It's a great pleasure to be able to present an interview with Good Throb who have just put out a tape and are planning to record their first single. They answered some questions for Gilded Gutter to tell us little more about themselves...
Researching Good Throb I found there wasn't a lot written about the band, let’s cover some basic ground, who’s in the band and what do you do?Louis - I play the drums and drive the car.
Ash - I play bass
Ellie - I shout
Bryony - I 'play' guitar.
Have you been in or are currently in any other bands?Louis - I'm in the
Love Triangle, the
Shitty Limits and
NoEllie - currently playing drums and vocals for deck chair / knotted handkerchief impov punk outfit 'Twank'
Bryony - I was in
The Sceptres (with Louis, although he has evidently forgotten..) for three years (we are pretty much done, but have our final record out soon) and Back Stabbath (all girl hardcore band that played four gigs in 2005, hah)
How did you meet each other and start Good Throb?Ash - We met through hanging out, going to shows. We started through peer pressure.
Bryony - Louis pretty much locked me in my garage until I had worked out how to play the guitar I'd owned for two years. I personally wanted to make a band with women again because that is important for me, although it isn't the reason we started.
What made you start playing music?Ash - I've only been playing since starting Good Throb, I guess I started because I'd always wanted to be in a punk band.
Bryony - I'm disobedient.
Are you all self-taught musicians?Louis - Both my parents were music teachers so I had a lot of music when I was a child, which was a really good thing. This is my first go at playing the drums though. I really like the 'discovery' aspect of learning how to play new things on the drums. It feels fresh compared to, say, playing guitar, where I've been bashing out the same chords since I was a young teen.
Ash - I am in a way, but i still don't feel like i really have any idea what I'm doing. Its fun though, whatever it is.
Ellie - the idea of being referred to as a musician is very flattering!
Bryony - I resisted formal music training almost as hard as my parents pushed for it - 7 years of piano lessons and I can't play a note, I did have some guitar lessons when I was no more than 6 years old, my only memory of which is insisting on playing the (acoustic) guitar which was bigger than my body, face up. Had classical singing training which stuck a little more. Short answer: Yeah.
Which do you prefer, playing or recording? Louis - PLAYING! although I really enjoyed recording our demo. It took about an hour once the mics were all set up, and we had loads of beer.
Ash - Playing definitely.
The song ‘Bag’ has turned heads, what do you make of that? Why do you think people gravitate to that song?Louis - I didn't realise they did! It must be Ellie's incredible lyrics!
Ash - That's probably because its so raging. Its the shit you either have to say to people that aren't even listening to you day in and day out or the shit you can't be arsed to interact with because its too inhuman and cringey to bear.
Ellie - Ash got it in a nut shell. Customer service ARRGH, people know what we're saying. Our lyrics are usually a tasty stew of rage, having a laugh in practice, and teetering on the edge of the precipice of sheer idiocy.
Bryony - I'm a fan of this song, sounds like if Bruce Loose from Flipper worked double shifts in the Reading branch of New Look.
Can you tell us a little bit about ‘Sick Party’ – I LOVE that song!!Ellie - All of our songs are made together during practice, when we were playing around with the tune we jokingly referred to it as our 'party tune'. The lyrics came out of our idea of parties as cheez-and-pineapple-on-sticks socialisation mutating into / synonymous with a bunch of people puking up the walls.
Bryony - Like Noel's House party with Vomit instead of Gunge. Also, my lowest human ebb has come twice, both times at fucking house parties in Lewisham and Leytonstone respectively, don't go to those places.)
It seems like bands have more and more control over their projects these days, what do you make of Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Spotify et al?Louis - The 'control' aspect of it seems really cool to me. From that list I'm only really familiar with Soundcloud. I find the internet a really handy way of listening to music, but compared to putting a record on at home it seems really tacky. There's no romance to it!
Bryony - Spotify is alright in theory but pure bullshit in practicality, I don't recall a time where I ever thought 'Hm, I know what I want to do, listen to three songs of a good record spliced with endless ads encouraging me to become a Community Support Officer and racist Nandos voiceovers. Don't care how much of the Dischord back catalogue is on there. Give me Megaupload and real life records.
What was the first piece of music you heard that made an impression on you?Louis - 'Smells like Teen Spirit'.
Ash - 'Kill the poor'
Bryony - What, ever? Queen - I'm going slightly mad. (Freddy Mercury, the last punk)
What have been some of the most memorable shows you’ve attended or played?Louis - I really enjoyed our set at the Double dot bash at South st in Reading. We hadn't played, practiced or even really seen each other for a little while. But we turned up, got a little drunk with
Black Mamba Beat, and played (in my opinion) our best gig so far.
Ellie - I recently had the misfortune of stumbling into the pub during the set of 'Kunt and the gang'. A truly horrific experience I never want to repeat.
Bryony - There's a band from Vancouver called Nu Sensae, who I saw live in Austin Texas last month, they're a two piece but make enough of a noise for ten. Stupid good.
How would you sum up the music scene in the UK right now?Louis - Off my radar.
Ellie - I can't think of words right now but whatever it is I LIKE IT.
Bryony - Brief Splurge.
Are there any bands you want to rave about? Any we need to check out?!!Louis - Not too many current bands I'm super into... I really like
Hygiene an awful lot and I'll be sad when they break up. The current lot of Barcelona hardcore bands (Otan, Glam, Crimen de Estado, Absurdo, Atentado etc) is really cool and interesting.
Ellie - I think there's a fuck load of cool bands about in the UK at the moment. Home grown hardcore bands I've seen recently off the top of my head that were great: Human Junk (they are amazing), Sump, No, Satellites of love, Endless Grinning Skulls, State Icons, Pettybone, Stab, Moloch... The list goes on.
Bryony - As far as the UK goes -
Woolf are the most exciting band in London at the moment. RIP The Lowest Form.
What’s in store for Good Throb? You can talk about any projects, doesn’t have to pertain just to music…Louis - I think we're going to record a proper single, but we haven't written it yet apart from some song titles.
Ash - Girls in bikinis, esque music vid, then at the end Ellie can come in and shit on everyone.
Bryony - 7", LP, Van, World. I am going to buy a guitar tuner instead of borrowing my roommates. Maybe.
‘I’m full of dust and guitars’ – Syd Barrett, if you were cracked open what would be inside?Louis - Cocktails and dreams
Ash - Like Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain? Id be full of cake and film reels.
Ellie - Shit and piss.
Bryony - Party and Bullshit.
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