LOUIS FORSTER OF THE GOON SAX

Any artists worth their weight in salt will always be pushing themselves to produce different music and will readily explore new sounds. Taking the best elements from their original works and honing their inherit skills onto a new and previously unexplored sonic space. An ability to enter an untouched creative sphere with a willingness to abandon a safe and well established persona at the drop of a hat. Such factors can create a sense of anxiety and excitement in fans upon hearing the announcement of an upcoming record yet any trepidation of a potentially unpalatable new sound is soothed by the knowledge that every track will have been well considered and finessed to within an inch of its life. The eagerly awaited release of Mirror II by Brisbane trio The Goon Sax is their third instalment and one to delight both fans and musicians alike.

On the topic of pushing sonic boundaries and challenging listeners, lead vocalist Louis Forster explains “We all played a bunch of instruments we didn’t really know how to, which definitely pushed us to not be able to hang back in our comfort zone. Controlling noise was definitely a challenge within the whole process for us. At the start of writing the record we had a lot of fucked up guitars and synths which was totally new for us, I mean previously we’d mostly just used acoustic guitars, live drums etc so we had to learn how to fit that around our melodic songs and not go full Merzbow on it. As far as listeners are concerned in my own song writing I was often thinking about creating familiar spaces in which something felt wrong or off. A beautiful space you’ve been to before becoming haunted. That’s definitely something I took from films like Picnic at Hanging Rock, Sunset Boulevard or - as clichéd as it sounds - David Lynch.” Simply hearing the lead single is enough to convince listeners that the new direction and style The Goon Sax have chosen is the right place to go.

The first single In The Stone is one that is electrifying in every sense of the word. Not just the lightning bolts that crackle across Riley Jones, Louis Forster and James Harrison in the video clip but thematically in that it has awoken something in each of them that shows in the equilateral way their individual talents and contributions shine as brightly as one another. The vocal dualities on the track with Louis unreserved aussie tone coupled with Riley’s sweet harmonies has a beautiful play about it and finding out if this was this an instinctive and immediate choice to share the vocals on the track or a concept that took shape throughout the songs evolution is firmly answered with Louis stating “the song was always going to be duet, but who sung what definitely changed throughout the process. We have multiple demos where the trading of verses/singing together is structured differently. I wrote the lyrics as a dialogue and even though that doesn’t directly correspond to what Riley and I sing, I always knew I wanted to capture that quality in the song. My mum is a sucker for duets so I grew up with a soft spot for them too”.

The clip for In The Stone is a wonderfully crafted video and stylistically is quite broad but largely consisting of early 90’s visuals and VHS fx. When quizzed about story boarding ideas for the clip and canvasing some concepts that the band were specifically channelling, Louis explains that “a lot of early 90s UK rave videos were a big influence. We sent Mara (Palena, video director) a lot of references which included A.R Kane, Primal Scream, The Prodigy etc. Although the biggest influence might have been these 70’s Nam June Paik videos my friend Sarah had been sending me. In terms of the themes, dancing in front of a green screen with videos of ourselves on it was meant to signify transcending self-awareness, feeling weird about yourself but learning to just close your eyes and party with it. The band shots in the white room reference a kind of higher, other dimensional version of ourselves I try to but often struggle to reach. That’s been an ongoing theme I think.”

Shifting gear and for that matter era, the second single Psychic is one that melds 80’s synth and gritty early industrial guitar into a modern fusion which feels particularly well highlighted in the video clip for Psychic, perfectly blending sight and sound, new and old. The sparsity between genres and delivering two quite different singles hints at the breadth and depth of Mirror II as Louis states “most of the songs on the album are pretty different” and in regards to the overall style and instrumentation employed on Mirror II Louis explains what it was most of all that the band wanted to feature on the record “with Riley starting to play guitar and doing so in a totally different way to James or myself I think we wanted to highlight all three of our guitar playing because that seemed to capture the band in that moment, so it was important to put every one of us on main guitar duty. Ugly beauty, and force and restraint were themes we talked about a lot” and this kind of emphasis is not only prominent in defining how the record was to sound but evident of the band themselves and how they interact. The dynamism between the three is quite special and the glue that binds The Goon Sax. Louis explains how that relationship has that evolved over time and in what ways it shows on this record. “We have a lot of respect for each other as musicians and songwriters. I realise the moments on the record I am proudest of are where I felt I was able to do Riley or Jim’s songs justice with my playing. That can mean hanging back and creating the foundational blocks like on Tag where I play five bass notes or stepping up front and soloing like Riley does on Psychic. We all feel so honoured to play on each other’s writing that we just want to make them as good as they can be and remove our ego as much as we can. Sometimes the crazy cool riff we wrote isn’t what the song needs! That said, there were also many moments on this record where one of us would take a major left turn on another’s songs and trusting that is so important! We have a way of slotting in and existing side by side that has always been foundational to the band but it’s also something I truly believe we are still getting better at, which is maybe why we keep going.”

That sustained drive in the face of challenges, distance and time can be hard to maintain, particularly between multiple band members, each with their own life to lead. To ponder this point and to determine if the lyrical content throughout the record is a summation of the past three years between now and 2018’s We're Not Talking and if everything that transpired to each of them in the past 36 months coalesced into the ten tracks we hear on Mirror II, Louis remarks “I find it hard to comment on Riley and Jim’s lyrics. We don’t always talk about what our songs are about and I think probably make up our own meanings for what the others write. I don’t think it’s a summation though, there’s a lot we don’t write about and three years is a long time. For me there’s certain occurrences, moments, conversations that feel “GoonSaxy.” This band is definitely an ever-changing space we try to push and expand but I felt like once we found that space for Mirror II there were certain things that illuminated it more than others. It’s something we all intuitively feel. There are definitely moments in my life where I feel like I am living in one of our songs and others that feel far removed from the band.”

The oscillation that Louis describes is a fascinating one in that it is no secret that his father Robert of the Go-Betweens has a musical pedigree that is the envy of most musicians having contributed to some of Australia’s iconic indie music records. So where do the lines of Louis’s work and that of his fathers cross over and conversely where do those lines diverge? “I think my song writing is more emotional, I always try to capture feelings and a space where I’d say my dad is more of a narrative storyteller perhaps from more of a distance while my songs are a close up tangle. He’s a real singer-songwriter but I’ve never seen myself in that way at all! Someone asked me how we’re creatively similar recently and I really think what sums it up best is that we both think the Monkees are a better band than the Beatles or Rolling Stones.” The lineage of generational talent and surrounding oneself with proven talent is further exemplified by working with producer John Parish of Aldous Harding and PJ Harvey fame. Louis describes what John brought to the table which shines through on the album by commenting “John brought so so much I could go on forever here, but if I had to say a few things in key words it would be: spontaneity, truth, and not overthinking. A large reason we wanted to work with John is because he captures songs and complex songwriters so well. Not trying to say any of us are the multifaceted songwriters that PJ Harvey is but there are three of us! He makes things as much themselves as they can be and rarely tries to rein them in, so when he does we trusted that too.”

Taking sage advice when and where it presents itself can come from any number of people and recalling his time when on tour with Teenage Fanclub in 2018, Louis inherited a nugget of wisdom extolled by their guitar tech who “was the notorious “guitar George” (as mentioned in Dire Straits' Sultans of Swing). He pulled me aside and told me that he’s seen too many great bands break up over small things in heated moments and that when I see that happening just to walk out and leave, talk the next day! He also told me to remember who the band is. The moment you think managers, labels etc are as much the band as the members, everything’s fucked. You gotta stick together!” Who dare argue with such knowledge when tests to the strength and fortitude of a band come in many various ways as Louis recalls “one of our first shows was at a runway show for a little boutique in Brisbane, we were meant to be playing while the models walked down the catwalk - very Victoria’s Secret! Riley couldn’t make it because she had exams so it was just Jim and I on acoustic guitars. The runway was outside and it started bucketing with summer rain so it was called off at the last minute. Jim and I ended up just playing inside to the very disappointed models and we all got drunk on the free booze because literally two people came. One was my primary school crush who I still wanted to impress and I think it gave pretty strange picture of our band.” From the earliest moments through to here and now, knowing that what music gives Louis that nothing else does is “honestly, the ability to get up in the morning. I put headphones on first thing, it helps me understand my place in the world of the living. That sounds very sinister, but my love and connection to it have always felt like a wonderful irrational gift that was planted into the strange functions of my brain. I don’t know where I’d be without it!”

And for the benefit of many, this endless drive that Louis and his compatriots have with the energy it garnish’s them, is to the advantage of us all. What Mirror II offers musically, is equalled in the passion they have for their craft and as an outfit have cemented themselves in the greater indie music collective with a fine record and one that is as adventurous, vibrant and expressive as the members themselves.