by Jaz Bowens
A Victim of Good Times. That’s the only victim I want to be; a victim of my own good time. While listening to AVOGT’s new album The Full Catastrophe released April 4, you’ll start doing a little head nod to their first song, “Cool With Me” and before you know it “Theme to an 80s Movie” is playing and you’ve danced your way through their whole album. Now, that’s great music does to you.
That Music Mag wanted to know a little more about the band with a 90’s nostalgic sound which is being welcomed with open arms. Their relaxed beats and simplistic, yet meaningful lyrics is exactly what music is missing right now. Luckily, A Victim of Good Times is a local band with the energy and talent to take their music world wide. One day, we will be glad to say, “I knew them when.”
Vocalist Matt Gaines on guitar, Mike Lebovitz on the bass, Dan Sagherian on the drums, and Clayton Thomas on guitar form A Victim of Good Times. That Mag spoke with Gaines briefly about how it all got started, their current album, and why they might be your new favorite band.
“I put an ad out on Craigslist saying that I was looking for serious musicians to start a band and Mike was the first person to reply to me. He was the first and only bass player I auditioned for this band,” Gaines says. “A drummer who didnt work introduced us to Clay, our guitar player, and we had to go back to Craigslist to finally find a permanent drummer, Dan.”
After getting a great group of guys together who were serious about making good music, everything was set. They started practicing and recording music almost right away. Everyone in the band is multi-talented and they all work well together. Although chaos in Gaines personal life sometimes make for the best inspiration for songs, harmony within the band is was makes the song perfect.
“I might come up with a guitar line, vocal line or a bass line, and from there Clay will also add in some guitar and Dan, a drum beat and so on,” Gaines says. “ We bounce off of each other. The song “Red, Red, Red” on our album was written by Mike. He’s had the song for a while. He came to me, we recorded it, and its great.”
AVOGT released The Summer in 2012. There are some differences between The Summer and Total Colostophe, but the real differences are behind the scene.
“We were more comfortable this time around,” he says. “Most of the songs from Full Catastrophe were already written. We just had to record them and make a few changes here and there, but it was nice to finally get our best work out there.”
Live shows, word of mouth, and social media are helping to get A Victim of Good Time’s music noticed. Although unintentional, the mid 90s flair their music has takes many back to a good place in time. If you happen to be in Wilmington, DE tonight, stop over at Mojo 13 and hear them live for yourself. Show starts at 8pm and there will be free doughnuts!
