The Goops are the type of band that thrives on conflict. For them, harmony is something which haphazardly occurs when they sing in unison. Even their last show in New York was shrouded in conflict. They played at the hippie palace known as the Wetlands and the Goops are much too aggressive to be playing in front of a rainforest backdrop, let alone next to a tie-dyed VW van. Also, the show took place on Valentine's Day, a day of love; their music screamed with bitter emotion. Ironically, all this conflict works for them and through it emerges a band with uncharacteristic togetherness.
Lucky, their latest release on Kinetic/Reprise, demonstrates this element of the Goops more so than their previous ventures; a self-titled debut on Blackout! in 1994 and the reworked "Build Me Up Buttercup" from the now sickening Mallrats soundtrack. "Our first record was a little slicker that what should represent us as a live band, but I think that was because of inexperience in the studio and not knowing how to translate our live sound to tape," singer Eleanor Whitledge explains. "(On Lucky) Everybody's got the same vision. Everybody's looking in the same direction. It's really come together and it shows. It's a maturity thing."
As is making the jump to a major label. Together with guitarist Brad Worrel, bassist Steve Mazur, and drummer Jeff Benison, Whitledge traverses through the music industry with wise intentions. "Blackout! treated us as well as they could, and our situation there was better off than most (bands on independent labels), but we were just completely frustrated with the distribution situation of small labels."
"It's bad enough to go on tour for months at a time, not really make too much money at all. Not even enough to pay your rent," Mazur further explains. "And then you get off of that tour and realize, 'hey wow, I'm on a great independent label' but you know what?" He's speaking in a fervor now. "There's not that many records in the stores so you're not selling that many records. Then you gotta go back to work and life becomes very, very frustrating."
The anger in Mazur's voice is justified. Not only was he dealing with a seemingly ignorant counterperson over the phone just minutes before our meeting, but his lunch was late as well. Anger is a vital component to the Goops music, as seems to be the case with many bands of this genre. What sets them apart, however, is the way in which they handle it. With each member writing their own parts to the songs, the Goops orchestrate their emotions and funnel the derived energy through their instruments. (And yes, Whitledge's voice is an instrument as evident by the way she cracks and bends her chords, manipulating their vibrations.)
"There have been people that have said, 'you remind me of this band or that band,'" Whitledge explains. "There's a lot of women in bands now, Tanya Donelly and that kind of stuff, but it seems to me that rarely are they paired with a really aggressive guitar sound and that's been our whole thing; make it melodic, but make it as aggressive as you can, vocally, guitarwise and otherwise. Maybe there's someone out there doing what we're doing. I hope so, because I would buy their record."
The way in which the Goops handle their anger is vented in their individual style of playing. Whitledge seems to tolerate it till the boiling point, then watch out as she explodes with fury. Mazur plays his bass in the same manner as he handles his irritantsÑwith playful ignorance. He pushes aside all difficulties and rolls over the chords with a shrug-off and a smile, his body reeling with every dip in the structure.
"I'm actually really not angry at all." Whitledge is quick to clarify her image. "No, I'm just really a big mouth. Not so much angry as rowdy. There are some things that irritate me, like stupid people."
"That's exactly what I'm angry about," Mazur interrupts with the same intensity as before. "I'm angry about stupid people. People that can't think for themselves, which, it appears, is a sign of the times. It's just pathetic. And then if you press them for a reason why they can't think for themselves, you're in a fight." He smiles at the absurdity of it all.
Although each member is unique in style, attitude, and appearance, together they are a collective Goop entity. "This band is like four quarters. If we lose one quarter, something's wrong and it doesn't work. Everybody's got to have input," Mazur says with pride. "I don't think that anything that comes out of this band should be anything but four-sided."
The Goops are trying to establish themselves as a quality headlining band. They've paid their dues touring the country six times and opening up for the likes of Rancid, Big Drill Car and Offspring. Currently they're on tour with the punk heartbeat of New Brunswick, NJ, the Bouncing Souls. Their time has come. "Certain bands get caught up in opening up for bands all the time and they become the perpetual opener. That's not gonna be the Goops," declares Mazur.
Their dynamic live show is by far the Goops' greatest asset. "We try to make our live show as fun for us and the audience as possible," Whitledge says. "If we don't feel like playing anything from the record, we don't. That probably isn't the best thing to do in terms of marketing, but so what. You'll get burned out by playing every night for six weeks. You gotta do something to make it fresh for yourself or else it shows that you're just going through the motions."
The motions gone through that Valentine's night looked anything but prefabricated. Despite playing in front of lonely people without dates in a grating environment, the Goops were able to rebound from any obstacle obstructing their path, even their drunken friend who was falling all over himself on stage. They fed off of the crowd's reactions. If the audience started to look a bit aloof, the Goops turned it up a notch to bring about cohesion among conflict.
The Goops are optimistic about their future, and rightly so. They have a certain uniqueness about them, spurred on by the clashing characteristics of their sound which forces a double take from the listener. Originality is what they strive for, not the en-vogue hybrid of key elements of established bands. The Goops want to make a band, not just a hit single. As Mazur points out, "There's so much crap out there right now. I'm not gonna point any fingers, but when you take a Bon Jovi bass riff and have Nirvana singing vocals, I can't believe you can be successful. It's just beyond me."
