Glimpses of the South Florida Scene is a weekly column devoted to the artists thriving within Broward and Palm Beach counties featuring interviews with the folks making it happen. This week, Boca Raton's Goolsby.
Goolsby's music creates the best sort of soundtrack for youthful escapades like making out and riding your bike really fast, but that is not to say their sound is immature. Formerly called Quiet River, guitarist and vocalist Paul Simundich's project has grown and become poppy and playful but never overtly saccharine. Their tracks are crisp, well-formed and catchy, a result of Goolsby's status as an accidental South Floridian supergroup. The guys have all previously played in other local bands: Simundich and bassist Oz Del Castillo used to play in A Hunter's Pace and Kill Now!?, respectively. Guitarist Matt Salcito was in Alaska, and drummer Jeff Rose also plays with Blond Fuzz (formerly Stonefox).
As such, they're not only clearly talented but mainstays of the local music community, keeping it afloat and thriving multihandedly. Small wonder, then, that the tracks on their three-song EP are all infectious, especially "Wild Once" -- an upbeat and admittedly adorable reference to Where the Wild Things Are. After the break, drummer Jeff Rose tells New Times the band's favorite live spot and what the heck a Goolsby is anyway.
New Times: I Googled "Goolsby" and got some pretty interesting results. Where'd
you come up with your name?
Jeff Rose: It was between that and A Gentleman's Beard, which was a sort of
joke/side project between myself, Paul, and his brother Joel. We decided
it was too quirky for the kind of music Goolsby is playing. Goolsby has
a good ring to it, [and] it's pretty easy to remember. I believe Joel
suggested it too, along with some other interesting names. As many
people like pointing out, it's also the name of a road in Deerfield.
[It's] also a historically British heritage name for families involved
in working with gold. We didn't really pick it for these reasons,
though. We should just probably make up some exciting story or
something.
What is goolin'? Any relation to ghouling?
Just a fun word. I like to think the definition to be describing a cat
or other small animal creeping slowly through the night... like I saw one
night in my yard. Its use is pretty flexible. It could also describe
Goolsby in action.
Your music is really fun -- supercute and energetic. Who are your
influences?
There are definitely some fun songs in the mix at the moment. We like
to say our influences range from Thin Lizzy to Hall & Oates and some
other bands like that, but it's really only because of how we interpret
that music -- it's this kind of goofy one-hit-wonder thing that lends
itself to being made fun of, and at the same time you've gotta respect
it for being supercatchy. In truth, we take a lot of influence from
late '90s-early '00s bands like Third Eye Blind, Semisonic, Saves the Day
(In Reverie-era only), and Death Cab for Cutie. Basically, good
songwriting that maintains some interesting elements.
How is Goolsby a transition from Quiet River, besides the pretty
drastic name change? It seems like Quiet River was more folky, and this
is a totally different direction. Was Quiet River more Paul's project?
Quiet River (at first, Quiet River High) had been the moniker of Paul's
for a very long time. He never really had a steady band, and it was
purely his songwriting. We changed the name and decided to revamp the
whole thing, since it is now a more collaborative effort. Everybody lends
to the writing process in practices, and it feels really fresh.
What are the best and worst things about being a South Florida band?
Anybody you ask will tell you quickly that there are more cons than
pros. It takes a long time to get out of the state in order to tour.
That, and not too much culture, as opposed to places like Atlanta or
Asheville, where people genuinely come out to seek new music and are
able to spend five dollars on a band they've never seen. I wish there
was more of a legitimate music scene down here, with more awesome bands
doing different things.
Where's your favorite place to play in South Florida? Where's your
favorite place to hang out?
Propaganda is usually fun to play; it's a good-sized venue with good
sound, and they always give young/unheard-of bands a chance, which is
cool. Usually the only times we hang out is either at Paul's house for
practice on Sundays or if we happen to be at a show at Respectables or
something like that. We all have conflicting schedules, which is
probably why we don't have a bunch of shows planned right now.
Goolsby, Guy Harvey, the Clementines, and Lavola will perform at Propaganda in Lake Worth on Wednesday, June 9. Doors open at 8 p.m. They are competing to play the side stage at the Silversun Pickups' show
with Against Me! June 16 at the Sunset Cove Amphitheatre in Boca Raton.
