(2005): Right out of high school, and having no real desire to further his education at a local community college, Corey Johnston began writing songs on his guitar and recording them through the built in speakers on his computer . Over the course of the summer months, he wrote and recorded several dozen songs alone in his room, including "life as an ant", "Land+Sea+Sky=Time", "Up Shore", "Lonesome Drifter", "Coasting In Neutral" and many more. All the songs were reflections on thing he felt at the time, saw, lived, and dreamed about, and the name he was recording them as was The Goomies, a name with many meanings, which Corey felt fit the mood of his songs. The songs were low-fi recordings to say the least, but would be the blue print to the future of the bands songs.
(2005-2006): When working full time began to take its toll on Corey, he decided he wanted to try and start a band, to have something to go home to after a long eight hour day at work to relieve the stress. He asked his cousin Chris Weeks if he would want to start up a band, and Chris, who had heard a handful of the songs Corey had been writing, agreed to start something up using those songs as the skeleton of the band. Although Chris had no experience on the bass, over several weeks of going over the songs, things started to sound right. And just like that the position of the bassist of the band had been permanently filled. After a month of jamming the songs with guitar and bass only, Corey knew they needed a drummer if they ever wanted to play shows. Knowing no one who played the instrument, once again he called on a friend. Mark Beach answered the call, and showed up at the next practice. The three of them, all friends before the band and already comfortable with each other, just sort of winged it, and even with no drum experience, with the addition of Mark, The Goomies sounded like a real band that first practice. Corey and Chris were excited to say the least that they now had the right tools to start the band. Mark got better at the drums the more they practiced as well as Chris improved on the bass, and the trio worked away their songs for the next year, writing a few new ones, and recording a few of them onto a disc which became their first cd, "A Sweet Taste Of Something Bitter" in the last months of 2005. In 2006, whenever Corey had a little free time, and the band was not able to meet up for practices, he continued to write and record songs with that low-fi quality, which compiled on his computer as "rare" songs in his music library, and a few of them (only a minute long or so) would become building blocks for the songs further down the road.
(2007-2008): With their first cd completed, and a good size amount of new songs and material, The Goomies began working on their next cd. The recording sessions were conducted by a local musician and friend, Michael from a rockabilly band called The Bandits, in his 2 bedroom condo, on his indie record label IME records. Michael recorded a few sessions with The Goomies, but did not complete the album (the album's name was born due to this experience trying to work on the cd). The record was put on hold, meanwhile Corey continued to record and write songs on his computer. Eager to put out another cd, and to inpatient to wait for the cd they began recording with IME to start up again, Corey and Chris put out The Goomies second disc, "Clustered Thoughts In An Empty Brain (the rarities 2005-2007)", a disc of 25+ songs that had been collecting dust on Corey's computer. Some songs were memorable, some not so memorable, but all were defiantly songs that if not put onto this disc, may never have been heard and lost forever. Some songs were less than a minute, and some extend to 7+ minutes. Some of the songs, including "cold pacific (acoustic)", "Shipwreck", and "Mold Ate The Ripe Fruit Jam", are all on this cd in their raw, earliest form , which all later were re-written and recorded onto what would be the cd they were working on with IME. April 2008 would be the public first chance to see The Goomies. After discovering an open mic venue at a local dive bar on Corey's 21st birthday, Corey decided they would play their first gig there the following Tuesday. Tuesday came, and The Goomies played their first gig, an acoustic show with bongo's, an acoustic bass and guitar, and a room full of drunk sing a long backing vocals, and rocked the house...simi-quietly. After their set, and a pretty positive response from the few who were present including local musicians Bradley Keen and Chris Allis, the owner of the bar, Chris Cornish told the band they were welcome to play the bar any week, and that next time, they could bring the drum kit and electrics. Hearing this made the band ecstatic, seem as how they practiced loud with their equipment, and the whole acoustic show didn't really fit what they were going for. The following week The Goomies were the talk of the night, performing a loud and exciting performance of songs such as "Hearts on Ski's Freezing" "Cold Pacific" "Life As An Ant" "Long Division" "Mold That Ate The Ripe Fruit Jam" "Travellin" "Won't Wake Up For Anything" "Up Shore (burn alone) as well as some drunk commentary by Corey and a free stiled jam. After a few weeks of playing random Joe N' Andy shows, the band began booking shows anywhere they could, and over the course of 2008 played venues such as O'Connels, Epicentre, Souljam, King Music, and a string of house parties to name a few. Corey then met a local music fan named Ray Hell, who told Corey he really liked the band and would be interested in recording their songs. Corey visited Rays studio (a house with nothing in it but a couch, bed, kitchen, and every recording equipment known to man. Corey agreed (easily) to record their cd with him, and abandon the few songs that were previously recorded by Michael at IME. Starting from scratch, the band went into Rays studio (TAKE A SEAT Records) and smashed out 12 songs in a months time. The album was named "Make An Appointment With Disappointment" , a poke at the fact that they had tried to record the same album for about a year with two different people, and it kept starting and then being held off. It also appears in the lyrics of the song "Mosquito's" off the same album. With their third cd completed, The Goomies played a few more shows for the remaining course of 2008. The bands following grew in size as well as their mark on the local music scene.
(2009): The band split up in late 2008, Chris continued his college studies, Mark started working as a chef at Ben Crosby's and Corey started a side project band called Tiny Teeth. The band has gotten together on a few occasions to jam out their old songs in their garage, and have rumored to be planning to play some shows in 2009, as well as possible reforming the band and putting out another cd. Regardless, this band will be remembered for their rocking out, well put together songs, and pure passion to make good music. Hopefully we all hear more from The Goomies in the future.
- Ray