Interview: Dave Goddess Group Returns with 'Once in a Blue Moon'

A couple years ago, I interviewed Dave Goddess for his EP, Last of the West Side Cowboys, and the depth of his songwriting and his willingness to tackle an unusual story struck me. Based in New York, the Allentown, PA native has returned with Once in a Blue Moon, on Emotional Records.

"I feel really great about our new record," Goddess told me recently, "I'm very proud of it. So far, we've got really great reviews and press, and it's doing really well on the radio, and Spotify and all the things one would hope. This is kind of a fun time for us; this is really the most fun time, I couldn't feel better about it."

The musical solidity of the band has not changed. Goddess is backed by drummer Chris Cummings, bassist Mark Buschi, with Gary Gipson on guitar and Tom Brobst on keyboards and saxophone.

"It's a real privilege to play with them," Goddess says, "and it's amazing they want to play my songs. I love being in the band, and I love working with them. They contribute an awful lot to the way this stuff comes out. When I write these songs, I purposefully write bare-bones, words, chords and a melody. I try not to work it out too much to give them the opportunity and try to surprise me with some ideas, and they do. We push and pull this stuff till we like it."

The album has a real urgency to it, "Dance While You Can," "When the Lightning' Strikes," and "You Can't Fight Fire With Fire" are all solid tracks that belong on rock radio. Then comes the track, "When You're Happy, I'm Happy."

Goddess laughs a little at this one. "I think I was just probably saying something to my wife," he explains, "we were having a discussion about something, and I just said, 'We'll, if you're happy I'm happy.'" And I thought, 'Hey, maybe that's kind of a catchy idea.' If you haven't done it yourself, we certainly all know people that have been in the kind of relationships where they love each other, but they really can't get along, and then they get into this cycle of breaking, getting back together, that's what this song was about."

The songcraft of Goddess, backed with a rough, sometimes ragged voice, fits the tales. If anything, his songwriting feels deeper on Once in a Blue Moon. "I don't know," Goddess replies to the question, "if that's true, I'm not aware of it. I don't think about it that much, I just do it. When I get inspired to write something, or a I see something interesting, or a topic strikes me, I just dig into it, and whatever comes out comes out. I do work it hard, and I do a lot of revising, but I think if anything I try to be simpler. The longer I do this, the more direct I try and be, and try and cut to the bare essentials and get to the emotions in a more raw way."

One song, in particular, is the closer, "Volunteers." "You look around, and you see the state that we're in," Goddess notes, "and how much division there is in the country, and how people just really have the opposite view, and they're dug in as they can be. I was thinking if we're going to change anything around here, people have to step up. It's just about showing up because I don't know if people show up anymore. In other times, maybe the sixties, people showed up and created change. I hope people are going to show up and try and get this back on track...but that's what it's about to try to rally the people, rally the troops."

One thing you must never do is believe the labels put on something when you first hear or see it. There are country, blues, and folk influences here, but rock is where Goddess feels he belongs. "It's kind of pushed to the side," Goddess says. "It's a niche thing, I guess, I don't hear a lot of people doing it, like jazz or something. That's a real shame to me, that's obviously where I live musically, I'm just gonna keep doing and hope it finds the people that love it."

The Dave Goddess Group is planning East Coast dates, with New York, Philadelphia, DC, and Boston in their sights. As for the show to expect, "I want to affect them when they come and see us," Goddess says. "We're gonna really give everything we have got to make people feel those things. And hopefully, when people leave us, they feel better than when they came to see us, they feel inspired or moved in some way that's what we're trying to do."

(Photos courtesy of Dave Goddess Group)

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