Goodbye Glory Pleas for Sanity


By: Fridae Mattas


As promised, I did go to another Goodbye Glory performance; it was a smaller venue with a more intimate setting. The Drake Hotel, in the awesome city in which so many great Rock bands dwell, underground, undiscovered waiting for that big break. One band makes it big; the others disappear into the vast ocean of wannabe rock stars in the wings, still waiting for their Fairy Godmother. Many bands do just rock out for the love of music, that is where true wealth leys, within the love for the art. To those who like shiny expensive things and love the groupie hobags, those hobags will be gone as quickly as they spend your hard earned money moving on to the next big thing, wrapping around someone new like a scarf. These dudes of Goodbye Glory play as if they love the music but I am sure like every other dude in a band they love the groupie’s too. Until of course, they go all fatal attraction on your ass, infiltrating them self into your circle of friends and then becoming friends with your family, until she is everywhere you go, she will even move to the same city, go to every show, and stalk your ass on tour in different countries uninvited. Make your choices wisely there are a number of crazy psycho groupies out there. Lost track a while back the number of crazy chicks encountered, even some dude groupies are extremely wacko! But hey, to each their own, whatever floats your boat!





Goodbye Glory was unexpectedly good the first time rocking out at the Opera House, all of the girls in the palm of their hands, with some dudes rocking out along side their swooning girlfriends. These boys definitely love to play charity events. Love Charity events, it is vital to raise money for those in need, someone has to help them. Volunteer somewhere if you have the time, go rock out at a charity concert, the money your ticket is spent on goes to someone who is in dire need of your ten or twenty dollars. In addition, you can find some good music at these shows and it is cheaper than a charity dinner with a huge celebrity, think about it. Would do anything for charity except go on a reality show and eat weird looking creepy flying crawly things nothing gross thanks! Would rather live in a box on Queen Street, than put myself through that for money period. Money is only paper you cannot take it with you when you die! We need it to survive but all you need is enough for the necessities you do not need three tanning beds in your mansions gym, all these extras people buy and have these days, now you are getting voracious! Could never fathom why so many people are so gluttonous, if these rich tight-asses were not so hungry for the green and did more than donate a couple of bucks to charity for publicity and a tax write-off, imagine how different this world would be.





There were a few bands scheduled to perform at the Charity concert to support Childhood Cancer Research but these ears only had time for Goodbye Glory’s set and the dude later joined by his band. Have not seen a show at the Drake until today, I usually miss the band I came to see every time I come to this venue. This time these ears heard two sets at the Drake, the first I wish I had not. Memory lapse in remembering what the dude’s name was but do recall his band not being there, he was nervous and did not know his bands name. It was funny at times but it was so obvious he was trying to save his ass and calm his nerves. I give him credit for trying but dude, lullaby’s equals naptime! The sound was mellow, a little too nappy mellow, his vocals and the arraignment did not suit the music, no no, not at all, “Bedouin Soundclash” is better and they do not even float my boat. There is no excuse for having the exact same chords with almost identical rhythms and melodies in every single track. It sounded like one big long forty-minute song even when his band finally decided to show up. Some advice to them, just play music for the love of the art, your future is desolate in this industry.





A new video camera equals awesome videos, I recorded two videos of Goodbye Glory’s tunes, ‘4014’ off of their first LP “Plea For Sanity” and a new tune ‘Even When My Heart Turns Cold’ off of the yet to be released new album. The videos are up on Youtube they also will be up on my Myspace in the near future, unless they put them up on here first. Goodbye Glory’s performance at the Drake was good, the sound was clear the music was good and the track changeovers were flawless. Full of energy mid set they threw in a bonus cover tune, their own version of Michael Jackson’s hit ‘Billy Jean’ an ode of excellence nonetheless. At one point during the set, guitarist Adam Staviss the wanderer of the band jumped onto the floor and rocked out in the middle of the venue. A talented guitarist notably enjoying his craft; completely understanding the importance of showmanship when playing a live show. During one track, guitarist Dante Berardi Jr. did a little solo singing. His voice is quite nice, a little rough around the edges but that is completely due to the lack of confidence with his vocals; he came across super nervous. The band should infuse Dante’s vocals with Kevin’s more often, they sound good together, could even split the verses on some tracks adding more of a dynamic vibe. Remember it is all about harmonizing fellas you want a full sound so the music does not overwhelm the vocals drowning them out.





The comparison on how much this band has grown from the first performance in just a few months is incredible. Costa’s vocals have improved vastly; there is more control and stability. Berardi Jr. is getting more comfortable on stage without conveying his over thinking. Bassist Jan-Michael is mellow yet turns it on when he feels. Casullo is killer on the drums, keeping the flow of the beat tight. Love the drums banging out is always a great way to alleviate your frustrations. I am currently listening to “Plea For Sanity” the debut album by Goodbye Glory and you my friend are in for a treat. This piece of literary art is a nice double whammy, live performance, and album combo coverage. Saw Goodbye Glory live again on Friday November 2 at the Reverb. Got some great shots that you see here in this review because the pictures from The Drake show were super dark and unfixable, the lighting at the venue was not kind.





The first song I immediately took a liking to off “Plea For Sanity” was ‘If It Has To Be This Way’. The intro is a simple bass line with subtle gain distortion leading to an instrumental infusion of guitars and percussion prior to the verse drop. The music is amazing I love all the guitar chemistry, here we go again with the guitar jibber an obsession my neighbors probably want to shoot me for, I rock out on my guitar for a long n’ loud time as often as I can. A relief for all of them both amp and guitar broke the same day and time, my heart is broken. The tempo of ‘If It Has To Be This Way’ is perfect, the tune is one of the harder tracks on the album, that is why I like it so much but also the lyrics are powerful, good job on those, let us hear how great they are. A Bit of the chorus is “If it has to be this way / Your gonna live your life in vain / Dig a knife into my veins / Rid my life of all this pain”. Timing is good the instruments flow well together, the transitions are smooth not much to complain about, this tune is good enough to be on my I Pod, which it is. Another track that these ears enjoy is ‘I Belong’ amazing guitar riffs; I love that about their music, plenty of guitars. Here is a bit of the track’s pre a chorus lyric “Oh and baby I tried / To live a thousand lives each one right by your side / Oh and baby I tried / Not hard enough / I know it in my mind.” One of the producers these lads worked with on this album is Canadian heavy weight ‘Gavin Brown’ best known for his work with ‘Finger Eleven’ and ‘Three Days Grace’ every great Canadian rock band has worked with Gavin Brown. A talent such as Brown’s would not waste his time and talent on a band that was hopeless, meaning these lads have a foot in the door with room to grow, no doubt.





This is the last track I jibber about, you can check out Goodbye Glory’s Myspace for details on how to purchase their album and listen to their tunes, the links to all things Goodbye Glory are at the end as always. This track ‘Maybe’ is a good track although Kevin’s vocals could be better; during the verses, more diaphragm use is required. Using the diaphragm stabilizes the vibrato making a smoother less shaky resonance. At times, it sounds as if he is biting his words making the reverberation whiney and incomprehensive. A warm up tip for vocalists before singing, drop your jaw and massage right below the earlobes on both sides of your jaw for thirty seconds, massage around the areas close to the jaw line to loosen that muscle. For better enunciation open the mouth, tongue touching teeth, push using the diaphragm. The vocals in the chorus of ‘Maybe’ are immense, exactly as they should be during the verses but a little softer with a few back up vocals, after all there are five of you. A line from the first verse “I think if time flew by I’d say something softly / So that I’d kill off the army / Of blues”. Musically it is an amazing track, the lyrics have meaning and depth, a miniscule problem that could be fixed is, the elocution of the words; with just a little auxiliary they will be lucid. This band is one of many who fall under the BLS (Better Live Syndrome) worth checking out most definitely. The ruling on Goodbye Glory’s ‘Plea for Sanity’ is they do have something special brewing; it is okay go take a listen.


Goodbye Glory Official Site
MySpace.com - Goodbye Glory - Toronto, CA - Alternative / Indie / Rock - www.myspace.com/goodbyegloryband
Goodbye Glory Unofficial [A Fan Site]




©2007FRIDAE™