It can be both exciting and intimidating for a new band to enter a music scene, and UK-based The Goodstock Project addresses, with deep candor, all the conflicting emotions of that very situation on their driving, stadium-inspired new single “Be The One.”
“Be The One” starts out pounding and soaring, and singer June Holland’s vibrato glides above and between the instrumentation like a colorful, gently fluttering bird. “Gotta get me/ Some of that wrinkle cream/ Help smooth out my smile lines,” she sings, referring to the forced smiles of an uncomfortable, or fake, situation.
“The lyrics and inspiration behind this tune are about assessing the way a music scene is developing, and having a true belief that you are worthy of being part of it,” the band divulges. “Or better still, standing apart from it and achieving success independently.”
Later, before launching into a repeated chorus of “I wanna be the one,” Holland sings, somewhat cryptically, of launching a golden globe with a slingshot. “It’s a metaphor for throwing out a stellar song,” the band says, “which, sadly, sometimes the world isn’t ready for.”
“Be The One” is the second single off of The Goodstock Project’s debut EP Remote, a compilation of six songs the band worked on during the pandemic lockdown. The big coup is the vocal work of June Holland, who, at the time she started recording the vocals, had never met the rest of the group, but fortunately a musical voodoo-magic happened, and everything worked out splendidly. The corresponding video for “Be The One” shows each band performing on their own, in their own remote location, and then it splices each video together to show the unified performance as you hear – and see – it .
The Goodstock Project is the codename for an experimental collaboration started in the first lockdown of Spring 2020. The idea being to prove whether it’s possible – if everyone can agree on an arrangement of a song and have a solid click-track to work to – to record without even being in the same room, recording weeks apart with each band member engineering their own track, with no overall strategy. The recording of each member’s own part was also filmed (using nothing more sophisticated than an iPhone) so each could see the others at work, just as it would be in the rehearsal room.
Possible? The answer is a resounding yes, and the first fruit of the collaboration was the audio and video track “Hotel”, which Jon (bass), Ol (guitar), and Ben (drums) recorded first, and then June overlaid with vocals and harmonies a while later. Five more tracks followed, and it resulted in Remote, just released this past October.
