The name Gooey Cookie came from a friend trying to remember the band Gouge Away and getting it spectacularly wrong. Collin Hill liked it enough to build a band around it โ first by badgering his brother Nathan into buying a drum kit and relearning the instrument after years of playing guitar, then by roping in guitarist Justin Luebke.
“He took the ridiculous name and ran with it,” Nathan says. “Eventually he wore me down enough to purchase a drum set and re-learn how to play after several years of playing guitar exclusively. Justin is a friend we were unfortunately โ for him, fortunately for us โ able to rope into this mess.”
Their debut EP “Gimme the Goo” is out now digitally and on cassette through Manic Mantra, a tape-only imprint of Denver’s Convulse Records. Six tracks of loud, hook-driven alt rock that leans on Weezer, Teenage Fanclub, and Matthew Sweet but pulls from less expected places too โ Cock Sparrer, Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr, Oasis. Anything loud, basically.
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The Convulse connection was a natural one. Nathan played with one of the people behind Manic Mantra in a hardcore band through the better part of the 2010s. Why tape? “We did a tape because that’s what they do,” he says. No grand philosophy there.
Denver, for its part, isn’t exactly known for power pop. The city’s hardcore scene is thriving, and its metal scene regularly produces bands with national reach. Gooey Cookie know they’re an odd fit.
“We’re definitely a bit of an odd duck in terms of our peers,” Nathan admits, “but a lot of people in those scenes have expressed some level of enjoyment for this kind of music.”
He points to American Culture, No Dreams, and Broken Record as local acts they overlap with. The band has also been working to put together more mixed-bill shows โ a tradition Nathan feels has faded in recent years.
The songs on “Gimme the Goo” sit in a specific emotional pocket. Nathan describes the bulk of the EP as driven by “existential angst, feeling like you take up space in a world you don’t belong in, or feeling like you’re developmentally delayed, whether by your own failures or the failures of your environment.” For people loosely the same age as the band, he adds, those themes hit close in 2026.
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“Gimme the Goo” was recorded at Goo HQ in November 2025 by Jack Oberkirsch and mastered by Zac Montez at Time Well Recordings. The tracklist runs: “I’ll Think Of U,” “Bored To Tears,” “Wired Weird,” “Gimme The Goo,” “Freakin Out,” and “CDNR.” All songs written by Gooey Cookie. Collin Hill handles bass and vocals, Justin Luebke plays guitar, Nathan Hill plays drums.
Cassettes are available through Manic Mantra. The EP is streaming everywhere.
