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Goldfinger sleep around -- and they're damn proud of it. Ever since the ska-punk quartet released their self-titled debut two years ago, they have crawled in bed with MGM, Buena Vista, Paramount and Universal Pictures, all for the arguable prestige of appearing on film soundtracks -- and for a handsome price. Now, Goldfinger are getting' busy with Touchstone Pictures and Adam Sandler, whose soundtrack for The Waterboy includes Goldfinger's skankified rendition of the late Sixties hit "More Today Than Yesterday."
"First, there was this kid's movie, Meet the Deedles,
which I never saw," says Goldfinger frontman John Feldmann,
recounting the band's whore-ish behavior. "I think it was about a
couple of kids that do something. I heard it was gay. Then we did
Dead Man on Campus, which I didn't see either. And then we
did Baseketball, which I didn't see. But I did see
Kingpin -- that movie was rad!"
The Waterboy soundtrack, released this week, marks
Goldfinger's fifth film venture -- not including their
contributions to the 1992 art-house classic, Pterodactyl Woman
of Beverly Hills. "I think it went straight to video," says
Feldmann, who was still selling women's shoes when Goldfinger
pitched in with that first soundtrack song -- the apropos
"Pictures." "I never heard of the movie since, but we got a few
bucks for it."
Since then, the Santa Monica, Calif., quartet has released only two
full-length albums -- 1996's Goldfinger and 1997's
Hang-ups -- yet they have managed to loan out five
soundtrack tunes, one ESPN "X Games" song and covers for the
Misfits and Duran Duran tribute albums. All of this blissful
sharing and cash-swapping seems to betray the gritty punk rock
ethic of Goldfinger's forefathers like the Specials and Operation
Ivy, yet Feldmann scoffs at the suggestion that Hollywood spells
sell-out.
"If you are a true punk rocker and you are maximum rock & roll,
and you only go to see bands that no one has ever heard of, you
hate us anyway," he says. "They would have hated us five years ago
when we were on MTV. And most of the sell-out criticisms come from
kids who don't have to work, and who take out trash when their
mothers ask them to. They live at home and they have to do what
they are told. I don't. I have a choice. I can say, 'No, I don't
want to do this movie' ... As far as I'm concerned, I don't feel
like I'm sacrificing any of my worth for what I am doing.
"Movies help us survive on the road," Feldmann continues. "And
Happy Gilmore [another Sandler film], I have probably seen
that movie 200 times. Adam Sandler has helped us get through
twenty-eight hour drives, and we are so happy to do this."
Happy and a little wealthier. "Soundtracks keep us afloat,"
Feldmann says. "When you are in a band, unless you sell a lot of
records, you make most of your money off merchandise and touring.
Now that we are in a downtime, doing these soundtracks has really
kept us alive."
The ploy for more cash has already begun in Santa Monica, where
Feldmann has written thirty-five bits and pieces of songs for the
forthcoming Goldfinger album. He says he has fashioned the shrapnel
into nine full tunes, including one "really cool sounding Rage
Against the Machine-meets-the-Clash song." In January or February,
Goldfinger will head into the studio -- most likely Hollywood's
Sunset Sound -- to begin laying down tracks with Tim Palmer, who
most recently co-produced the Reel Big Fish album Why Do They
Rock So Hard?
It's doubtful that Palmer will forget to remind the band to record
a few extra songs -- for you know what.
ANNI LAYNE
(November 6, 1998)