Goldfish
The local classified ads aren’t just a place to find an apartment, get rid of your car or hunt for a job. Two-and-a-half years ago, a classified ad in the Montreal Mirror was the catalyst forming the band Goldfish.
“Miraculously, I hooked up with Carrie,” recalls Gary Janz, the band’s drummer, on the result of his classified ad looking for a female songwriter. “We hit it off right away, came from the same musical head space. When Vicky joined the band about a year after that, she started writing some songs as well. There are three distinct songwriters in the band, and we each have our own style. Those styles manage to come together and distill into a unified sound.”Â
The Goldfish sound can be experienced on their five-song indie cassette, Let Sleeping Dogs Drive. The songs, ranging from the guitar-driven and moody “Janice,” to the melodic, ethereal “Oberon 11, Juno 9,” showcase, not only the band’s ability to work together within their own musical diversity, but how they have managed to transcend their influences and create their own, distinct music.
“When we first got together, our initial influences were stuff like the Breeders, Belly, Throwing Muses, stuff like that,” says Gary. “PJ Harvey was, for sure, a big influence. Luckily, we’ve kind of gotten away from that, inasmuch as we don’t use them as reference points as much as we used to when we first started. We’re not breaking any barriers or anything, but we are developing our own style within the context of the kind of music we’re playing.”
One thing that sets Goldfish apart from so many contemporary bands on the indie music scene is their attention to the craft of songwriting. Their songs are well structured, both individually and in context with the other songs on the tape, yet maintain a free-flowing artistry. This emphasis on songwriting is one of the reasons Gary enjoys working with the people he’s with.
“A lot of bands are going for the in-your-face, bombastic, heavy riffs and heavy grooves with a total absence of decent songs to back that up.” But Gary also acknowledges the fact that the Goldfish sound is evolving. “I think we’re getting heavier, to a certain extent. I think that’s a good mixture of strong songwriting and a good, heavy kind of sound. I’m finding that with more shows we do like that, we’re winning over audiences.”
Winning over audiences is not something that is very easy for an English-speaking band in a French-speaking market. Lack of press covering the indie-music scene in Montreal, together with lack of air-time on local radio stations and the recent loss of Foufounes Electrique, a local venue that had been supporting alternative music for the past 15 years (Goldfish played the Foufounes Electrique just two days before the club had its liquor license revoked), makes a struggle of getting material out to the masses.
“We don’t have anything like Now or eye,” Gary explains. “Any kind of [alternative] radio is sorely lacking. If we had a decent, or even semi-decent radio station along the lines of CFNY — I realize that it’s become a little watered-down over the years, but it’s still better than anything Montreal has.”
Even if the Montreal market seems a bit hostile towards Anglophone artists, Goldfish has no intentions of relocating in the near future. With all of its apparent hardships, Montreal is home and, according to Gary: “You can’t beat Montreal in the summer. It’s really beautiful.”
The members of Goldfish currently include Gary on drums and Chris on bass, with Carrie and Vicky taking care of guitars and vocals. At press time, the band was working on some new material and to record a seven-inch. More singles and a full-length album are tentatively scheduled to be released by summer’s end.
When Goldfish rolls into Sneaky Dee’s on February 18th, take the time to check them out. Their show at Foufounes Electrique and a recent opening for Grant Lee Buffalo are indications that this band has beaten the odds their market has stacked against them and is gaining some well deserved notoriety.