Artist Interview: Goes The Dynamite

The power-pop trio "Goes The Dynamite" (Josh Purnell, Aaron Scott, and Shawn Scott) have just released a new self-titled album - a 10-song LP that blends 80s synth-pop with a hint of soul and R&B, resulting in a very dance-focused sound. We recently caught up with the band and asked them a few questions about the new record.

- You talk about the start of the band with a chat you all dubbed “The Parking Lot Proposal”, where you all chatted about starting the band after a concert in a parking lot. What was the concert?

Josh: Shawn and I had known each other from playing in the local Cincy music scene in the early 2000’s. He and Aaron were a part of the fantastic power pop band Chaselounge and I, a member of the power pop band And Andy. Our bands were kindred spirits and ended up playing a ton of local shows together. Fast forward to 2016 at the Midpoint Music Festival (now hosted in a parking lot in the Pendleton Square area), I caught up with Shawn randomly as we were both there to see one of our favorite bands, Nada Surf. We talked about what each of us were up to musically and expressed an interest to see if we could work on new music together.

Our history with MPMF goes back a while! Here’s a clip of And Andy opening the Midpoint Music Festival in 2005 by playing a set on top of the CAC in downtown Cincy.

- How did you all come up with the band name?

Shawn: For the longest time, we were looking for a one word band name, something punchy and quick...and not already taken! "Tragic Love Songs" has the lyric "detonate like dynamite" and we pulled from that line to come up with GOES THE DYNAMITE.

- How would you sum up this album in just one word or a sentence?

- Did any interesting stories pop up while you were working on this album?

Josh: Our previous bands were more guitar driven power pop rock so it was a little challenging when writing new songs for this project. Songs that were originally written on guitar, we had to learn how to give them more of a pop treatment. 

Shawn: Learning how to de-rock songs, less guitars and more pop.

- In the song The Clarity during the break it sounds like a British person, who is that?

Shawn: That is our bassist extraordinaire, Aaron Scott. I've always called him "The Constable" and he has a way of carrying himself like a constable vocally. I had this idea that came out of nowhere for the song The Clarity, an "outro Beatles goof idea" and I wrote down "Oh the possibilities, the endless possibilities." I asked Aaron to say that line in his constable voice and what you hear on the record is take one, one of one... perfection!

- You mention influences like Nile Rodgers, Hall & Oates, Prince and a few more, which of those are dominating the band right now and are there any new ones?

Josh: I think we were influenced by the pop songs of the moment when writing and recording this album. Writing and production spanned a good amount of time so that covers pop hits over the last 5 years from Lizzo, The Weeknd, Chappell Roan and Bruno Mars. We really love certain aspects of those artists and their songwriting and production styles. 

Shawn: The songs on this record obviously have a very heavy 80's vibe so that lead us down a rabbit hole through a lot of songs we had forgotten about or were able to rediscover. Hence the "The Look of Love" by ABC that we covered earlier this year.

- What music are you all listening to right now?

Shawn: The first time I heard and discovered Daryl Johns was on Inhailer. He's got an early 80's influence and a really great vibe!

Josh: I've been loving everything I hear from Coastal Club and Boy Bandicoot. Also, Ghost! I love my theatrical pop metal, ha.

- You have really great videos like Bodytalk and Head Surgery, who comes up with the ideas for your videos? 

Josh: My wife and I operate Common People Creative, a video/photo production company. I'm used to coming up with different kinds of video treatments for clients, so this was a really fun departure getting to creating tongue in cheek style music videos. We're having a blast coming up with silly ideas and there's plenty more to come with each single we plan to release.

- What do you hope listeners and fans will take away from this album?

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