Meet Goodnight Ground | Band

We had the good fortune of connecting with Goodnight Ground and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Goodnight, Let’s talk about principles and values – what matters to you most?
As a band, it is really important to us that we are 100% true to ourselves and genuine when we make music. If didn’t we approach music with that mentality, it wouldn’t be a true reflection of us; we feel like making music that isn’t a reflection of ourselves is pointless. That means writing about the parts of ourselves that we don’t like, including things that might turn people off from us.
Since the band’s inception, Goodnight Ground has been vocal about criticizing power and advocating for the liberation of those facing oppression. As an all-queer band, we make an effort to ensure that queer people at our shows feel welcome and know that they have allies in us. Our music is anti-imperialist, and we work to make sure our actions reflect that: we recently played a show in which all proceeds went towards the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund and donations were collected for victims of the LA fires.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
It’s important to us that we don’t compromise our integrity to put on shows, get spots on bills, or climb the ladder, so we want to make sure that any success we get doesn’t come at the expense of anyone else. We have gotten to where we are by practicing a lot, developing chemistry, and going to shows to meet bands and get connected with like-minded people. It wasn’t an easy process; it took nearly a year before we played our first show, and longer still before we started gaining any traction. We stuck with it because we love playing music together, and we hoped that as long as we kept going, something would happen. We learned that it isn’t always easy to find the right people, but that they are out there if you’re willing to look. It would be cool for the world to know that we are just friends who like to play and have fun 🙂

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
As a Long Beach-based band, we have to recommend Retro Row on 4th street. Fingerprints Music in DTLB is another spot to definitely check out. Shoutout to Chiang Rai on Anaheim Street, and you can’t forget Simone’s Donuts. Emo nights at Pigeons Roller Rink! The Library Cafe is a very cute spot, a study haven for any students. Gilmore Music is great, because it’s one of the only all-ages venues in the city. Also shoutout to More Music LB for selling us strings and fixing Leo’s guitar for $5! Mina from Hody Lane Liquor is a real one for always saving us a buzzball. Ike’s Love and Sandwiches😋 yum dot com. A West LA native, Wren can point out The Cinema Bar and some great sandwich shops in Culver City. In LA in general, FKA Church is a sick punk spot, and any show at the Belasco is guaranteed to go hard. Also shoutout to the McDonalds on Slauson and Central for not kicking out KNUCKLEHEADZ. Sav wants to shout out their hometown’s Midnight books and Artspace HP. And because Claire is from Cypress, she has to recommend Bionic Records.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Shoutout to Leo’s brother, Arend, who helped us record some of the songs on our upcoming release. Shoutout to all the members in Hidden Scene LB for organizing so many shows with us. Shoutout to IE bands like Torture Method, Blowupdoll and Cime for inviting us out to their spots and letting us hang out. Shoutout Dawg from the Harbor Area for being super welcoming and helping out to set up shows. Shoutout to the SoCal Scene in general.
Also, shoutout to our extensive list of influences: Show Me the Body, Title Fight, Unwound, Origami Angel, Dinosaur Jr., Orchid, Barrio Slam, Fugazi, Dismemberment Plan, Weezer and so many more for inspiring us to keep going.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodnightground/

Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5J0opuACSSZn6vhMJIIKsl

Image Credits
instagram: @tjedaniel.photo, @x.sk8z, @joe_joseph_k_photography, @ydna600