John Feldmann
Charlie Paulson
Darrin Pfeiffer
Kelly LeMieux
Goldfinger…
From Your Bedroom To The World
Music trends, like fashion, seem to come and go. The best thing Goldfinger has done in its rambunctious 11-year career is, go…as in “on tour.” Through the course of 10 CDs and multi-Platinum sales worldwide, this southern California rock kamikazes used the 1995 hit, “Here In Your Bedroom,” to launch what has been a never-ending barnstorming of concert stages from one end of the globe to the other, riling up the natives in dozens of countries with their nonstop, way-so-over-the-top performances that are manically unforgettable and effortlessly translate to any language. As in the old come-on, “Is that a Twinkie wedged in your butt, or are you just glad we’re doing another encore?”
(If you’ve seen their live show, you’ll get that last crack…so to speak.)
“We pride ourselves on our live show,” Goldfinger mastermind John Feldmann declares. “We did 382 shows in our first year together, which is some sort of record. We earned our insane following.”
Insane, indeed. The 24-Karat digits, as they’re affectionately known to no one in particular, has stolen the show in front of 80,000 at the Reading Festival in England; 100,000 in Düsseldorf for Die Toten Hosen’s 1,000th show; and 50,000 at the WHFS Fest in Washington, D.C. “All I remember about the HFS Fest was seeing Gwen Stefani at the side of the stage while we played,” Feldmann recalls. “Everything else is a complete blackout.”
You can forgive Goldfinger for their lack of pornographic memory.
Wait a second…was that a typo?
Whatever, when you perform as all-out and all-often as they do, the details of things fade in the ashes of a burning desire to leave it all on stage. Case-in-point: Feldman tore his ACL halfway through the band’s last tour earlier this year. Think they postponed the tour halfway through so he can recover? Think again. “There was no way in hell we would disappoint our fans because of a glorified muscle tear,” he says. Feldmann not only gritted his way through the rest of the no-holds-barred tour, but afterwards, when he finally went for treatment, doctors told him that the one other thing he didn’t leave on stage was a herniated disc.
To be sure, Goldfinger hasn’t earned its all-out rep by playing it safe. Expect even more vintage rock insanity this year, as original member, guitarist Charlie Paulson, has decided to re-up. “Charlie brings back an element of danger into the band,” Feldmann says. “We’re back to being a force to be reckoned with. Goldfinger has a stronger live following in Europe right now then the U.S. The reconstituted band is ready to re-conquer the Old World.”
Not only that, but they’ll undoubtedly be conquering new lands as well. Goldfinger is set to invade Moscow for the first time as part of their spring juggernaut. Nevertheless, for a band that has criss-crossed Europe, Asia and Australia so many times, their passports might as well be Quick Passes; they do cut themselves some slack in the form of down time to recharge their batteries--and to give Feldmann the opportunity to work with records by a bevy of promising younger rock bands.
Is there a resume in the house? Feldmann’s includes co-writing hit songs with Good Charlotte, as well as producing hit records for The Used, Story Of The Year and Mest. “I always enjoyed watching the young bands that opened for us when we were on the road,” he says. “I got an undeniable thrill helping bands’ dreams come true. When I first met The Used, they were living in trailers in Utah. Now they’re one of the biggest rock bands in the world.
“When you’re producing, mixing, touring and writing with other bands, that’s your whole life,” he says. “I always keep current to see what kids are watching and buying, and still turn on the TV and see what’s popular. Yet I don’t want all that to influence how I work with Goldfinger or anyone else.”
What does influence Feldmann the songwriter? I’ve always tried to push myself as a songwriter as far as not being genre-specific,” he replies. “Everyone used to classify us a ska-punk, but my three favorite artists are Ani DiFranco, Slipknot and The Beatles. So, as a songwriter, where do I fall in the middle of that? I don’t want to be too much like anyone.”
To say the least (bios never do, so why start now?), even though the band has been one of the most compelling live bands since day one, Feldmann has certainly changed in many ways. “Obviously my whole life has turned around 180 degrees since we first started,” he says. “I was eating meat and I didn’t care about outside issues. Now that I’m older, I realize what it is for me to be a human being…With animal liberation; I feel I have a purpose in life. I do protests to rescue animals, and when I hear a kid say, ‘I’m now a vegetarian because of you,’ and I know that kid’s decision will save the lives of 250 animals, it gives me a higher purpose.” A higher purpose is one of the reasons Goldfinger remains an ultra-potent live draw, year in and year out. “For years I’ve been told that I’d never succeed in music, that it was too competitive and I’m not good enough,” Feldmann recalls. “No one ever says that after seeing our shows.”
Goldfinger Discography: