I meet the five members of Good Kid at The Starving Artist on College Street. Michael, who plays bass, tells me as we wait for our table that he bought some balloons earlier since their single hit 100,000 plays on Spotify. “We’re using them for a video on our Facebook page later today.”
Good Kid is a Toronto-based band comprised of UofT students and graduates. Their first single, “Nomu,” has taken off over the last few months. The band is comprised of Nick Frosst on lead vocals, Jacob Tsafantinos and David Wood on guitar, Jon Kereliuk on drums, and Michael Kozakov on bass. Jacob describes “Nomu” as an “angry pop song,” but the band’s dynamic sound is a balanced mixture of energetic and upbeat.
We spend the next hour talking about their music, while discussing Serial, travel stories, and horror movies in between. You can tell all five members are passionate about their music, humbled by their success thus far, and excited to continue working together.
Alexandra Scandolo: I think almost everyone loves an origin story. What were the beginnings of Good Kid? How did you all end up making music together?
Michael: Nick and I both figured out we played music a few years ago, and it just worked when we started jamming together.
Jacob: I used to be in a band with David at the time and I was in German class with Michael. We would talk about music after class and Michael said he had jammed with Nick before, who was a really good singer. One day, we got together in Michael’s residence and had an acoustic practice. We ordered pizza and covered “Get Lucky;” it worked really well and then it was the three of us for about a year. Eventually we said, ‘This is fun, let’s be more serious’ and then decided to look for another guitarist and drummer.
AS: So it was kind of serendipitous in a way? Different elements seem to have brought all of you together for this project.
David: I think our dynamic worked best together; we have a really good writing relationship together, especially in terms of guitar parts.
Jacob: At first, we only practiced a few times with Jon before we got David on board. Pretty much, Nick can’t play and sing guitar at the same time.
Nick: It’s true! I do both pretty well separately but not together.
Jacob: [laughs] Yeah, so we decided to add on another guitarist.
Did you cycle through different names before you became Good Kid?
Nick: We’ve had so many names; we were Lyon Lay at a point – which is my cousin’s name. We had a show coming up and when they asked for a name, Lyon was just sitting there so we went with that idea.
Jacob: We were also Bahenwolf for a while. My favourite that didn’t make the cut is Spaceship Dinosaurs.
AS: Where did the name Good Kid come from?
Michael: Jacob’s previous band wrote a song with the name actually.
Jacob: Good Kid is actually a reference to a scene in The Mask. Jim Carrey’s character shoots someone and he’s smoking a cigar; it’s referencing mafia movies and he says, “You’re a good kid, you’re real good. But, as long as I’m around you’ll always be second best, see?”
Michael: We were with our producer and we didn’t have a name yet. He told Jacob, “It’s cool that your old band was called Good Kid.” And Jacob said, “Well, it wasn’t, but that actually is a good band name.”
AS: How have your backgrounds at U of T influenced your music?
Jacob: I’m not sure it influenced us too heavily aside from meeting each other.
Nick: I don’t know about that, we did spend a whole bunch of time together because of it. We all programed together at U of T, except for David.
David: I’m starting to learn!
Michael: We did a big trip this summer because of U of T and Computer Science through a competition called UofTHacks. All of us did this Hack-a-Thon together and won, so the prize for that was a trip to Korea for another Hack-a-Thon. We planned to go altogether but the event was cancelled due to the MERs virus outbreak at the time. We still had our flights booked, so we decided to go anyways.
AS: Did the trip have an effect on your music?
Jacob: Our music was actually all written before that trip and the song was recorded before we left. I think it was great in terms of band dynamics, it brought us closer together and we got really comfortable with each other since we lived together for a month and a half.
AS: 2015 was a big year for you, your single “Nomu” was in the top ten of Spotify’s Viral Hits playlist and it was just featured on the radio. How did “Nomu” become the first single? Was it one of the first songs you recorded?
Nick: At the time, it was the only song we had recorded. We chose that one because it was our strongest and most completed song.
Jon: It was our producer Crispin Day’ recommendation to use “Nomu.” We sent him a bunch of demo recordings of songs and he seemed the most excited about that one.
David: We have something to draw with having “Nomu” released first. In terms of sound consistency, “Nomu” gives Good Kid a theme and a focus.
AS: Listeners have said “Nomu” sounds like a mixture of Panic! at the Disco and Two Door Cinema Club. How do you feel about the comparisons “Nomu” has drawn?
Michael: We didn’t realize that until we released it and received comments mentioning those comparisons.
Jacob: When I sent demos of that song to the other members, I named the file, “Two Door/Strokes.” I didn’t expect the Panic! At The Disco comparison, I think that’s all Nick’s vocals.
David: I think with Panic! At The Disco, the music plays around the vocals. We have vocals that stand out like that, but we also have this wall of sound.
Michael: When you start a band and think about writing music, the only way to get a sense of direction is to reference a band you were in before or just a band you really admire. We don’t want to be exactly like Two Door, but they’re a huge influence.
AS: Did you anticipate the online popularity with its release?
All: [laughs] No, no.
Jacob: I thought just my friends would listen to it.
Jon: When we put it up on YouTube, it got to a thousand views in a day and we were like, “Holy shit, what do we do?”
Jacob: We were so unprepared because we didn’t have a Facebook or a Twitter; the song wasn’t even available to listen to outside of YouTube.
Nick: We learned a lot from that release and how to prepare, but I think we just didn’t expect it to happen like that.
Michael: All we did is post it on our personal Facebook pages and some mysterious cousin of ours posted it on Reddit.
Jon: It was posted on r/listentothis, which is a decently popular subreddit.
Michael: From there, thousands of people went to YouTube to watch it. One of the comments was asking the person who posted it how they found it and they said, “Oh, I’m one of the band member’s cousin.” The post was later pulled down because you can’t promote things on Reddit.
Jacob: The coolest thing about “Nomu” is that we have done nothing in terms of traditional promotion. We haven’t paid anyone or contacted press, we didn’t do anything we were supposed to do but it still has gotten 100,000 streams on Spotify. I think what’s cool is that it’s gained popularity based on the strength of the song itself.
AS: What is the songwriting process for all of you when working in a group as diverse in styles and tastes?
Nick: [laughs] It’s pretty chaotic, but it’s definitely fun. I think part of our process is that we come at it from all angles and figuring it out how to merge those.
David: I think we’re getting better at mixing our styles and working together.
Nick: We’re all influencing each other in different ways musically.
David: Jon has the most unique background out of all of us; it’s like jazz metal.
Jacob: I’m always grappling between punk and indie rock. I want all of our songs to be three times faster than what they are now.
AS: It’s the end of January, so what is 2016 looking like for Good Kid right now?
Michael: We came out of the studio recently and we’re booking shows right now to support an upcoming release in February. The plan is to play a lot of shows, have a new song out, and keeping working on new projects.
AS: Any plans for a music video in the future?
All: Yeah!
David: That’s the plan, but that one is tricky.
Nick: We’ve definitely been floating around ideas; it’s definitely something we want to put out eventually.
AS: What are your recommendations for anyone reading ’s Film & Music section looking for new music?
Michael: Day Wave.
Nick: Owen Pallet and Stan Rogers.
Jacob: Wait, what are you currently listening to? Stan Rogers is dead!
Nick: That is what I’m listening to! For what came out this year, there’s a really good Joanna Newsom album.
Jacob: Definitely for punk music, Pup. Other than that, I just listening to this band Hop Along, they remind me of Land of Talk. And if you don’t know Land of Talk, you should also listen to them.
Jon: Patrick Watson, who’s from Montreal. I recently got into him, he’s super cool.
David: I have an obsession with rediscovering bands that have broken up. So for me, it’s Foxtrot and there’s this old, country band called The Everybodyfields.
AS: Anything else you guys want to add for readers?
Nick: We’re going to have shows coming up; our Facebook page is the best place to get updates about Good Kid.
Michael: And anytime you want to find us, make sure you look up “Good Kid Toronto” because it turns out, there’s this guy named Kendrick who made a really awesome album of a similar name.
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