ASL's Exclusive Interview With The Last Goodnight

Josh: Hiya Kurtis, and welcome to A Socialite's Life. Thanks for giving us some time. How have you been?

Kurtis: We just got into New York last night. We've been over in London though, just doing a lot of work and press with the label. We did stuff in Italy and Milan. Now we're back here and just trying to do a lot of stuff and sort of tightening up a bunch of things before our tour starts October 5th.

Josh: I saw that. How excited are you for the new tour?

Kurtis: Oh super-excited, man. We've been in LA for three years recording the record. We're going to basically be a bunch of good friends on the road. I've known Elliot for a while, so I'm a good friend with his band. Our keyboard player is best friends with his drummer, so it's going to be a really cool vibe. I really look forward to going on tour with those guys.

Josh: Okay, so I got your new CD. Tell me about your inspiration. I've heard you compared to The Fray and Maroon 5.

Kurtis: Yeah I mean, as far as my inspirations growing up were like the first cassette tape I ever bought was Guns 'N' Roses' "Appetite for Destruction" and it was like at the age of seven. My father was blind, and he was a music and piano man as well. He loved jazz and blues, and he'd listen to Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Holliday, and just like all the Doctor Johns. We'd spend time going back and forth listening to music. I listened to Punk Rock, and Alternative, and skateboarding. We'd spend a lot of time just like listening to music for hours. We'd share music and compare music. We'd really get into each other's music, and it developed my music at a really early age. Jazz to classical, I really listened to everything at an early age.

I started writing a lot--I also had a drum set when I was five. I even got my first guitar when I was eight. My father always had piano playing out through the house. He taught me chords on the piano, and obviously he couldn't read music. He really taught me how to hear music. So the way he showed me chords were very untraditional, and not the typical finger placement. So I learned an odd way of the piano, and it's made for a different sound. My father was a huge huge influence. You could name Ella Fitzgerald to Richard Ashcroft and The Verve lyrically. Even "Born To Run" was the best rock song ever. There really has been no meaning to the word "genre" to me. I don't really listen to polka a lot. I would if I came across it more, I guess.

Josh: So, basically you had a Ray Charles in your house teaching you music. As a kid, how was that to grow up musically?

Kurtis: Well it's different. You got all your friends who were throwing footballs with their fathers. I obviously couldn't do that... well... unless I wanted to give my father a black eye. It was one of those things where my dad was really cool. You wouldn't think he's blind until he walked into something. He's cool about everything. He loves music, and he would hear me singing through the house. I have always been very shy, but I loved to sing in the house. He'd hear me singing the G.I. Joe theme songs, Transformers, and Inspector Gadget. He taught me to put harmony behind my music, and taught me melody.

Then he taught me to layer music so I could play anything. I would sing something, and he would layer things and show me if I put this sound, under another how good it'd be. I can't read music well at all, but I can hear a song and adapt to it. One thing though with my dad, that stuck with me. He said that, "If you strike a chord or a melody, you need to be striking an emotion of some sort. It can't be just about the chord. You can make any great song on two or three chords." The best though, is my father used to scare the crap out of my mother. At Christmas time, he'd be on the 30-foot peak of our roof hanging Christmas lights, acting like he might fall off. He was like the Hercules of Blind-ism.

Josh: So, Tell me about Renata. Wasn't it the name of The Last Goodbye?

Kurtis: Renata was the band, not much different besides the name change. It really was the most solid iteration of our band up until we decided to make the change. What happened was--long story short--me and Mike started the band in a small town in Connecticut. Mike and I met a bunch of girls and were trying to impress them. There was one guitar at the party. I could play the slower and popular songs and Mike could just play faster rock songs effortlessly. Mike totally won the girls over that night and a week later we got together to play a show. After that, Leif and Anton went to our high school and we got them into the group.

From there, it was just an uphill climb touring the east coast. We put out two independent records, and toured the USA in a van. We were touring as Renata and we met our connection at the Whiskey A Go-Go out in LA, and within three days we were signed. We met Eli last and after we'd signed as Renata. Within five minutes of meeting Eli and jamming with him, we had the very serious frame for "Poison Kiss." It was a very spontaneous moment, and everything came really quick. The name "The Last Goodbye" had a cinematic feel to it, and we all agreed on it which is very rare. Not to say we don't get along--hell we're best friends--but we're all passionate about music, we went through forty-five band names and nothing had a ring to it or could be a movie title. It was a "My Chemical Romance"-type of pop name. Overall though, we were burnt on the Renata thing. A German name that no one can pronounce. We'd go out embarrassed on stage because no one could get our names right and it didn't make us feel confident.

Josh: When you described your music, you said it was "Tom Hanks in Castaway, meets Pam Grier." How does that affect how you describe your music?

Kurtis: I've never really been able to describe our music because it's different. It's organic and it evolves over time. I grew up listening to such a wild group of music. I love any band that writes and performs their own songs. Bands like that can be a true inspiration to rock and roll. So for me to try to symbolize our music through other music cheapens their music, and ours too. So I use different influences to try and explain it.

Josh: I could ask you about your music and your CD, but we've talked enough about everything. Tell me why we should listen to your band.

Kurtis: Josh, we do everything. We sit with advertising to make sure it's what we want it to look like. We make sure everything that comes out about us is something we can support and something we can whole heartedly support. This band is something we love so dearly, that we will go to every length to make sure it's done just right. As a fan of music, who wouldn't love a band willing to make sure every part of their marketing, advertising, music, style is taken care of?

Josh: True that. Well, Kurtis, I've taken more than 20 minutes of your time and I'll let you go. We here at A Socialite's Life thank you so much for your time!

Kurtis: Thank you and thank your readers. We really hope to see all of you out on tour with Elliot Yamin!

The playfully fun yet undeniably passionate attitude towards both the band, which he has been with since its inception, and the music they produce displayed by Kurtis John during our interview is a great reflection of the overall tone of The Last Goodnight. John's down-to-earth nature is reflected in the candid way in which he discusses his childhood growing up with a blind, musically-inclined father as well as the extremely hands-on approach he and the other band members take towards all facets of the music industry.