Maybe the Kids are Alright

 Every so often i stumble upon something that somewhat restores my ever-dwindling faith in humanity, granted these days the credits far outpace the debits when it comes to this account but i try to remember while the world is chock full of raging shitbags there is also a place for beauty, for art, for people putting their head down and creating whatever it may be, music, short stories, paintings, clothing or food, or maybe like The Man aka The Father, the nameless protagonist in McCarthy's The Road i'm still trying to see some good in a world run amok, a horror show bought and paid for by a system hellbent on destroying the planet, the people and anything else it can get it's hands on all in the name of the almighty dollar... which brings me to a band that i recently stumbled upon though i had been reading about them in the various indie-hipster web sites i so often peruse but for some reason i never got around to checking them out... until i did... and then i was fucking sold, full on, by what one music writer described at the first great band from those kids known as Gen Z, a guitar band in a world that wasn't supposed to give a shit about guitar bands, some twentysomethings who grew up friends in Brooklyn, actual New Yorkers and not transplants... (in my younger days having sold weed to about half the musicians in the Burgh all the talk was always about "moving to New York"...) the band is Geese and the record Getting Killed and in my opinion it's the best fucking "rock" record i've heard in a decade? yeah i think it's that good... 

Being the quintessential music (and book) nerd i immediately dove into my research on the band to see what the deal was and what i saw i liked... the most interesting observation from a certain music writer was the fact the band has come up organically, not manufactured or put together but a group of high school friends who started playing together and put out a record right about the time they graduated from high school... in a world that doesn't give new bands much opportunity, they need a hit or some internet generated buzz or whatnot here we have a band that went out and played shows and kept practicing and studying the influences and absorbing them into their music while making something distinctly their own culminating in the latest record which as stated is fucking brilliant... yeah one may not like singer/guitarist Cameron Winter's voice but Mr. Zimmerman wasn't exactly the most melodious crooner either, but they both knew what they were working with and understand how to get the desired effects out of it and the truth is the more i listen to Geese the more i dig the vocals... it's also been pointed out that young Cameron is a bit like Dylan in the fact he seems to get bored quickly with arrangements and likes to change things up live... how can one not like that? the kid ain't worried about playing it perfect he's interested in playing it interesting... 

Being old and jaded i often have to remind myself not to scoff at what the kids are doing, to not be the old guy in white knee high compression socks screaming get off my fucking lawn! and remember that it's every generations right to interpret the world how it sees fit and what not... but this band, and Cameron Winter in particular, don't seem to be all that interested in the shit their brethren are down with... they're making music and playing shows and all the itinerant bullshit that goes along with it seems more of a hassle whereas there are many "bands" out there more into the fame than the art, these kids are the opposite... Mr. Winter seldom gives interviews, likes to toss in fake backstories while also being blatantly honest about shit... he doesn't hide the fact he's not some poor kid from a Yugoslavian ghetto (to paraphrase him) but a guy who grew up comfortably in a nice neighborhood in Brooklyn with a composer father and a mother whose claim to fame is writing a piece about how opening up her marriage was the best thing she ever did... he's wise enough to add that he understands that comfort and security has given him the license to take risks that some might not be able to afford to take and he's cognizant he has a bit of a safety net... instead of ridicule i give him credit for being self aware enough and honest enough not to toss out some bullshit (though as stated he'll toss in lies in interviews due to his disdain for the hype machine which also reminds me of one Bobby Zimmerman)... 

What i like even more is the fact Mr. Winter here takes risks... he put out a solo record at the end of last year, something a bit different than what his band was doing and he stated that when he showed it to certain people the response was usually negative, people wondering if he should really put it out, he did anyway saying that he felt he needed to because if he didn't when he looked back in 20 years he'd regret not putting it out there... the kid has confidence... and he should... in my opinion the record is fucking excellent but what i find more intriguing is watching an artist come into his own... i bought all three Geese records and while the first two are good they're nowhere near the third (or his solo record which is also fantastic) but one can see the progression, the learning, the digesting of influences and how to take those and create something of your own, it's interesting to see someone who the evidence says is on a hot streak, in a moment of very fertile creativity and to watch how it progresses... yes there will be some misses and it's brilliant to see a guy and a band who don't seem all that worried about failing but all signs point to this group being something special, for lack of a better term, the band as a whole are all excellent musicians who are open to experimentation which is refreshing in world where artists are more worried about pushing product than creating something of substance while worrying about the "market"... 

What's more while Winter seems to be the savant so to speak behind the band, the main songwriter and lyricist, they have a secret weapon, much like my beloved Protomartyr and guitarist Greg Ahee, Geese have a brilliant guitarist in Emily Green, a trans-woman who lays down incredibly gorgeous and melodic guitar lines while also being the rarity, a female lead guitarist in a field dominated by men... i also dig the fact that Winter is tall, 6'3 or so which leads to an unusual stage presence... my rather unscientific research has often had me marveling at the fact most of the bands i've enjoyed have been fronted by guys who aren't that tall, which brought me to the theory that shorter guys started bands as a way to get girls... and there is no scientific evidence of it other than i know of very few taller front men (Eric Bachman of Arhers of Loaf/ Crooked Fingers being one of the few)... toss in the fact they got a hot-shit drummer (the most important part of any good band in my humble opinion) and an excellent bass player and what one has is the makings of a great fucking band... as long as they can hold it together and i'm really hoping they can... 

So this band of Gen Z kids gets the stamp of approval from this Gen X guy... in a world that's increasingly manufactured and bordering on AI generated slop it's refreshing to see a young band emerge from the garage, digesting the influences of the past and making something new and different out of it, no one in any artistic discipline is really reinventing the wheel these days but i admire those who put time and effort into their craft, who work and create because it's what they want to do, not out of some dream of riches and fame but out of that need to create something and share it, fucking hell we all know that's a pretty thankless endeavor so here's to these kids and where they go from here... now if they could only tour and play that lovely place so i can ride trains and eat boomers...