In Defense of Ska Ep 190: John Feldmann (Goldfinger)

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On this week's episode, one of the first ska songs to pop off on the radio in the ’90s was “Here in Your Bedroom,” by Southern California group, Goldfinger. A few years later, their song “Superman” soundtracked the first level of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, where millions of people heard the song, including John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats, who later covered it.

This week, we talk with Goldfinger lead singer John Feldmann. We get into Goldfinger history, signing with Mojo Records, and his earlier band, Electric Love Hogs and his huge list of bands that he’s produced: The Used, 311, Avril Lavigne, Blink 182, Good Charlotte and 5 Seconds of Summer. 

We also talk about Goldfinger playing 385 shows in 1996 (A world record!), John getting knocked out at a Suicidal Tendencies show in the 80s, how he scared Ashlee Simpson with anti-fur videos and the importance of the production work he did with The Used. It not only altered the course of his career but re-shaped the sound of punk for the decades that followed. 

Plus, we learn why Mojo Records signed and then dropped Limp Bizkit! 

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon! 

If you like our theme song, go download the EP Lives by Slow Gherkin. They wrote the opening and closing songs for our podcast. You can get both tunes from their Lives EP. Also, check out Dan P and the Bricks two LPs. They provided the mid-roll ad transition music. 

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024. 

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023. 

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.

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