Today I’m thrilled to bring everyone the latest single and video from Alt Rock band, Gooseberry, called “Dying To Meet You.” The song comes from the band’s debut LP, All My Friends Are Cattle, out everywhere music is sold on September 6th. Band member Asa Daniels shared about the track, “For the breakdowns in this song, our producer (Colin Bryson) brought a tiny handheld distortion mic into the studio for me to scream into. And I screamed my head off. That was cathartic. Hopefully this song brings our fans catharsis. Or a sore throat.” If you’re enjoying the latest single/video from Gooseberry, please consider supporting this talented band here. I was also able to catch up with the band for a brief interview below.
Can you describe the creative process behind writing “Dying To Meet You”? Did it come together quickly, or was it a more drawn-out process?
This song started with the hook, particularly that guitar bend meshing with the vocal melody: “I…”. It was an earworm I couldn’t shake. I’ve found that when something keeps coming back to you after a few weeks, you’ve probably got something, so I started to build out some of the other parts, mixing and matching them in practice with the guys until something stuck. The breakdown was most stubborn—we actually played it twice as long live originally with the hook in the middle! Ultimately, we found something that worked through constant experimentation, in studio and live on stage, and we’re all pretty stoked with the way it came out.
”Dying To Meet You” has a moody and almost uneasy vibe. Can you elaborate on who made the video and what the inspiration behind it was?
My good friend Austin Koenigstein made the incredible video with his partner Melissa Morrissey! I’ve known Austin since I was five or something like that. We were playing in a band together at 14 and writing songs and he’s always been an incredible friend and resource for me to bounce ideas off of. He makes incredible music under his own moniker, Smushie, and anyone who digs Gooseberry and/or the tremendously kooky video he made for us should check him out! As for the vibe, Dying To Meet You is inherently eerie. I can’t tell you if the title is tongue-in-cheek or something more sinister. I can however tell you the prompt I gave Austin: “I want this song to sonically convey the sense of unease we all feel when thinking a little too deeply about closing our eyes for good.”
You’re set to embark on a cross-country tour this summer. What can fans expect from your live performances on this tour? Are there any songs from the record you’re excited to play on the road?
We love being out on tour and to be able to bring a brand new record to folks is a thrill. I think fans of the band know going into a show that we’re gonna run the gamut of old and new tunes, sprinkle a few cheeky covers here and there, and try out unreleased material on them. There’s no better laboratory than the stage. For the first time, though, we’ve got songs on this record that were made wholly in the studio first before debuting at a show. Songs like Golden, Bitter, Start Over. Tunes we absolutely adore and can’t wait to see how they rile everyone up! The fact that we’ll be playing 20+ shows this summer in places we’ve never stepped foot in before is a credit to our terrific teams at Powerline Management and New Frontier Touring who helped put the whole thing together.