Twenty minutes after the scheduled time and five minutes before I was planning on leaving I get a phone call from Goon’s drummer, Jake Costenaro, telling me he just passed the coffee shop we plan to meet at. He finally shows up but since there is nowhere to sit we walk down to the nearest park as he speaks on about who knows what and tries to show me tattoos. We sit down at some park benches near the playground and he fires up a cigarette. We go back and forth about the hardcore bands we’ve seen and grew up listening to. After some small talk and random occurrences things start moving forward.
Goon is the brainchild of Jake and bassist, Josh Hearing. The years led them in and out of bands together or pursuing separate interests. What started those years of band-hopping was when they were in their first band together, The Carry-Out Special. Jake was sixteen years old and only a beginner on guitar. A while after playing guitar for them he sat down behind the drumset one practice session because the drummer was always late. After never having played drums before he found himself at home on the drummer’s throne.“Any idiot can do this,” he says about the drummer while air-drumming, “why is he always late?”
Fast forward to Goon’s first album, “Guardian”. This full-length was written in the typical broke-musician situation: Jake was living in a storage space after a breakup. They utilized this space to write their debut album and had a friend help them out to record those songs. This friend is Echelon Studios’s owner, Joseph McQueen. The songs were recorded in Alabama and sent out west for production. Their first single recorded at Echelon, “Carry You Home”, made a short trip from it being recorded to airplay. Twenty-four hours after recording the song it was in circulation on 102.9, “The Buzz”. Those hours break down like this: eighteen(18) hours to record, mix, master, blah, blah, blah, and six(6) hours to find it’s way into the hands of the people putting it on the air for the ears of the listeners to hear. Jake was obviously surprised when that happened, “We’re not touring famous with our own t-shirt company but, wow, we’re on the radio.”
Goon took advantage of an appreciable quick turnaround and released their next single, “Due To Me”. This song won them such a following that Goon had to retire from the voting boards since they won so often. In 2012 they were voted 102.9’s, “Band of the Month”, three months in a row. That same year they won “Band of the Year”.
They haven’t had much of a live presence during the life of the band(2011-present). Their last show was Halloween of 2013. But, what they may lack in quantity they make up for in quality. Goon’s first show was opening for The Misfits with subsequent shows opening for Saliva and Saving Abel.
Fans have been asking the members of Goon(Guilty Of Our Nature) when they are going to start playing out again. And, those fans just may have their answer. Jake mentions that this Fall (2014) is when Goon will be picking up where they left off last year. But, this time around they are slightly altering their sound. It’ll be a mix of Goon and classic hardcore with influence from the direction he says new punk is going, “dreamy guitars over syncopated rhythm with aggressive vocals”. Basically, that sound translates into hearing distorted machine gun firing while you are steadily and endlessly backflipping through space with someone shouting at you. Alot.
“I just want people to move”, Jake says about the anticipation of getting new material out there, “I want kids to fucking lose it.”
They are currently working on an ‘E.P.’ that kids will probably fucking lose it to. Unlike “Guardian” this new collection of songs will be a more structured release thus giving them an opportunity to build a supporting live campaign. Will it happen? I don’t know.
So, here’s Goon’s line-up:
-Josh Hearing, Bass/Vocals
-Jake Costenaro, Drums/Vocals
-Steven Jackson, Guitar/Vocals
-Johnny Fiction, Guitar/Vocals
Yeah, everyone does vocals. Want to know why? I have a quote from Jake to answer that question, “I like the thickness of group vocals. It really pushes the sound.”
I found my way through Jake’s blabbering-about-whatever-it-was to get what you readers (you) need to know about Goon. So, remember, even through my babbling, that Fall-2014 is when you can start looking for these guys.
Will you like them? IF you like these artists, or even if you don't, you may: As I Lay Dying, Norma Jean, Every Time I Die, Underoath, Fear Before The March of Flames, Being as an Ocean, Sofia
Twenty minutes after the scheduled time and five minutes before I was planning on leaving I get a phone call from Goon’s drummer, Jake Costenaro, telling me he just passed the coffee shop we plan to meet at. He finally shows up but since there is nowhere to sit we walk down to the nearest park as he jabbers on about who knows what and tries to show me tattoos I don’t want to see. We sit down at some park benches near the playground and he fires up a cigarette. We go back and forth about the hardcore bands we’ve seen and grew up listening to. After some small talk and random occurrences (him making me listen to bands he’s currently into that I didn’t ask about) things start moving forward.
Goon is the brainchild of Jake and bassist, Josh Hearing. The years led them in and out of bands together or pursuing separate interests. What started those years of band-hopping was when they were in their first band together, The Carry-Out Special. Jake was sixteen years old and only a beginner on guitar. A while after playing guitar for them he sat down behind the drumset one practice session because the drummer was always late. After never having played drums before he found himself at home on the drummer’s throne.
“Any idiot can do this,” he says about the drummer while air-drumming, “why is he always late?”
Fast forward to Goon’s first album, “Guardian”. This full-length was written in the typical broke-musician situation: Jake was living in a storage space after a breakup. They utilized this space to write their debut album and had a friend help them out to record those songs. This friend is Echelon Studios’s owner, Joseph McQueen. The songs were recorded in Alabama and sent out west for production. Their first single recorded at Echelon, “Carry You Home”, made a short trip from it being recorded to airplay. Twenty-four hours after recording the song it was in circulation on 102.9, “The Buzz”. Those hours break down like this: eighteen(18) hours to record, mix, master, blah, blah, blah, and six(6) hours to find it’s way into the hands of the people putting it on the air for the ears of the listeners to hear. Jake was obviously surprised when that happened, “We’re not touring famous with our own t-shirt company but, wow, we’re on the radio.”
Goon took advantage of an appreciable quick turnaround and released their next single, “Due To Me”. This song won them such a following that Goon had to retire from the voting boards since they won so often. In 2012 they were voted 102.9’s, “Band of the Month”, three months in a row. That same year they won “Band of the Year”.
They haven’t had much of a live presence during the life of the band(2011-present). Their last show was Halloween of 2013. But, what they may lack in quantity they make up for in quality. Goon’s first show was opening for The Misfits with subsequent shows opening for Saliva and Saving Abel.
Fans have been asking the members of Goon(Guilty Of Our Nature) when they are going to start playing out again. And, those fans just may have their answer. Jake mentions that this Fall (2014) is when Goon will be picking up where they left off last year. But, this time around they are slightly altering their sound. It’ll be a mix of Goon and classic hardcore with influence from the direction he says new punk is going, “dreamy guitars over syncopated rhythm with aggressive vocals”. Basically, that sound translates into hearing distorted machine gun firing while you are steadily and endlessly backflipping through space with someone shouting at you. Alot.
“I just want people to move”, Jake says about the anticipation of getting new material out there, “I want kids to fucking lose it.”
They are currently working on an ‘E.P.’ that kids will probably fucking lose it to. Unlike “Guardian” this new collection of songs will be a more structured release thus giving them an opportunity to build a supporting live campaign. Will it happen? I don’t know.
So, here’s Goon’s line-up:
-Josh Hearing, Bass/Vocals
-Jake Costenaro, Drums/Vocals
-Steven Jackson, Guitar/Vocals
-Johnny Fiction, Guitar/Vocals
Yeah, everyone does vocals. Want to know why? I have a quote from Jake to answer that question, “I like the thickness of group vocals. It really pushes the sound.”
I found my way through Jake’s blabbering-about-whatever-it-was to get what you readers (you) need to know about Goon. So, remember, even through my babbling, that Fall-2014 is when you can start looking for these guys.
Will you like them? IF you like these artists, or even if you don't, you may: As I Lay Dying, Norma Jean, Every Time I Die, Underoath, Fear Before The March of Flames, Being as an Ocean, Sofia
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