Manchester’s teenage pals of the Goa Express have recently been swept up by Rough Trade for their fresh psych-infused garage rock. Although influences varying from 60s psychedelia to post-punk are obvious, their sound is distinct and compelling, with a sound that perfectly complements their fun-loving attitude and charm of the city of Manchester.
Hailing from Manchester, the group have been pals since they were teenagers, steadily making their name around the scene with their garage-rock sizzlers. Ludicrously-catchy garage rock from these NME 100 graduates.
On recently released track ‘Be My Friend’, the group describe it as being about “taking a step away from those who’re always trying to get close to you and as both a shout out to individuality and an acceptance of rejection. It’s a dismissal of the modern world’s hyper-connectivity and a return to privacy, rather than the involvement of everyone knowing everyone’s business all of the time.”
With tons more exciting things on the horizon, based out of Todmorden/Burnley, UK, if you like : Spacemen 3, Ty Segall, Ending the who-knows-how-long Yorkshire vs. Lancashire feud with short and snappy Ramones-style hits. While their early influences ranged from Spacemen 3 to Brain Jonestown Massacre, James tells us the band now tries to “find influences in everything we see and in everywhere we go”. You’re going to love them: A precedent was set by The Goa Express when they formed in the wake of a wild, substance-heavy night seeing The Brian Jonestown Massacre – one that left them newly single and sleeping rough outside a Tesco. All about having a good time, the lads have already caught the eye of producer Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys, Amyl & The Sniffers) and Fat White Family’s Nathan Saoudi (a fellow lover of chaos) with their jangly, loud-mouthed garage-psych.
The Goa Express are a band you need on your radar. Enjoying life under the wings of Rough Trade Management (Shame, black midi), the Manchester-based five-piece have wowed with singles The Day and Be My Friend. Their first single proper, The Day, saw them enlist the talents of Fat White Family’s Nathan Sauodi for production duties at their own Champ Zone studio in Sheffield, culminating in a 2-minute explosion of guitars, synths, and youthful energy.
The band’s tight-knit camaraderie – formed during their teenage years at school and playing intimate live shows above vintage shops – is captured in their self-produced video for Be My Friend; a lockdown-created clip pieced together using footage taken on nights out and day-to-day laughs filmed on a phone with no intention they’d ever be used in a music promo.
BBC 6 Music legend Steve Lamacq is an early champion, having invited the quintet to play their first radio session at London’s iconic Abbey Road Studios.
The Goa Express are riding the tracks to the top and rightfully find their place among the exciting charge of UK and Irish outfits tearing up the rule book. The Goa Express are very, very good. They’re five mates from the north who are more of a brotherhood than a band. Their effortless gung-ho garage rock is causing a buzz, with singles The Day and Be My Friend prime examples of a band ready to smash down barriers and shake up the establishment.
The Goa Express are James Douglas Clarke, Joey Stein, Naham Muzaffar, Joe Clarke and Sam Launder
The Fat Angel Sings 