An Interview with Goldenboy
Photo by Silke Hartung
Musical secrets exist in all of the strangest corners of the world. We have all discovered our own little gems in the weirdest places I’m sure, but if only there was enough time to listen to everything available, discard the bad, and enjoy the good. Ah, how I dream of such an easy life. Sadly, I confess it’s out of reach, but fortunately all is not lost. In the deepest, darkest reaches of Los Angeles (the strangest corner of the world) lies Goldenboy, one of the sweetest secrets in existence.
There, this three-piece play their simple songs in a simple fashion, with a hint of innocence often lacking in the current musical climate, and it results in a brand of gentle indie-pop blowing over you like a refreshing breeze on a summer’s day. If that doesn’t appeal to you then you may as well leave the building right now because you are not going to find any torment and angst here.
The musicians behind the Goldenboy name are Shon Sullivan, Bryan Bos and David McConnell, who got together on the LA scene piece by piece. Shon had originally played with Spain and was also together in Moonwash with Brian, whereas David came along later to fill out the line-up and bring his studio expertise to the mix. Together they settled into their own sound of playing little pop songs with hints of melancholy, and rocking the live scene with fun and chaotic shows.
As a unit, small splashes were gradually being made on the LA scene, but it was through Shon’s work with other musicians that has returned much more focus to the Goldenboy name. Over the past few years he has played on tour with Elliott Smith and Neil Finn (resulting in gigs with Johnny Marr, Sebastian Steinberg, Lisa Germano, Ed and Phil from Radiohead, and even Eddie Vedder at times, though the list could probably continue), but it’s his work in the present which brings him back to the Netherlands as the guitarist with Eels.
So it has been an interesting ride for the man often referred to as Goldenboy himself, and I was able to catch up with him backstage in Rotterdam, in between the random background ramblings of Eels members and the buzzing of pesky Dutch flies, to chat about his life and musical world.
Firstly, have you been having fun with the Eels so far?
Oh yeah, definitely! This is my first time out playing with them. We did about three shows out in LA before we left, and now we’re here in Europe.
From the reviews and fan reactions, everyone seems happy with the shows so far…
Well, E has this real steady, diehard following of fans. Actually, the very first show in Brussels was kinda surreal because we were all still jetlagged. I fell asleep completely in the dressing room and woke up to the sound of MC Honky playing in the background. Then we were out there and it was like we had just been awake for a few minutes, but it was a fantastic night. I remember thinking that it was really, really fun. For it to be the first night of the tour and such a good night was such a good sign. It was a great audience and the Eels just seem to have a big fanbase in the area.
They actually seem more popular here in Europe than they do in the US, currently…
Yeah… Well, most of the music I like and listen to always seems to be more popular over here. I don’t know why I’m still living over there.
So how did you get involved with the Eels?
It was actually through a mutual friend back in Los Angeles. There’s a guy that runs a club called Café Largo - a gentleman named Flannigan. He’s just kinda taken me under his wing a little bit, and he seems to know everyone in town, so when they needed someone, he recommended me.
I thought there may also have been an element of your Lisa Germano connection as she had previously been part of the Eels band…
Yeah, that was part of the connection too, and I think she was a big part of me wanting to do this as well, because she did it, and she was always telling me all of the different stories about the adventures they had. And of course, she’s like one of my all time favourite people/musicians for sure. Lisa’s wonderful really; a super fun person to play music and travel with. She just plays every musical instrument going.
Of course, when you played with her as part of the Neil Finn touring band, it was such a strong group of musicians overall…
It was an amazing line-up of people. I was looking at it some days like “I don’t know how I got here.” I’m playing and Lisa Germano is right here and there is Johnny Marr on the far side. I was going, “Oh my God!” because I saw The Smiths when I was in high school.
Do you feel like the experience of playing with those musicians has influenced you greatly since then?
Yeah, definitely. It’s been such a great experience seeing how different people play and write, and I think it always rubs off a little, hopefully.
Do you think you’ll ever be involved with Neil again?
I think when he goes out again. He’s doing another record right now with his brother, so he could be doing that for the next several years. Record it for a year and tour it for a year. I think after that when he goes out again as a band… Well, I know he was really happy with and digging that band, so I think he’d probably ask all of us to come back, and I’m sure we’ll all be like, “Yeah!”
Well I’m sure a lot of fans would be delighted to hear that since so many people were happy with that touring show…
Yeah, Neil’s really one of the most gracious people in music. Everyday he’d be like “Hey, you do a song,” or “Lisa, you do a song now.” It was great. It really made you feel like you were at home, and halfway through the first tour I did with him, the opening act was sick so he was like, “Shon, do you wanna do the opening show?” and it was this big theatre in Ipswich, so I just played an acoustic show. I always travel with my little Casio keyboard so I just carried that on stage and it was me and John Walsh (the guitar tech) playing a set we had just put together backstage. I think that was maybe only the fourth Goldenboy show ever.
You also played as a touring guitarist for Elliott Smith previously. How did you end up taking that path as a musician?
Well, the Elliott thing was originally through Scott McPherson, who also played drums for Elliott, and all of a sudden one night, he called me from on tour in Europe and they needed someone who would be able to play guitar and piano. I was a huge fan even before then, so I already knew some of the stuff.
So really, it’s all been a steady chain of events that has happened…
Yeah. I just kinda fell into it, or fell backwards into it really. Ass backwards as they say, because I really wasn’t trying to find a band and tour the world. I was always just doing my own thing back in LA and by doing that I started meeting people like Scott and Elliott.
How do you actually deal with playing someone else’s songs every night and having to learn so many in a short space of time?
Well, I always try to hear how they’re being done then trying to add a little bit of myself to the mix. I guess it depends on how picky the artist is and what exactly they want, but I’ve only played with people I wanted to play with. I already had their CD's in my record collection so I feel lucky in that respect as I was already into it to begin with. When you’re playing it with the band, after a few nights you’re not even hearing it like on the CD anymore. Everything you do has a little bit of your own interpretation in it, but sure, you want to stay true to the artist’s intentions. Sometimes you go waaay out and you’re like, “Woah! I better bring it back a little bit.”
As for learning the actual songs, what I do is I just take a cassette out in my car, and because I live in Diamond Bar just outside Los Angeles I always have to drive back and forth a lot for shows and sessions, and I just listen to the records then. I actually never sit at home behind an instrument learning the songs, just listening over and over to them in the car. Maybe I’ll start playing them on the very last day, but learning is what rehearsals are for after all.
It’s obviously a very beneficial aspect, as playing with all these people keeps opening your own music up to new audiences. Do you think there will be a similar effect with the Eels tour?
Well, this one is maybe a little more low-key, but there’s always someone who takes an interest. There’s a real musical community, it seems, especially with the Internet. I’m always curious when I go see different groups about finding out who’s doing what and you start to see the same names appearing. Eventually you discover some of your favourite bands have this same link running through them. That’s partly how Los Angeles is too, because there are so many bands and people out there who are just doing it, so it’s like a little bit of a community.
Moving onto Goldenboy specifically, when was Blue Swan Orchestra recorded?
It was recorded right during the summer of 2001, but we were actually still doing stuff on it right into the fall, in between little trips and tours. When we started, actually, we didn’t know we were setting off to do this record. It was just kinda like doing demos and recordings at home then working over at Bryan’s house as well. Eventually we hooked up with David McConnell who was another old friend and he had a better studio so we did more work up there. By the end of it all I was like, “Okay, I guess we’ve got a record.”
How did you get involved with B-Girl Records who put the record out?
Well, they own Satellite Park - the studio where we recorded at, so that was one of the ways which we ended up getting involved with them. They’re actually a new label so we were really their debut release. It’s been great, as they’re really a self-contained label.
There is no official release of Blue Swan Orchestra in Europe so far, is there?
Not yet. It’s just came out in Australia about a month and a half ago and it was only officially released to stores in the US last fall. It’s been a real slow process of getting it out there but now all the channels are set up, so the next release should be a lot smoother.
Any idea of a potential release date, though?
Well, it’s distributed by Cargo Distribution in Europe and the UK so there are a few copies making it out here, but it’s really only being carried by a few independent stores. After Australia, this is definitely the next area to start focussing on.
What about getting the full band over here on tour?
I really hope so. That’s what we’re shooting for as well because it’s a really nice experience. We do it as a three-piece – Brian plays on drums as well as keyboards - old analogue synth stuff as well as his old rickety drum machine. I play piano and guitar. David plays bass and some chamberlain keyboard stuff. We’re kinda like a 5-piece except there is only three of us, but it means we can do a larger variety of things.
Has the full band ever toured outside of the US at all?
We haven’t. Well, we did a huge North American tour last fall when the CD was coming out, which was meant to last one month but ended up being two. Extra dates kept being added on and we did some shows with the band Ash. When we got home we then went and did another west coast trip with Luna, and then some other little week-long trips here and there sneaking in. We’ll definitely hook something up for here, though. It has to be done.
So what are David and Bryan up to just now while you’re with the Eels?
Well, they keep really busy. Bryan actually does graphic design and he’s been doing other people’s album covers. He’s just finished an album sleeve for Matt Sharp of Weezer who’s been doing a solo CD. He gets really into it and stays up till 5am every night working, then when you come back to him the next day, he shows you it and there will be three little tree branches moved over ever so slightly. He’ll spend hours on it all and that’s what makes it so great. He designed the Goldenboy artwork and photography as well. David does engineering and recording stuff and he recorded the Alaska album on B-Girl Records as well as numerous other artists like Folk Implosion, so he’s constantly busy.
Recently your song ‘Summertime’ featured on the TV show 6 Feet Under. How did that come about?
There’s a station called KCRW over in the States, and what ended up happening is that one of the program directors for that TV show is also a DJ there so knew of the band. I think they just chose it because it worked well with the scene they were working on, and it’s great because in the same one is an Eels song, like it was some kind of weird destiny.
Have you ever been involved with TV and film before this?
I’ve done some independent film stuff as well, but nothing with that level of coverage. It’s mainly film shorts. I’ve written music for two different little 15-minute films that were played at festivals - The Sundance Festival, and that kind of stuff. I was working on another short film too, and it was supposed to be a comedy spoof-type thing, but it came out so bad that it never made it past the first edit.
So do you have a Goldenboy schedule for the future?
I always try to do everything all at once really. We record bits and pieces of new stuff whenever I’m home, and when I get back from this tour, I’m going to try to duck out to Australia quickly as we don’t want to wait too long after the CD release.
Course, you’ve already been playing new songs in your set, so obviously there are songs ready to go…
Yeah. Well, Blue Swan Orchestra is only ten songs and two of them are instrumental, so if we’re gonna play just the whole CD, that’s eight songs. It’s not enough for a set, but it’s nice because we always have that opportunity to put in a couple of little extras, so there are a few new songs. Actually, some of them I was playing with Neil on the road and he would play on them, so I’m hoping when it comes to recording the new album I’ll be able to send it to him and he can record his organ part which is great. Lisa Germano also has this fantastic violin part, so hopefully it will come together.
And you’re probably welcome to guest on theirs I’m sure…
Actually, when I’m guesting on other people’s records, it’s exciting too. You totally wanna do it, so if someone asks me if I want to come down and play I’m really into it. A lot of times I even end up playing cello on different recordings. I think the Alaska record was one of them. There aren’t too many pop musicians who play cello, so even though I’m very mediocre on that instrument, with the proper engineer who can cut and paste, they always make me sound far better than I really am.
It seems the sky is the limit for Goldenboy, then…
Well, I never thought that Goldenboy would even get to have a full CD out. Originally I thought this was all just gonna be a few shows, so it’s surpassed everything we expected and it’s all just a bonus from here. I owe a lot to the friends I’ve gotten to play with for taking me out and showing me some of the world; showing me what I’m getting myself into. I think I’m probably crazy for continuing on, but yeah, it’s good.
Steven McCarron
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