In August of 1998, a band called "Argyle Socks" was booked at a venue in White River Junction, VT. When scheduled to perform, a member of the group announced that they were now going to be called "the goonies." Nearly three years passed, and a band called "the goonies" was booked at a show outside of Portland, ME. With the exception of noise artist Crank Sturgeon, all the other groups had cancelled. The band played its last show without half its equipment for fewer than 10 people.
During the course of three years, the group's membership evolved. Primary players (in alphabetical order) included Andrew J. Adams, Paul Cummings, Kevin Driscoll, Nathan Frederick, Daniel O'Neill, Donald Shaw III, Nathan Traverse, Maris Wicks, and Matthew Zaccarino. Andrew Clasby joined the band of his own accord for several weeks during the summer of 2000 and left just as suddenly. Adam Meuse and Daniel Gonzales occasionally joined the group. During live performances, hundreds of other musicians lent their talents to the group. Special mention ought to be made of vocalists and drummers who contributed enormously.
Live performance was the first priority of the group. They internally agreed to try and play any show that was offered to them. The loose goal was to perform at least once a weekend. Estimates from within the band put the total number of shows somewhere around 150. With exception made for Buffalo, NY and NYC, all of the performances were within New England. There was one tour which emphasized sneaking into the movies, going to the beach, and the dominance of "the Power Trio" over playing music.
Priorities as such, recordings are rare. The most widely heard recording was made of five songs in November 1998, shortly after the band formed, at Big Sound studios in S. Portland, ME. Three songs from this session were released on a split CD with Kicked In The Head titled "All in the Family." A second recording was made at Audio Excellence studio in Milford, MA in August of 1999, near the band's one-year anniversary. This session was intended only to be used as a demo but was later released along with a track from the 1998 recording as a self-titled CD on High Score Records. This release is notable for it's 7"-sized packaging, 64-page booklet, and additional live material recorded and engineered by Daniel Gonzales and Evan Parker. A final recording was made during a practice in April of 2001 to be later released as a cassette. This release, occasionally titled "ego is on", was made to give friends of the band access to the lyrics and music which hadn't been released to that point because it was clear that the group would soon be ending. The group began a final recording session in June of 2001 at Stream of Studio in Milford, MA but abandoned it shortly after.
The group performed an unlikely show on New Year's Eve of 2002/2003 in Allston, MA. This show demonstrated that the group had ceased to exist simply among the names listed above and had been absorbed into the larger organism of the audience's shared experience.
Primary Releases
Ego is On
Format: Cassette
Volume: > 50 ?
Tracks:
- at the ankles
- the way it is
- psychology of care
- so lucky
- heartless
- imaginary grace
- (in one unbroken series.)
Recording: Rehearsal, mic'd room, Stream of Studio, 2 April 2001.
Notes: First set made for an unfortunate show at Drifters in Nashua, NH a venue run by pro-lifers where many of our friends were turned away at the door. These initial copies came with brownies in brown paper bags.
(self-titled)
Format: CD
Volume: 1000
Tracks:
- heartless
- unthinking
- frustrated
- good intentions (gorilla biscuits cover)
- kill 4:20
- no more
- consumed
- frustrated
- no more
- the way it is
- ??
- the theme
- at the ankles
- so lucky
Recording:
- 1-4,6,7, Audio Excellence, Milford, MA, August, 1999
- 5, Big Sound, S. Portland, ME, November, 1998
- 8-14, Franklin Community Center, Franklin, MA, ?? 2000
Artwork:
Writing:
Notes: Released on High Score Records, Manchester, NH. Still available apparently from certain distros and online stores.
All in the Family
Format: Split CD w/ Kicked in the Head
Volume: 2 pressings of 1000 ?
Tracks:
- Probable Cause
- ??
- Friends
Recording: Big Sound, S. Portland, ME, November, 1998.
Compilations
Boston and Beyond
Format: CD
Volume: 1000
Tracks:
Recording: Audio Excellence, Milford, MA, August, 1999.
Notes: Released on Nebulon Community Records, Foxboro, MA. This compilation was totally awesome.
Yoohoo Sampler
Format: CD
Volume: 10000
Tracks:
Recording: Big Sound, S. Portland, ME, November, 1998.
Notes: This compilation was totally stupid.
