and no one had anything to do besides going cow tipping then they would be going out to every small local show that any venue threw together on a Tuesday night.  But if it’s a balmy 85 degrees with no cloud cover year round, I think I’ll be taking my six-pack to the beach thank you very much- write that down.

Kyle: Yeah, the local scene in San Diego isn’t really just one scene- there’s like eight or nine all wanting different types of music.  Pacific Beach wants their surfer cover bands to play the bars, Downtown is trying to be the next Las Vegas with all the DJs and house music so people can party “in da club”, North Park has some cool little places like Lestat’s for the more underground scene.  Luckily we have venues here in San Diego like SOMA, the Casbah and others that are rock solid and keep delivering good acts while still giving the small local bands opportunities. And awesome websites like sandiegopunk.com help a ton.

Freddy:  The scene in San Diego venue wise is tough, but the scene in San Diego people wise is awesome.  Every band we have played with and every person we have worked with have been nothing but awesome.  The people in San Diego bands are really friendly with each other I have nothing but respect for the people in the scene.

Any exciting plans in the near future for Young Goodman?
CJ: Hell yeah- we just found out we are opening for Madina Lake, Mayday Parade, and Meriwether at SOMA on October 25

Freddy: That and we are going up to Golden Track Studios in the next couple weeks to record some of our newer tracks

Kyle: Which is good because the new songs rock harder.  A movie called Skidmarks comes out tomorrow at some Ultrastar Cinemas in town that has one of our songs in it (in the ambulance when they cut the girls top off). So that’s cool.

What is the biggest thing about the band that you want to improve?
Kyle: With these two I definitely want to improve my musicianship.  They’ve both been classically trained since they were in diapers.  As a band I want us to get tighter and finely tuned like a well oiled machine.  That and I want to beat Guitar Hero on expert.

Freddy: Right now the thing that I think would help us most as a band is finding another good guitar player that can play both lead and rhythm to help fill out our sound- and yes this is a shameless attempt at a classified ad posting where some good guitar players might read it.

CJ: I think the whole a second good guitar player would be the next big step as a band- and it something we would want to pursue.  Personally I want to improve my vocal ability.  I need to get me some opera pipes! Plus I already beat Guitar Hero on expert.

Is there anything that you would like to add?
Thanks again to Cole and Sandiegopunk.com crew for talking with us.  Once again we got a couple of shows coming up, especially that October 25 show with Madina Lake and Mayday Parade.  So come check us out, we give away free stuff!

Check out Young Goodman's tunes @ http://www.myspace.com/younggoodman

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