Throughout the life of this blog I’ve posted quite a few interviews with various musicians I like. This time I’m in the hot seat.
My dear friends Tim Mader-Brown and Lars Stromberg have a songwriting blog called Food For The Beloved, which I’ve linked to before from here. They sent me some interview questions a while back and just posted the results.
PS. Tim… found your orange Z avenger.
The Steve Goold Blog 
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April 30, 2010 at 3:08 pm
tomatobrown
keep it, you’ve earned it
May 3, 2010 at 8:02 am
matt baker
i’m a drummer / disc golf player as well. been driving the “wraith” right on down the fairway. you have a fav disc?
May 3, 2010 at 11:16 am
stevegoold
matt… I’m a discraft guy. it’s all about the XL for me.
May 4, 2010 at 6:06 pm
saba
hey steve,
my friends and i have been discussing your response to the first question in the interview. i’m not sure i get it. it turned out to be a touchy subject for a lot of the kids i talked to, so i want to clarify that i’m not coming at you sideways in asking you to clarify what you meant; i’m just trying to figure it out. i/we had trouble understanding this part:
“I’ve never felt pushed or inspired by culture/politics/relationships/whatever to play my drums a certain way. (…) The world where I play my instrument is a sonic environment only. I don’t really connect my ‘life’ and my playing at all.”
how can this be? i interpret it as meaning that you just play what sounds pleasing to your ear. is there more going on?
thanks
– saba
May 5, 2010 at 1:46 am
stevegoold
Saba…
I wondered if anyone would comment on that. Thanks for asking.
I know I’m probably in the minority on that issue, but what you said is accurate. My mood, my experiences, my beliefs… I’m not trying to communicate those while I play. Instead I’m just trying to play what sounds best in the context, musically. That’s not to say that emotion has no role in what I do, but it’s all in a sound context. In other words, my playing isn’t some sort of window into my soul – it’s just a glimpse of what I prefer drumming to sound like.
I suppose it’s not %100 like that, but that’s what I go for at least. If we were to sit down and hang out for a while, then you’d get to see more about who I am in the emotional/personality realm. This is probably because I’m not a songwriter. Instead of conveying who I am through writing songs, I help other people convey who they are by playing grooves behind their songs. So I end up leaving my life experiences out of it in place of serving theirs.
Does that make sense?
May 5, 2010 at 8:49 pm
Bill R
Steve, I’m with you 100%. Makes sense that way to me too.
May 6, 2010 at 11:48 am
JimmyMayor
This response is really for those playing in the church setting. Psalm 150 tells drummers to praise God with our instruments.
Psalm 150
4 praise him with tambourine and dancing,
praise him with the strings and flute,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
It is not saying play drums in such a way that those singing are not distracted from praising God. It says we are to praise God. I am not sure what this looks like, but I think it is important. At least in the context of playing as a worshiper, our heart of worship should be directly expressed by our playing and thus effect our playing.
Anyone want to weigh in on this?
May 7, 2010 at 12:17 am
saba
Steve,
That does make sense. I see what you’re saying and I probably approach the kit in the same way more often than not. I think the drums naturally lend themselves to being played that way. The drums are my instrument and a big part of my life, but, like any other instrument, there really are only so many ways to play them (especially in the hired gun realm).
I also see what you’re saying here: “Instead of conveying who I am through writing songs, I help other people convey who they are by playing grooves behind their songs.”
If you’re playing some new stuff that’s not pop or rock or whatever, it’s cool to let yourself and your own ideas shine through, but I think what inspires songwriters that already have their own vision is to play what you think will bring out the best version of the song. Right?
When I’m playing alone for myself though, it’s another story. Bad day = loud drums, moody day = snares off. etc etc.