The last time a band switched gears so drastically—potentially missing out on super-stardom—was The Mars Volta when they ditched At the Drive-in. They trusted their guts and felt like they were going in the wrong direction creatively—they needed something more. Gosling have a similar story, except each member of the old band stayed around for the new one, all the while retaining the endless creativity and musicianship that can only materialize from years and years of playing together. The result is their self-produced album Here Is… on V2 records. It’s one of the most adventurous records of the year and is a perfect mix-tape all by itself.
“We were kids when we formed Loudermilk,” explains guitarist/vocalist Davey Ingersoll. “It started with such great integrity and when we were introduced to the music industry that integrity slowly started to break down. Loudermilk became a product, and not one that we would have necessarily bought into.” At the time, they were touring with Mötley Crüe and Megadeth, which could be the best grad school for rock ‘n’ roll performance a band could get, but it came with a price. “Our band slowly became something that didn’t resemble anything we ever set out to create,” Ingersoll continues. “There might be moments and pieces of us in there but it’s all arranged in such a way that our intentions and our vision got lost. So after our experience with that we became acutely aware that who we were and who Loudermilk was did not line up. So we started an inquiry into finding out exactly who we were. To write and record songs as honestly and naturally as we could. And that inquiry IS Gosling.”
That is one way to sum up Gosling. Well, coming from a guy in the band, perhaps it’s the best way to describe them. But, it goes deeper. The influences are very apparent, but not so much that it hurts. It’s like knocking a painter for using blue. For example, perhaps the most challenging song on the record, “The Burnout,” plays like a rock opera, similar to The Who’s “A Quick One.” The jumpy intro drops into a swinging chorus and moments later the song detonates into an intoxicated, yet beautiful, version of “Bennie and the Jets,” which seems risky, but it’s nothing a band like this can’t pull-off. “The song just seemed to want to be about that character,” says Ingersoll. “I’ve always loved that Bennie character and I thought it would be funny to write a continuing story about her.”
The album is chock full of little surprises, which to some, may come across as adoration. Ingersoll explains, “We just wrote and played whatever came to mind and tried to go wherever the inspiration was and of course all the music that we love showed up there too.” Songs such as the beautifully intimate “Stealing Stars” comes directly after the equally endearing “Come Into My Room,” which rings of All Things Must Pass-era George Harrison, complete with some of the tightest harmonies this side of the equator. Then there’s the Iggy Pop-ish “The Glass is Empty,” jamming a hard riff down your throat until you’re almost dead but quickly pulls away as if the song is saying, “just kidding,” then proceeds to choke you again. But it’s all in good fun.
The guys are clever and smart and perhaps that’s what happens when you don’t have a greasy producer mucking up your ideas. “We produced our album and I think that not having a producer there allowed us to be completely free,” says Ingersoll. “We didn’t have to whittle down our ideas or marginalize them and I think that gave the record its spirit.” Listening to stand-out tracks like “Mr. Skeleton Wings” and “One Hand Two Hand” makes you wish you were a fly on the wall during the recording sessions. One can only imagine what the next incarnation of these four childhood pals from Southeastern Washington will come up with next.
