The Goon Sax was an Australian

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and su ...

trio from

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

. Formed in 2013, the band consisted of Riley Jones (vocals, drums, lead guitar), Louis Forster (vocals, rhythm guitar, bass) and James Harrison (bass, rhythm guitar, backing vocals). The band are joined by Alistair Taylor (lead guitar, keyboards, drums) for live performances. Forster is the son of

Robert Forster Robert Wallace Forster Jr. (July 13, 1941 – October 11, 2019) was an American actor, known for his roles as John Cassellis in '' Medium Cool'' (1969), Captain Dan Holland in ''The Black Hole'' (1979), Abdul Rafai in '' The Delta Force'' (1986 ...

, co-founder of

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

band

the Go-Betweens The Go-Betweens were an Australian indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1977. The band was co-founded and led by singer-songwriters and guitarists Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, who were its only constant members throughout ...

. The band released their debut studio album, ''Up to Anything'', in 2016 on the

Chapter Music Chapter Music is one of Australia's longest-running independent record labels. Chapter Music has worked with a broad range of mostly Australian artists, in genres such as rock and roll, indie pop, post punk, country and western and folk. Betwee ...

label. This was followed by ''We're Not Talking'' in 2018, and ''Mirror II'' in 2021. They have performed with Twerps,

Blank Realm Blank Realm is a musical group from Brisbane Australia active since 2005. The group is composed of sibling members Daniel, Luke and Sarah Spencer (who are Australian born of Sri Lankan heritage) and guitarist Luke Walsh. They were described by th ...

, U.S. Girls, and Crayon Fields, among other artists. The band's name is a

play on words Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phonet ...

combining the Australian vernacular for boxed wine, a 'goon sack', with the musical instrument the saxophone.

History

Forster and Harrison started the Goon Sax when they were still in high school. The two began by collaborating on songs together in Harrison's bedroom. In March 2014, Jones joined the band after taking drum lessons for a month. In September 2015,

released their debut single, "Sometimes Accidentally," followed by their second, "Boyfriend," two months later. In early 2016, the band played at

Laneway Festival The St. Jerome's Laneway Festival, commonly referred to as Laneway, began in Caledonian Lane, Melbourne, Australia, in 2005. Beginning as predominantly an indie music event, the festival grew in popularity and expanded to five Australian citie ...

in Brisbane. On 8 April 2016, they released their debut studio album ''Up to Anything''. They went on their final tour as the starter act for

Snail Mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal sy ...

in the US, and UK in 2022. Despite not completing the tour's US dates, the band announced their break up on their Instagram account on 13 July 2022.

Critical reception

''Up to Anything'' has a score of 82 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

based on 8 reviews, indicating that it has received "universal acclaim" from critics. In December 2016, '' Billboard'' included the album on their critics' list of the Top 50 albums of the year, putting it in 49th place. ''Billboard'' described the album as a "gorgeous collection of slacker-default rock".

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

's Maria Sherman gave the album a 7.0 score out of 10, writing, "Each song is well-structured and wise beyond its years while the messages are confused, delicate and very, very teenage." ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

''s Matilda Edwards described the album as "near-flawless guitar pop". Robert Christgau gave it an A−, writing that the band was "cruder than even the earliest Go-Betweens, who were a university band after all, and somewhat static at their worst. Usually, however, they're charming at least." '' We're Not Talking'' was included in ''

Loud and Quiet ''Loud and Quiet'' is a British bi-monthly music magazine that focuses on new music from underground indie, alternative, electronic and hip hop artists. History and profile The magazine was founded in January 2005 by Stuart Stubbs as a home-prin ...

'''s and '' Under the Radar'''s best-albums-of-2018 lists, respectively putting it at No. 34 and No. 92.

Discography

Albums

References

External links

The Goon Sax
at

's website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goon Sax Australian indie pop groups Australian musical trios Musical groups established in 2013 Musical groups disestablished in 2022 2013 establishments in Australia 2022 disestablishments in Australia Musical groups from Brisbane