There is a canyon, through which the river of music should flow. On one side of the canyon there is a great verge of cheese, which is the smelly kind, in a bad way. This must be avoided. On the other side is a great verge of indeterminate obscurity. Elements of this obscurity are wonderful, yet as with the cheese, for a good river you need both sides. So, the river flows with the colour of creation. There is melody, of course melody. Can there be a song without melody? Schönberg said there were many tunes still to be written in the key of C. GoodBooks have only one song in the key of C, but no matter. And at the same time there is inquisitiveness, a journey through all sorts of weird and wonderful sounds. The river eventually flows to the sea, whence cometh enlightenment/the meaning of life/a glimpse of the ultimate form of good.
'Control' is the first step towards the sea. Twelve songs with their own rules and their own world. Lyrically it's not a very positive record, but through its honesty it somehow ends up more positive than it would really be if it had been kept all nice and user-friendly. The words are garbled, sometimes mad, always unsure - after all we're none of us sure of what we're doing.
GoodBooks have had a very wonderful year, thankyou. We've played all over the UK with many great bands. We've released two singles and an album, which the world was by and large very positive about. We made it to Amsterdam and Paris. We've been played on the radio and had sets at festivals. No-one's a smackhead yet. Sorry to our American listeners who are still waiting patiently for a visit - it's good to hear from you as often as we do. Thankyou to our British audiences for coming out to see us on the road.
Right now we're already writing and rehearsing new songs for a new record. It's already very good and very different from the last one. I think we're less aggravated than we were, a bit more at ease with how things are, a bit more resigned to life. But maybe that's just because the weather's been nice.
me too!
Gosh I love this band