Goldpark on Their Growth as a Band, Escapist Elements and Rock Influences in “Goldpark Two”
The journey to finding your purpose and sound can be a whirlwind of emotions.
Indie-rock trio Goldpark – the project of Nashville-based musicians Wes Hunter (vocals), Andrew Smith (guitar) and Kyle Neblett (drums) – release Goldpark 2!, the anticipated follow up to the band’s debut EP Goldpark One. Immersed in energetic rock sensibilities, visceral storytelling and glistening pop melodies, it’s clear that the trio have solidified their identity as a band.
The emotionally charged and heartwarming EP follows the band throughout their artistic journey of defining themselves as a band and embracing genre-bending soundscapes. The five song tracklist brings the perfect combination of relatability and comfort to reign in a new era for Goldpark. Heavily reminiscent of staple 90s British rock and countercultural influences, interlaced with seamlessly woven instrumentals and energetic melodies, Goldpark 2! celebrates the band’s optimistic perspective of the world around them.
Goldpark 2! has been the band’s “North Star” for fueling creativity and passion, and served as a general reminder to keep their heads up and smile. With vibrancy and enthusiasm, Goldpark possesses a talent for capturing a glimmer of hope in their listener’s eyes and providing escapism throughout the highs and lows of life, turning these elements into the most memorable and vibrant storylines.
“There's a lot of heavy stuff and people are coming to shows or listening to our music with a lot of different things going on in their life, and so if we can provide a little bit of escapism in the positive sense that will be rewarding in itself,” Smith says. “There’s a lot of hope and beauty in life to be happy about.”
Goldpark 2! captures the best representation and most concentrated sample of how far the band has come along, artistically and sonically.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Thank you for sitting down and talking to Unpublished Magazine. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music better. For any readers who aren’t familiar, how would you describe your music?
[ANDREW:] We have a hard time figuring out what to call ourselves on genre and it seems like a constant conversation. Rock n’ roll doesn't feel disingenuous, but it also doesn't feel like the full picture. I feel like indie-rock feels closer to it.
[WES:] We’re constantly talking about it and we land somewhere in the indie-rock realm.
[UNPUBLISHED:] When and how was the band formed?
[ANDREW:] So we started Goldpark at the beginning of 2020. Wes and I had been making music for about six months, and we met six months prior to Goldpark getting started and it was something that we felt like we wanted to make it a project. I know Kyle from Memphis, where I moved from. We decided to start Goldpark and I called Kyle, and Kyle is one of the best drummers I’ve ever played with and it was the perfect little marriage of people and talents.
[WES:] Yeah it’s fun. In the first year in isolation, we wrote an EP and then for the last year and a half, we’ve been on the road playing new songs. Last February, we finished our second EP, which came out this month called Goldpark Two. Now we're writing some new stuff.
[UNPUBLISHED:] You guys have an upcoming tour planned next month. Do you guys have any pre-show or post-show rituals that you do to help ensure you play your best show live?
[ANDREW:] We were doing a lot of bar shows the past year and a half and we would always get Tin Roof’s free shots. Now, we bought our own bottle of tequila and we take that wherever we go and we have our model of 1800 Tequila which is the ritual.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What are some of your guys' go to artists that you listen to either to ground yourself or be energized before you play a show?
[WES:] In our show currently in the last year and a half, we've been playing a cover by Radiohead – which is one of our favorite bands – we play “High & Dry” most nights to remind ourselves of bands like them that have inspired us to do what we do and to ground us as a reminder. In Rainbows and OK Computer are definitely in that list.
[ANDREW:] William Gallagher put on an album this year, a big one. We listen to a lot in the van and there's a couple of songs that really just get us pumped, so that's an awesome one.
[WES:] There's a band called Aqualung that has a record called Memory Man (2007) that we really love. It's really anything that's British from the late 90s, early 2000s era.
[KYLE:] Those records are really inspirational for us and again, reminding us of what we love.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What are some artists that influenced your music either lyrically or instrumentally?
[ANDREW:] Instrumentally, we draw a lot of inspiration from that kind of early, mid to late 90s, early 2000s stuff from across the pond.
[WES:] We mentioned Radiohead. We love Travis. We're just listening to a Keane song as kind of a reference for somebody we're working on.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Your latest EP release Goldpark Two is a follow-up to Goldpark One. I would love to hear you guys talk about how the creative process looked like for you.
[WES:] Goldpark Two is really special because when we first started, we were writing songs in isolation and made a whole EP just kind of hoping that we were getting a vibe that would translate to the stage. I think the second EP was after probably a year of touring and writing with different people that really inspire us through playing and weeding out songs in the setlist that didn't feel right and then finding our circle of people we love to write with that understand our inspirations and where we want to go. I think this EP is a really, really great and the best representation so far of who we actually want to be as a band and it's more of a concentrated sample of what we have kind of come to know as our sound. A question we concentrated on was how would we describe our music, and that’s been something that’s super black and white most of the time. I think we’ve done a good job of being like ‘that’s not really for us’ for the last two years, and in that process, have some key figures in our journey really helping us. I think we've been able to kind of make a more concentrated version of that. Jeremy Lutito, who produced Goldpark Two, asked the question of what’s going to be our theme or our North Star. He called it a buoy. What are we always going to look to when we're frustrated or something doesn't feel right, and we stumbled upon the word “charming.” If it's not making us smile, or making us laugh, or making us feel good, it's probably not worth pursuing. We went down that road and we've made the best stuff that we've put out to date. We're super excited.
[UNPUBLISHED:] If you could describe Goldpark Two in three words, which would you choose and why?
[WES:] You will smile.
[UNPUBLISHED:] This body of work is described as the best representation of who you are as a band and where you're heading in the future. Have you taken any new approaches and experimented more either lyrically or instrumentally with Goldpark Two compared to Goldpark One?
[ANDREW:] I just realized that because we wrote a lot of Goldpark One and then we cut Goldpark One before it was acceptable to play shows, I think we were really aware of how we were going to do this live. I think we were always thinking about the live space when we weren't playing shows, which is really interesting, then coming off a decent amount of live shows before we got into Goldpark Two. I feel like Goldpark Two was really about let's be in love with the recorded material and whatever that looks like. This one song in Goldpark One, we actually scaled back a lot of piano moments on this one. I think we've probably experimented a bit more with Two. I think in the live space, we've really enjoyed figuring out how to do those live, and so it's I think that's the cool relationship that hopefully continues to happen with Goldpark and the relationship between what people are hearing and listening to in the recordings and then experiencing something a bit different in the in the live space.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What is your favorite song off the EP and why do you love the song? Is there a specific lyric or message that stands out to you? What excites you most about this song?
[ANDREW:] I think my favorite song is “I Guess It's Never Enough,” pretty much from start to finish. My personal relationship with that song was always really special. I probably listened to it like five or six times in a row after we finished the demo that day because I was super into it. Where we landed with it just feels like something you can kind of live in. It definitely feels like one of the more honest rock n’ roll moments of the EP and in the show.
[KYLE:] “Covered in Sunshine” is probably one of my favorites just because the drums on it I'm really proud of. “I Guess It’s Never Enough” might be number one for me though. I feel like I can separate myself from that song and can really just sit in and enjoy, which I think is really special.
[WES:] “Summer in my Head,” is one of those songs that we tapped into something that was pretty special and it became this cover that we can kind of use across the span of what we do.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Is there a message that listeners can take away from this new era of yours? What would you like to tell them?
[WES:] I think something that I have been feeling and kind of saying at the end of the show it's just to keep your head up, and if we can make people smile, just seeing people have a hint of hope in their eyes. For one second they're exposed to what we're doing, whether it's recording or live or anything else, I think that's really our main objective with what we're doing. I think we really get excited about music that does make us feel, but leaves us with a warm feeling and a feeling of beauty.
[ANDREW:] I don't want to speak in generalities or speak too soon about the Goldpark sound or anything like that, because in so many ways we're a baby band, but I don't think that we are. But I think the word that I think of is escapism in the positive sense. There's a lot of heavy stuff and people are coming to shows or listening to our music with a lot of different things going on in their life, and so if we can provide a little bit of escapism in the positive sense that will be rewarding in itself. It's the reason why the three of us love movies so much, and feel so much when it comes to scores or the way something is shot. The reason why I think the three of us are big escapist people – just in how we experience visual media and audio – we definitely pull that same type of feeling and emotion and hopefully we’re presenting a brighter day ahead of us. There’s a lot of hope and beauty in life to be happy about.
[UNPUBLISHED:] How are you feeling in this current era of your career and what does the rest of the year look like for you guys that you would love to share with Unpublished?
[ANDREW:] We had a really busy summer. We don't really have super, super busy summers and so we're kind of coming out of season and have been at home for a bit. We're really excited to be on the road. We're really excited to get back at it in November. We feel like tour helps our lives make sense. It feels really natural and amazing to be on the road, and so we're excited to have that time in November to play our songs and to play our songs to brand new people which is amazing and such a huge deal. Next year, we’re really looking forward to working on a full length album at home. There’s going to be a lot of Goldpark music coming out in 2023 and we’re excited about that and coming off of Goldpark Two.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What are you guys looking forward to the most for touring?
[KYLE:] Chicago is such a special feeling city.
[WES:] We're all stoked to do consistent headlining shows where we're playing for like 90 minutes at a time, But there is something really special about that really quick 30 minute set. I am trying to say concentrated and just really thought out versions of ourselves and play our songs to an audience every night and it's always gonna be new people. There's a lot of things to look forward to on tour, especially this one.
[ANDREW:] I really, really, really love the feeling of picking up the van at the beginning of the tour.
