Date: Fri 06-Feb-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Goldfinger-Feldmann-Mabel

Full Text:

Still On The Road, Goldfinger Has A New Hang-Up

(with cut & album cover)

BY SHANNON HICKS

John Feldmann says his band's new album is more about people he and the three

other musicians he works with have met while touring, and less about

relationships than his band's debut album was.

Feldmann is the lead singer for the band Goldfinger. With the band having

toured steadily for the past two years, logging 382 shows in 1996 alone, there

were plenty of opportunities for the band to meet quite a few people. And

apparently that's just what the band did. When they weren't collecting

speeding tickets between shows, that is.

Hopefully the band won't pick up another ticket when Feldmann and company

return to Connecticut. The band has a show scheduled in Danbury next Tuesday

night.

Goldfinger's new album, Hang-Ups , has been out for five months. The band has

been back on the road -- after a short nap break -- for the last eight. The

latest tour supports Hang-Ups and the 1995 release that brought the band into

the music world's spotlight, Goldfinger . The debut album featured such hits

as "Here In Your Bedroom" and "Mabel."

While Goldfinger offered listeners 14 selections -- what the band's guitarist

Charlie Paulson once called "...hyperactive love songs for people on Ritalin"

-- the new collection is a compendium of 20 songs, with a wider variety of

sounds involved. This time Paulson has said, "For the new album, we tried to

focus more on writing a collection of songs rather than trying to make sure

we're playing fast enough or making a statement of style. We're all two years

older, as are most of our fans, so why hand them yesterday's newspaper?"

Both albums present listeners with a one-two punch of Ramones-speed music, fun

lyrics and energy. Energy is everpresent with this band: with the amount of

inexhaustible steam each member seems to possess, the enjoyment of living on

the road and playing for fans is something that can't help but be captured in

each song.

"We love what we do," vocalist Feldmann said last week. He was calling from

Winnipeg, working on getting rid of a cold that had been dogging him for a few

days but wasn't strong enough to knock him off his feet.

"I think we all still pretty much love the music," he continued. "I'm sure

some of the songs get old sometimes, but you look out there and see people

going crazy and it makes you think, `Wow! We've got something good going on.'

"Plus, after 23 hours of sitting around and taking a nap, I am ready to go!

I'm ready to play. All of us have wanted this since we were kids, so now it's

like `Wow! Here we are!' So why not do this as much as we can?"

Goldfinger remains on the road, touring, touring, touring. With two albums

under their collective belt, band members -- which in addition to Feldmann and

Paulson include bassist Simon Williams and drummer Dangerous Darrin Pfeiffer

-- now have a larger choice of songs to perform each night. The set list is

generally half and half, straight down the middle, of songs from Goldfinger

and Hang-Ups , usually seven or eight cuts from each. Crowd reaction plays a

big part of how a show progresses, says Feldmann.

"If we're having a good time," he said, "sometimes we'll play everything off

both records. It also depends on whether we're headlining or opening for

someone else."

Goldfinger has a headlining show at Tuxedo Junction, 2 Ives Street in Danbury,

on February 10. Sgt Skagnetti and The Pilfers will both play opening sets.

Tickets are $10 in advance, or $12 at the door, and the show is open to all

ages. Doors open at 7 pm; the music starts around 8.