Hard Talk

THE GOODWILL: CLEAN SLATE

by Don Sill

Despite the band's 2003 debut album on Negative Progression Records, THAT WAS A MOMENT, which went on to be the indie label's biggest selling album, The Goodwill wish to leave the past alone and begin all over again- and that's a good thing. With a new guitarist, new label and new, evolved rock sound the Long Island emo band are charging forward with a clean slate.

"Yeah, last time we were just very straight-forward, very predictable," admits guitarist, Travis Johnides, "and I don't take any offense to that because that's what we were going for at that time. We still try to be a poppy band, you know, we want to keep some pop in there." Without a doubt The Goodwill have kept some pop elements in their sound, but still The Goodwill have come a long way from their beginnings in 2003 as a whiny pop-punk band. "The first CD- obviously after we worked on it and toured with it- we were like, oh man some of these little boy and girl lyrics aren't what we should be about anymore and we laugh at that now," Johnides said with a laugh.

The Goodwill have evolved and matured into a hard driving rock act with complex dynamics and edgier sound. "All bands grow and on this album we have no complaints whatsoever. I mean, Brian was 18-years old when he wrote the first CD and he's almost 22 now so he moved on and we're real proud of the direction he went in."

Their latest album, INSULT INJURY, ETC… demonstrates their harder, more complex ability with more heady guitar riffs and lyrics that stay away from the boy-girl cliché's. Produced by Dean Baltulonis (Brand New, Hazen St and The Bouncing Souls) the album sounds very close to the Goodwill in a live setting which has managed to wow crowds nationwide.

Determined to leave the past in the past, The Goodwill, (who includes Travis Johnides; Greg Oechslin; Brian Barbuto; John Moskoviz and Brian DiCosmo); have scrapped most of their earlier songs from their set list and vow to only play new tunes during their upcoming tour. A fairly ballsey move, but one that they believe is worth it.

"We all talked it out and decided to play all new songs," says the guitarist. "We just went for it and it went extremely well. It just feels like it's the right thing to do and the kids have been really supportive.

"We've been playing a lot of new material. I know most bands usually play one or two songs from their new CD at their shows but we are looking at this as a re-birth. You know we have a new guitarist, [Brian DiCosmo] and a new label [Abacus Records] which is a real big deal. Not that we're not proud with what we've done in the past, but we just feel like we started over"

For more info and updates on the Goodwill log to - http://www.thegoodwill.com