by Lauren Rosier
Photo by Shane Timm
Philadelphia indie folk band Good Old War has been extremely successful with the release of their debut album, Only Way To Be Alone and subsequent self-titled release and Come Back As Rain. The guys’ success has been in great part to the three-part harmonies that envelope their songs and the way you can sing along so easily to any song they play. Keith Goodwin (GOOD), Tim Arnold (OLD), and Dan Schwartz (WAR) have been part of the Philadelphia music scene for quite some time now with Goodwin and and Arnold in a band of some importance to Good Old War called Days Away.
So who is Days Away and how does that band relate to Good Old War? For those of you who are not familiar with Days Away, they were Goodwin’s band prior to Good Old War. His first band. Goodwin and Arnold were always jamming and hanging out together. Arnold joined as the band’s full time drummer. Then, in 2007, Schwartz met Arnold through mutual friends. Schwartz began recording some music at Goodwin’s studio and from that moment on they knew that they had a special musical connection. The whole goal with creating Good Old War was the total opposite of Days Away; a much softer, simpler sound.
“We wanted to use acoustic guitar and harmonies as the basis for our music. The idea was to make each of our strengths heard equally and to make the biggest sound possible with just the three of us,” Schwartz explains.
So fast forward to last August 2014, the band and Arnold announced that he would be parting ways so he could be with his family.
“At first it was a huge blow,” Goodwin revealed. “We were devastated. We weren’t sure how we were going to keep this thing going. We were already going for a more layered sound before Tim left, but when it became just the two of us, it seemed even more natural to just let the songs go where they wanted and not worry about the ‘band sound’ as much.”
When such a significant change occurs, it can affect the whole process of making a record. Goodwin and Schwartz toyed with the idea of just stripping the songs down to their core to the two of them, but they came to find that the songs were already meant to have a bigger sound.
“Coming up with new ideas is always a challenge so this ended up being a new challenge that we decided to take head on instead of giving up,” Goodwin declares. “We think we ended up recording our best album so far.”
The band arranged a Pledge Music campaign for the new record and it has been supported very well by the band’s ‘Good Old Warriors.’
“The Pledge campaign helped us make some of our dreams a reality as far as making the record we set out to make,” Goodwin explains. “The idea of getting our fans involved in the creation of this record and giving them an inside look at the record process was a big deal to us. It allowed us to connect with the people that have supported and grown with us through the years on a whole new level.”
The band just announced that their next record, Broken Into Better Shape, will be released on Nettwerk Music Group on June 30th. The first single, “Tell Me What You Want From Me”, is now available to stream on Spotify and YouTube, as well as purchase on Amazon.com, iTunes, and Google Play.
They are currently on the road for the first time in two years with a stop here in Philadelphia on Sunday, April 12th. And to add to this, Arnold is joining them. The guys are excited.
“When you tour for nine months out of the year for four years straight and then stay off the road for a long period of time you start to get that itch to get back on the road and enjoy the music in a live setting again,” Schwartz notes.
“[We’re] ready to tear it up for our fans and share our new songs. We’ve been practicing really hard and writing since we got off the road two years ago and it’s been about a year since with played with Tim. We can’t wait to have him back in the room with us. It all feels like everything is coming together so well,” Schwartz exclaims.
