There’s being excited, there’s being really excited, and then there’s being so excited you pre-order a record the moment you can find someone who will take your money for it. That’s exactly what I did when I found out that Goldrush had recorded a 3-song single for Making Moves, a series of 7-inch records released by Drexel University’s Mad Dragon Records and curated by Motion City Soundtrack. With the release date set for August 28 and a record release show taking place shortly thereafter on September 2 at The Camel in Richmond, violinist Treesa Gold and frontman Prabir Mehta were kind enough to answer a few questions via email about recording the 7-inch, SXSW, and more.

–

You Hear That: I love the story about how Matt Taylor of Motion City Soundtrack came across your music. How was working with him in his role as producer?

Treesa Gold: I love that story too!! It’s just the way it should be! Some awesome guy in some awesome band is vacuuming his house listening to his iPod on shuffle and he hears something marked “track 01” with no artist and he researches his way to find out who it was. Matt is just an extraordinary guy. He is really one of the best guys I have ever met. As a producer I don’t know what more you could ask for than someone like Matt Taylor. He’s got a phenomenal ear and a really professional and yet chill demeanor. He puts you at ease and gets the best out of you. Really great ear. Really great. Love that guy. And he went out for beers with us every night.

Prabir Mehta: Working with Matt was pretty fantastic. He’s got a great ear and can really put himself in the song. He pays a lot of attention to the composition and the flow of sounds and such. Of course the entire staff was totally brilliant so there was that as a constant comfort, but once Matt started to work with us on things the whole process started to pulse a little more. He’s great at communicating and I feel like the songs have a great ‘alive’ kind of feel. The songs came to life, broke out of the speakers, stole a lot of cash from Treesa’s pocket book, and they could be heading your way!!! That’s how alive the session got, it was great. I loved working with Matt.

YHT: Was the recording done on Drexel’s campus? Were cheesesteaks consumed? Did you take any pictures/liberties with that crazy dragon statue?

TG: Dragon statue??? Where was this?? Where was our tour guide!? I heard nothing of a dragon statue but I really feel like we would have taken advantage of that had we been given the opportunity. We definitely had a great time recording on Drexel’s campus but now I feel like we were gypped. And as far as the food goes, let me tell you, something got into us that week and we had just a ton of Greek food. Not really sure why but a lot of grape leaves and feta were consumed.

PM: We had a pretty great time getting to know the town. We were in Philly for a week together and then I was up there for a few days later for mixing. It was really cool to see the city and be around the great food and such. We definitely put a lot of time into the post-tracking drinking hours at the various bars around town. I think we went to this one place, the New Deck Tavern, about every other night (insert endorsement money here!!!). Man, The Greek Lady… awesome place. Many inside jokes about many things were born on this trip, grape leaves particularly. Very fun experience.

YHT: Is there any connection between the title of “The Dream Is Over” and the last lyric of the John Lennon song, “God?” I know your own song “God” picks up on similar themes.

TG: Hm! Honestly, I never put that together before. I guess we would have to consult with Prabir on that one but I will definitely welcome any John Lennon connection with our music.

PM: I’m a huge John Lennon fan! These songs were not really ‘inspired’ by those in general, but I’ve been cramming my head with his music since I was small kid, so in some way shape or form I’m sure that comes through. Which is always fun, he’s great. “The Dream Is Over” was kind of written during the period in which my old band was breaking up and there was a weird break-up happening around then also I think, so it’s kind of a pissy cranky song. I guess it can be about anything that one would put in the category of a ‘bummer’ I suppose. The band broke up? The dream is over… Girlfriend thing didn’t work out? The dream is over… Out of grape leaves? The dream is over. “God” I would say is more of a polite “please shut up” to the people that drop the G word around a little too often. “Your car broke down? I’ll pray it gets fixed” …okay, a mechanic may want to be involved too… Probably just some baggage I have.

YHT: What was your recent SXSW experience like? I’ve heard it can be pretty hectic for the bands. Did you get to see any other groups you were hoping to see? 

TG: SXSW was quite the experience. There is so much going on all at once. You really can’t take it all in. You just have to go with the flow and experience what you can in that short amount of time. I have to tell you, my favorite little moment of SXSW was on one of the nights when we had split up to see various bands and Matt Gold and I snuck in to see Motion City Soundtrack play at a BRITISH showcase (haha!!) in some pub. It had been added to their schedule just the night before and we had even seen them just the night before but we thought, “why not?” and it turned out to be the sweetest little moment. We were singing along and having a blast. It was a great time.

PM: Memories-overload dot com. Yeah, totally fun trip. For a week, Austin, TX opens its doors to the entire world to come and not walk in straight lines together, it’s beautiful.  We had a total blast. We saw a lot of stuff together and then saw some stuff as we ventured off on our own too. I got to see Das Racist, which was way rad. I think I saw Andrew W.K. about three or four times that week with various band members each time. Then it was a total honor to have him pick apart one of our music videos (“It’s Too Late”) at a panel the following day. That was interesting. We got to see a set from The Features, those dudes are brilliant performers. Alabama Shakes, Motion City Soundtrack, people everywhere, tons of music… great time. R. Stevie Moore (an avant-garde pop guru) played a set, we were lucky enough to catch that. Yeah, overall a pretty fantastic time.

YHT: What do you all listen to when you’re on the road? Does any classical sneak in, given Treesa and Matt’s backgrounds? I’m picturing a van pulling up to a stoplight with Tchaikovsky billowing out of cracked windows.

TG: Haha, well Pandora is, of course, the official app for all touring bands. That thing got us through a lot of hours on the road. Whoever is seated shotgun controls the station. And for the most part it was non-classical, although there was a portion of the trip where our DRUMMER actually chose a classical Pandora station for kicks and quizzed us on what was playing for a few hours.

PM: There are some classical music memories from driving around with these guys. Definitely is a nice refreshing thing to take in, especially after almost a decade of the seemingly never-ending indie-rock train that climbs aboard band trips. I believe there was a ‘stump Matt’ thing happening up front one time. Matt Gold knows what’s word up in the classical world. He’s a homeboy that is, ya know, in outer space. Trust. Other than that there is a pretty large chunk of stand-up comedy to pass the time, Beatles never seem to get old, whatever the latest favorite Pandora station is, and plenty of Isley Brothers and James Brown. Occasionally the live version of RUSH songs end up being played for the sometimes-necessary air drum-off.

YHT: Any plans for a full-length record? Anywhere you’re particularly excited about playing in support of this 7-inch?

TG: Man, would I love to play NYC. I love that city. I think it would be very fun to go up there as a band. No plans in the works for that as far as I know, but I think that would be great. And as far as a full-length is concerned, we have discussed it to be sure. We have the songs to fill one, but in this day and age, sometimes it seems like one song released every once in a while would better suit our attention spans on things like Facebook and the interwebz and such. It’s definitely not out of the question.

PM: A full length is a good goal I think. I have a few newer tunes that I’m pretty pumped to have the band sink their teeth into, so who knows, perhaps that will lead to the beginning of the full length. We have a few extra songs laying around that we’re not doing much with at the moment too, so perhaps another EP is in the works? Tons of options, but for right now I think we need to kind of stick to celebrating this project with Mad Dragon and Motion City Soundtrack. Maybe after the 7-inch is a bit worn from the time on the road, perhaps that will be a good time to see which type of release comes next. In the meantime, I’d love to see us hit the Northeast a bit, perhaps the big apple, Philly, DC, and what not. We just wrapped up a two-week Midwest tour, so I think we’re looking to set our sights on something on the eastern seaboard for the time being. Cities are a lot closer! While we were in the Midwest I kept thinking about Lewis and Clark. They would get to a location and think ‘the ocean’s got to be getting closer!’, then they would come to the great plains, then the Rockies, then the Pacific Northwest and that giant wilderness. What a huge country! We did a fraction of their trip in a cozy van, they did on foot and with hand carved canoes. We had snacks, music, and iPods/playlists. They had… umm… elk. Regardless, yeah, the 7-inch will see some road time this fall. Pretty excited for whatever comes next. It’s been fun thus far.

–

Have a listen to the first track from Goldrush’s upcoming 7-inch below and click here to pre-order the record.

Goldrush — “Settle Down” [Buy]