Today I’m so excited to bring everyone the video premiere of the new single from Alt-Rock trio, Gooseberry, called ”Durak.” On this song that is drawing comparisons to bands like Arctic Monkeys and The White Stripes, the Brooklyn-based band have made another song worthy of any playlist. The single comes from the band’s recently announced new LP, Simple Sucker, that will be released everywhere you stream your music on September 25th. I was also able to connect with Gooseberry for a brief interview below.
For listeners just discovering Gooseberry’s blend of alt-rock, indie, and blues, what do you want them to know about the band? How does your sophomore LP Simple Sucker reflect your evolution?
On our debut record (All My Friends Are Cattle), we wanted to introduce ourselves to the wider public as a band that could play across a number of styles, sounds, and genres, all while still having a throughline that felt uniquely our own. Which, ultimately, is a guitar-driven trio. I think that was important for setting a foundation. Hopefully, we did that convincingly enough that our fans will afford us the latitude to explore particular directions from there. This new record (Simple Sucker) is more focused. We put a concerted effort into building a cohesive universe for this record to live in, one that is heavier, grittier, more dynamic. This record should feel like something you could have bought in your local record shop alongside Badmotorfinger and In Utero, but with pops of modern color that the weird dude running the shop wouldn’t stop talking your ear off about. This record is for that weird dude. Everything, down to the choices of amps and mics to use, was thought of as in service of the world of this record. I think it takes a certain discipline and confidence as a band to do that, something I’m fairly certain we wouldn’t have been able to do before, and we’re all super proud of that growth.
“Durak” introduces this era with a pretty pointed, character-driven critique — who is this “fool” to you, and how does he connect to the larger themes of Simple Sucker?
That guy is an asshole, wouldn’t you say? True to form. The main theme of this record is “the perfect fool.” You may believe you know the biggest fool. It’s easy to identify what we see as foolish in others: bigotry, fear, arrogance, obliviousness. The world is set up to monetize the radicalization of extremes, and so everyone who is not like us suddenly becomes a fool. “Durak” sets the stage for this by introducing a straightforward fool. On the surface, this fool is a particular kind of middle-aged white man that’s a bit too present in today’s world. It’s your uncle who is sure that “back in his prime” he was an adonis, a credit to the world, able to bend luck to his will (while conveniently forgetting all of the privilege and help he had along the way). Beyond stupidity though, a fool may also be someone under a spell, helplessly in love, or driven by a singular focus that shuts the rest of the world out. We’re the perfect fool when we get nostalgic, longing for days that won’t come back. When we believe we can change things we cannot. When we long for a version of life or love without realizing what we already have in front of us. We trade reality for a memory or a dream, becoming the perfect fools we claim to hate. “Durak” opens the door into Simple Sucker with an easy to recognize fool; the rest of the fools on the album are waiting to be found.
Where did the idea to make the “Durak” video animated come from? How do you feel it adds to the track’s narrative?
We were super fortunate that our good friend Austin Koenigstein was able to squeeze in another video for us in between his busy days creating beautiful music as Smushie or touring the world with Neal Francis. Austin made the video for “Dying To Meet You” and we all absolutely loved it. When it came time for the new record, we knew we wanted him to work on another video and he connected with “Durak” in particular. I think he captured the essence of the song. The video is every bit as sneering, sardonic, zany, and angry as the song is.