FEATURE:
Spotlight
The Goa Express
___________
THERE is not a lot of music out there…
from The Goa Express yet - so I will be mostly including photos of the band. That is not a bad thing, as they are fairly new off of the blocks, but they are already establishing themselves as a major act to watch. NME recently named them among their one-hundred acts to watch this year – other sites are similarly tipping them for success. Apologies to go back and forth regarding interview chronology, but I want to bring one in from CLASH from last year, where they highlighted a band on a roll:
“Emigrating from nearby Burnley to Manchester, The Goa Express are on a hot streak of momentum. Already having played iconic venues around the country such as Band on the Wall, Brudenell Social Club and Hebden Bridge’s Trades Club. Their single ‘The Day’ rises above the standardised indie parapet. “I like the smell of weed but I don’t like the smell of smoke,” singer James declares. A song that encourages defiance, telling you to seize each moment whilst not letting others interfere.
Angular rhythms, a drum track that races alongside, and a layer of synth sandwiched in the middle - it’s a lot to take during a run time of just over two minutes. They were even given a hand by Fat White Family’s Nathan Saoudi, which serves as an exciting endorsement of this band’s potential”.
Even though the band have not put out a massive amount of music, they have been performing together for a long time now. I found an interesting interview from Louder Than War from 2018, where we learn more about various aspects of the band and how, with them being unsigned, their progress was pretty impressive:
“Fashion and image aside, Goa Express have recently recorded their debut EP, at Leeds’ iconic and renowned studio, The Nave. Having taken three years to get to point of recording their debut EP, it has been a journey to say the least. From Bryne’s (ex-keys) garage to Naham coming to turns with fret’s, as Joey reminisces; ‘Me and Clarkey (James) did a bit of guitar, Sam did a bit of drums and we thought why don’t we start a band? Naham didn’t even know what a fret was. Then we met Bryne, he was like ‘yeah I play this and that’, so we went to his garage.’ James adds, ‘First gig we played we played was in that garage’. Laughter follows the recollection of the memory, as Joey finishes the tale; ‘50 people crammed into Brynes garage, and his mum was like ‘you’ve gotta calm it down they’ve got babies next door and that’, and Bryne was like ‘we’ve got two more songs mum’ and his dad comes down, pissed as fuck like ‘your gunna have to calm it down’, and everyone’s going ‘one more song’.
It hasn’t all been plain sailing; heavy weekends result in heavy comedowns. James brings up a lack-of-serotonin-induced Weatherspoons scrap, as the second round of convo-pong unfolds, Joey opens; ‘After Beatherder, Naham had been doing bare dids all weekend’, before James adds, ‘Me and Joey came back from Benicasim so we were all on horrendous comedowns and it full on kicked off’. Above the laughter, Joey further adds ‘Naham was shaking going ‘come on then’, before James re-enacts, ‘I’m going ‘come on Naham just fucking smack me around the head’. As funny as the tale is to tell, at the time it was dangerously close to the end of Goa Express. Definitely one to tell the kids.
Besides the fun and games of band life which has been enjoyed in these three years, lack of financing has held the band back, as James provides; ‘There’s no financial income apart from what we make ourselves. No one else funds us, apart from our manager.’ Goa’s only encounter with label backing came with Wrong Way Records, which ended abruptly after a wishy-washy attempted release of their debut single, ‘Kiss Me’ with B-side ‘GOA’. The encounter was but a learning curve; onwards and upwards is the only way Goa know, as Naham comments; We’re always writing tunes and everything. Like you record something that doesn’t get released for five months and by then you’re like ‘ah we can do a lot something better now’. Getting drummers to shut the fuck in an interview is hard. But if you can get one to talk some next level inspirational quote in interviews, you’re probably on the correct career path;
As an unsigned band, Goa’s progress thus far is impressive. Getting regular, and well attended, support slots at Hebden Bridge’s Trades Club, Goa have played iconic venues of Manchester and Leeds, including Brudenell Social Club, Gulliver’s and Deaf Institute. With this, Goa have also performed with some of the UK’s most well-respected band’s, including Cabbage, Yak and The Orielles, as James states; ‘It’s always good when you know the band beforehand, then you can just party with them before and afterwards.’ Enjoying such support slots is one thing, but there is a strange mix of reassurance and frustration on behalf of the band, as Joey elaborates; ‘It’s a bit of both really. When you see local bands doing really well, it’s like ‘we just want that push with us’. We’ve worked really hard since we started, we see a lot of bands around us getting that push. We just need that bit of exposure, that push which gets us more gigs, more listens and that’s all we want”.
I will bring in a couple of other interviews before wrapping things up. Back in October, Under the Radar spoke with The Goa Express and asked about what they want to achieve in the future and how they have developed through the years:
“You were scheduled to play numerous festivals throughout the summer as well as go on tour. Does it feel as if the momentum has stalled because of COVID-19?
Joe Clarke: It’s a weird situation but then on the bright side, every other band is also facing the same kind of issues. We have lost momentum through not being able to play live but I think we’ll get it back when the time’s right and hopefully people will still be up for it same as they were before the pandemic. If not more so because there’s been such a long hiatus. We’re pleased in many ways that we didn’t have an album ready for this period because then we could have seen serious momentum dwindle away.
The Goa Express have progressed and developed at their own pace over the past four years, nurtured in some ways by your association to the psych rock scene. Do you think that’s played an important part in the band’s growth?
James Clarke: The people within that scene are so loyal as well. People that originally came to see us as fans who we now regard as some of our best friends. Some of them were coming to our gigs from day one and they’re still coming now. It did feel as if we were being boxed in a bit when people started labelling us as a psych band. But then without people on that scene giving us the opportunity to play and building our fanbase we probably wouldn’t be where we are today so we’re eternally grateful for that.
Have your plans changed as the year’s progressed in terms of recording and releasing an album as you’ve written more songs?
James Clarke: We’ve actually been in a mate of ours’ studio in Burnley doing about an album’s worth of demos. All recorded live and mixed in the same day. We were fairly ruthless. Then we went in the same studio for another session the week after. We recorded about 12 songs, 10 of which we’re happy with. Just recorded as rough demos which we worked on that day. So that’s part of our planning towards an album and which songs might work well together. In terms of singles, there’s definitely going to be more coming soon. We’re just trying to work out strategically what the best move is. When the singles come out, which songs they should be, then after that we’ll focus on putting together an album.
Apart from one member leaving in the early days The Goa Express has operated with the same line up from the outset.
James Clarke: We’ve all been best mates for years. The only reason our old keyboard player Bryn left the band was because he decided to stay in Burnley when everyone was moving to Manchester for Uni. So, Joe came in on keys. But we’re still very close friends with Bryn. This line up is permanent now. No one will ever come into it and no one will ever leave. If they do, the band won’t be here anymore. The Goa Express is just us five.
Joe Clarke: We’ve all agreed that should anyone leave then that’s it. We wouldn’t want to do it with any other people. The main thing about our band is we’re all best mates, me and James too even though we’re brothers.
Moving onto a post-COVID world within the music industry—whenever that may be. Do you think there will be many significant changes going forwards?
James Clarke: I don’t think we’ll be playing any proper gigs before the end of this year. We’ve got to be proactive about the way we think about these things but I guess we don’t spend that much time thinking about it. I think the industry will be massively affected, and I’m not sure how long it will be before everything starts up again or even goes back to normal. The more time you spend thinking about that the worse it makes you feel. I’d love to say we’ll be playing in two- or three-months’ time but you just don’t know. So, I guess we’re just using this time to carry on writing and perfecting all the things we needed to sort out before the pandemic”.
I have been a bit misleading when I said that The Goa Express have not released much material. They put out material years ago but they have taken that offline, leaving them with two singles whilst under Rough Trade management. I am not sure whether the older stuff will come back or, as they are progressing, they feel the songs they have put out recently are more fitting. In this NME interview, we learn about the songs that are available online, in addition to how the music has come together:
“‘The Day’ echoes the simplicity of The Ramones’ short and snappy hits. It’s less blowing up Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, and more pissing off university with excruciatingly loud parties, but the act of defiance still holds true. It’s all about having a laugh. “The security guard in my university halls absolutely despised me and got me in so much shit I got fined £400-odd and had to do community service,” he explains of the backstory, adding it was always bassist Naham Muzaffar by his side. “We were a bit chaotic back then but if you’re able to make a song out of it and it does quite well, who’s the one laughing?”
Only able to afford a couple of days of recording, they sought the help of Fat White Family’s Nathan Saoudi at his Sheffield ChampZone studio, across the road from the infamous City Sauna brothel. “There was a mutual understanding between us. We weren’t being ripped off for something that we had to be over the top with,” Clarke says. “It helped that we weren’t tied down by making everything perfect. It was spontaneous, off-the-cuff and we could do whatever we wanted.”
For ‘Be My Friend’, they returned to Sheffield but to instead work with Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys, Amyl and The Sniffers) just metres away from where they’d been with Saoudi. When asked about working with Orton, it’s a barrage of flattery. From similar Northern working-class backgrounds, the days spent together were full of getting to know one another. “He knows what he’s doing,” Clarke puts simply. “We had free reign to get fucked up and didn’t need to fret over the very details of things.”
Released nearly a year after ‘The Day’, new song ‘Be My Friend’ track follows in the odes to life in Manchester. A dismissal of hyperconnectivity, it’s a “fuck you” to feeling the need to know everyone’s business all the time. “I never really feel the need to go and join other people’s social groups. I’ve got everything I need right here,” he says of his close-knit group. “I see a lot of falsity in friendships. You’re not friends because you follow them on social media. People need to be more comfortable within themselves and not being friends with everyone.”
It may seem all mad parties and winging it, but that’s far from the truth. Having taken all of their older material offline, leaving them with just their two singles released while under Rough Trade Management (Shame, Black Midi), it looks like a plan of sorts is forming but even they don’t seem too sure. All they can promise are “some very chaotic and fun nights ahead”. All aboard The Goa Express, it’s going to be a messy ride”.
Go and follow The Goa Express if you have not done so already, as I think we will get some new material from them this year. When artists can go back to touring, I know there will be a lot of demand for their music. They have been compared to bands like the Ramones, but I think they have their own style and sound. With many tipping them for success, I will be interested to see just how far The Goa Express…
CAN go.
__________________
Follow The Goa Express
