Goodtime Boys, your new favourite band.

The Unicorn in Camden is a strange place. Sitting in the bar on a Wednesday afternoon the place is pretty empty, a few hairy looking regulars and that’s it. Paul Simon plays over the speakers and there’s a pool table out the back. However, on the stage next to said pool table there are a lot of amps and a drum kit and the sound of a rather violent sound check shooting out into the bar. No one seems put out in the slightest.



Sitting across from me is Alex Pennie, lead vocalist from Welsh hardcore/punk outfit Goodtime Boys. In a couple of hours’ time he’ll be screaming his head off on that stage out the back. Now however he’s in the process of being possibly the most interesting person I’ve ever waved a Dictaphone at.

Prior to 2009 the band were an instrumental four piece that you’d almost certainly never heard of. Their transformation in the two years since into (in my humble opinion) one of the finest bands in the British underground is more than slightly staggering. With only last year’s split with Solutions and the recently released EP ‘Are We Now, Or Have We Ever Been’ they have an impressively full sound as a band and an equally impressive following. At the time I met them the EP hadn’t even officially been released, yet there were already people at the show that night who knew all the words.

The fact that their debut EP was free to stream on their BandPage (and still is, after its release) tells you quite a lot about this band. There’s a sense that the band are happy to get things done themselves. From having merchandise and record sleeves designed by their guitarist Sam Phipps to managing to get on the bill for Boardmasters in Cornwall despite in their own words ‘being the only band their without a booking agent’ after the event organiser saw them play in a local pub. Later Pennie will tell me that as a band ‘even if it costs us to play, we’ll still play if we can’ and reply to my slightly cheeky request for them to come and play in Windsor with genuine enthusiasm. It’s almost like every cliché about underground punk bands driving all night to play shows for a handful of people in a basement have suddenly come to life (and I mean that as a compliment).

Of course, a band can be as beautifully dedicated as you like, but they still have to be strong on record. Luckily, they are. A mix of hardcore, emo and screamo all rolled into one tight little bundle. There’s a depth and variety that is often sadly lacking in the ‘UKHC’ scene. Think a sped up, hyperactive version of Burn Down Rome crossed with some form of vicious animal and you’ll be on the right lines.

That being said, the hardcore scene is something that the band seem to want to be distant of. Time and again during the interview Pennie will point out that the band are, if you like ‘Sitting on the fence between punk and hardcore...and I guess emo and screamo’ and that they don’t follow a ‘strict, stylised way of being a hardcore band’. Its telling then that they’re signed to Tangled Talk, a label that, like Holy Roar, has a tendency to sign bands from the slightly more off the wall end of the musical spectrum. Indeed after a few listens it becomes clear that they don’t fit any of what you might call the average hardcore stereotypes. Instead they’re something a bit different, a melting pot of musical styles, stirred round with enough energy to power a small town.

To demonstrate this, I was guilty of possibly the biggest double takes in history when it was mentioned that the night before Frightened Rabbit had been on the tour van stereo. Hip-Hop as well as Black Sabbath and At The Drive-In were also all mentioned when chatting about influences and dream bands to see live. Just going to put it out there that the reason the band stand out like they do might be that they’re don’t just listen to music from the genre they play in themselves. Just saying…



Later in the day when the band take to the stage, the strength of their music was even more apparent. Mr Pennie had mentioned earlier a desire to try to ‘have a real, genuinely expressive live show as opposed to the rigid things you can or can’t do’, probably referring to certain bands who seem to think all they can do if face away from the crowd while their singer stalks the pit. There was certainly none of that in evidence. The band looked more like a classic punk outfit, bouncing round the stage like someone had stuffed a kilo of pro plus down them. Broken basses and technical issues aside (and largely unnoticed by those watching) the whole thing was highly impressive. In short the live show takes the energy of the band on record and racks it up a notch without losing any of the things that draw you to the songs when they’re coming out of headphones not speaker stacks.

What about a future releases then? Well the bands are taking June off to write new material but there isn’t an album on the way just yet it would seem. They want a ‘body of work that makes sense…we’d have to take a long time to make a record’. That being said, another split or EP is on the cards and if it’s as good as the one that they’ve released this year (see the review below) then it’ll be worth taking a bite out of your pay cheque for.

I’ll leave you with this then. As we were wrapping up I asked Pennie that slightly awkward question I always ask, ‘Where do you see the band in five years’ time? He thought for a moment and then replied,

‘Same place we are except not struggling to book a tour and with a few more releases under our belt. I think what we really want is to be in a position where if we say we want to do a tour…that can happen…feeling like you’re earnt a small following or respect from others is enough for all of us.’

The question is, why can’t every band be like that?






And what of the EP itself? Well in short, it’s masterful. Four tracks (excluding the twenty second intro) of fresh, exciting hardcore/punk crossover. It doesn’t hang about, launching you straight into an ear splitting, angry little world that you won’t want to leave. Guitar parts fight for dominance like a punked up version of Bloc Party’s ‘Banquet’ but are never overpowering. Stepping it down a notch for effect is something the band clearly isn’t afraid to do either, ‘Sleep’ sees a good minute mid-track where the pace slows and the words take centre stage. Each track offers the listener a whole spectrum of variety but most impressive (and hardest to explain) the EP just fits. Everything comes together from all corners of the band to make it something a tad unmissable. ‘I Want More’ scream Alex Pennie on ‘Bliss’. I agree, I really do.