Unsigned Spotlight: Dammit Goldie
With gritty punk rock vocals, nostalgic grunge tones and mathy guitar work, Dammit Goldie hone a dexterous array of music backgrounds and marry them with aplomb.
Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.
Josh Smith (Lead Vocals, Guitar)
Evan Cannavicci (Guitar)
Tommy Metcalfe (Drums, Backup Vocals)
Cam (Bass, Backup Vocals)
For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Dammit Goldie? How long has the band been around?
Josh: My first band was called Flatline Endings, we did pretty good for a bunch of teenagers. Then I was the vocalist for a band called Hey Is For Horses. We did a song with Rody Walker from Protest the Hero, and you can check it out on Bandcamp.
Evan: My previous band was a pop punk band out of Toronto. We weren't very good..but I learned a lot from the 3 years we were together. This line up has been together for about a year. Me and Josh have had numerous iterations of the band and have been writing music together for the last 6 or 7 years
Tommy: I played in a few bands and as a hired player prior to Dammit Goldie. The Advancing Low-Lives, GREEN JELLÖ, Frantic Lullabies, Stereo Sunrise, and Cam Bogle to name a few. Dammit Goldie has quietly been around for a handful of years but it was just Josh and Evan. I moved to Hamilton Ontario during 2020 and we became roommates. After some coaxing Josh managed to get me on board and I brought in Cam to play bass as we had just graduated music school together and I knew it would be a great fit. Since then we have been very busy and things have been going well!
Cam: I’ve been in a number of bands before joining Dammit Goldie. The current iteration of the band has been around just over 2 years now.
What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?
Josh: Band name came from the film/graphic novel, "Sin City." You can hear the clip from the movie at the beginning of our song When Words Start Having Weight. The band name was originally The Scenic Route, but there were already a bunch of bands with that name. I'm really glad we landed on Dammit Goldie, for its uniqueness & originality.
Cam: I believe Josh got the name from a scene in one of the Sin City movies. We haven’t changed the name, however when Tommy and I joined we did change the spelling from “Damnit” to “Dammit”.
Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?
Josh: Evan and I write most of the songs. Tommy and Cam make them better. The topics and themes mostly stay the same for me. But I prefer people taking their own meaning from the song. I'd rather not direct our listeners. Let them choose what the song does for them.
Evan: Josh and I are the primary songwriters. I'll sit alone and write most of my songs in the DAW reaper where Josh writes his on guitar. We present them to the band and Tommy and Cam will add their touches and notes to the tunes.
Tommy: Josh and Evan are the primaries. They bring songs to the table and then Cam and I add our spice. Sometimes we will change the arrangement or just add our input anywhere the song can be better. We are constantly evolving. We try to span a lot of different vibes so our topics and themes tend to change as well. We try not to stick to one thing.
Cam: I think the topics for our tunes are constantly changing so it’s hard to point out a main theme.
What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
Josh: The bands inspiring me currently would be Mr. Bungle, Falling in Reverse, Tool, Faith No More, The Human Abstract, & Parkway Drive.
Evan: For me, bands like Code Orange are greatly inspiring lately. I sometimes find that I hit a wall with my writing and get inspiration from bands doing something different. Code orange is taking a pretty stale genre and putting a spin on it. It gets my creative juices a flowin.
Tommy: My influences tend to vary. Recently I’ve been listening to a lot of Norma Jean and Periphery. There’s been some great inspiration from local acts to Ontario also such as Junko Daydream, Conversation and Rarity. But I also get heavily inspired by out of genre acts like Domi and JD Beck, Chris Dave, and Snarky Puppy. These out of genre acts tend to inspire how I approach my instrument more so than the specific parts I write.
Cam: I’ve been really inspired recently by bands with great rhythmic elements such as Periphery and Vulfpeck.
Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?
Josh: The Urethra Chronicles 1 & 2 by Blink 182 was definitely one of the things that made me want to quit sports and focus on starting a band when I was about 13. I wanted close friends that were a bunch of goofballs that travelled the world and played to thousands of people with a giant FUCK sign lit up behind me. That was the dream & still is.
Evan: I've been in bands since I was about 15. The first bands that got me interested in the idea of a band was blink 182 and sum 41. The band that made me feel like it was a possibility was a band called Choking victim. Didn't think music could be made that way, not so polished and perfected...but raw and abrasive. I related to that.
Tommy: For me there were a few factors. My dad Phil Bickmore is a drummer as well. I grew up in band houses and rehearsals and it inspired my love of the instrument. I was the kid that would sit in front of a mirror air drumming and trying to look cool. Many years later I found myself working stage production with artists such as Styx, Ringo Starr’s All-star Band, and Toto. Working around drummers like Todd Sucherman, Greg Bissonette, and Simon Phillips drove my curiosity to learn my instrument further and enrol in school.
Cam: I’ve known I was going to be a musician since I was a kid. When I was younger I always felt super inspired watching videos of Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock and Nirvana Live at Reading.
What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, etc …
Josh: To prepare for a show I do vocal warmups! The band is slowly getting me to approach things properly. So I go to the gym everyday, I sing often, we have rehearsals, and I drink a lot of water! We plan to do this till the wheels fall off. So gotta keep our chops up.
Evan: A bit of stretching, a bit of pacing back and forth. I try to clear my head and go into the performance without restrictions...I attempt to do this. Doesn't always work out.
Tommy: I stretch with sticks. Loosen up my arms, and clear my head.
Cam: I try to get as hyped and excited as I can while breathing deliberately and focusing all my energy into what I’m about to do.
What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?
Josh: Biggest highlight - recording with Wade Macneil of Alexisonfire, and Julius Butty (who has recorded Protest the Hero/Alexisonfire/City & Colour, and more! Having Ted Jensen (who mastered Green Day & The Eagles) and Tyler Smyth (who mastered Falling in Reverse) mastering our tracks was unreal.
Tommy: Ya I think I speak for the rest of us in saying we mirror Josh’s feelings on this topic.
Cam: I think the biggest highlight yet is hearing about everything we have to look forward to in 2023!
Tommy: I stand corrected.
If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
Josh: The bands I would tour with would definitely be Nirvana, Falling In Reverse, Mr. Bungle, Alice in Chains, and Tool! Reason I picked them is because I find all these bands go all over the map with different sounds & styles and I feel it'd just be a really good match up with us!
Evan: I think mine would be a little odd. Choking Victim opens the show followed by Maximum the Hormone. Dammit Goldie plays next then Pantera closes the show. It's ridiculous but if somehow by sheer magic I could tour with that line up..I'd die a happy man.
Tommy: I would love to tour with Periphery or Norma Jean. Touring with legends such as Tool, Deftones, or Refused would be a dream come true also.
Cam: I would like to tour with an artist like Denzel Curry. I think the contrast in genres could be cool and it would be super hype.
Tommy: I also second Cam’s thoughts on this.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Tommy: Well first we want to thank Kill The Music for having us! We have lots planned for the future and, of course, our brand new single “Medusa” is out now.