Blare Magazine recently did an interview with GOOD OLD WAR vocalist/guitarist Keith Goodwin, who talks about “Come Back as Rain”, the band’s latest album.
There’s a short documentary online of you guys in the studio recording Come Back As Rain and, in it, Dan says a great deal of the songs were recorded live. Did your surroundings influence what you were recording?
Yeah, when you’re in a good place with good vibes and no distractions I feel like you get good takes. The studio has great equipment, so the sound of the record I think is better than anything we’ve done so far. There are only two tracks that we did fully live. For the rest of them we did all the music live and then the vocals after that. But it was still cool. The way the room was set up, everybody could see each other and we could communicate while we were playing and that was cool. “Loud Love” was one of the songs recorded all live, and the other was a bonus track. There has been about three different names for this song so far, but I think it’s called “Take it Slow” now.
There are a lot of moments, like in “Better Weather,” “It Hurts Every Time” and “After The Party”, where it really sounds like you guys are having fun and you almost can’t help but smile when you listen to it. Is that a fair assessment of what it was like at that time?
Yeah, definitely. I remember doing “It Hurts Every Time,” and I was country line dancing and joking around during the solo parts. It’s a fun song.
Eleven songs made the cut for Come Back as Rain, but there were almost 20 other songs or song ideas that got left on the cutting room floor. Looking back a year later, did you pick the right 11 songs?
Listening back, there are other songs that I think about and that could have been sweet on the record but, the way I see it, it’s a record of the way you’re feeling at the time and what you think is the best at the time. So, looking back, I always think there are things I would’ve changed if I was doing it right now. But, then I think, “That’s just what it is. We’ll do something different next time”. That’s just me wanting to grow and make better decisions. I think it’s a good thing. If I look back and say, “That’s perfect. I don’t need to do anything different”, I wouldn’t be thinking ahead.
GOOD OLD WAR live:
