Sceneazine.com
An Interview with Space Coke’s Reno Gooch
By John Huiett
S
pace Coke’s fog machine works really well. Too
damn well. Minutes into the band’s boisterous
hour-long set at Columbia, SC’s Foxfield Bar and Grille
on October 17, the diminutive
venue is packed with fans, and
so much faux smoke you can
barely see a foot in front of
your face.
“Welcome to the middle
of the bong,” guitarist and vocalist Reno Gooch yells to the
crowd. Then later, “I can’t see
shit!”
The club had to open all of
its doors to let the smoke out.
The band was so loud that the cops came. But such is a
Space Coke show.
The band – including bassist James Beresford and
drummer Matthew Fenech – are one part metal, one
part sludge, one part retro, one part punk, and 100 percent kick ass. They have been burning up the local music scene since 2010.
Wearing a long-haired wig, bandanna and denim
vest, Gooch often calls the crowd “twats” and peppers
his between song banter with, “Space Coke, motherfuckers!”
The band is a friendly full frontal assault on your
senses. You will leave a Space Coke show with a huge
grin on your face, likely stumbling and in a bit of a daze.
A few days after the Foxfield show, Gooch took the
time to answer some burning questions.
The character you embody when you take the stage
with Space Coke seems to me to be a slightly angry,
British Tommy Chong after simultaneously mainlining
300 espressos and 300 beers. Where did that character
come from, and how would you describe him?
Space Coke is my platform to be myself unfiltered.
It isn’t a “character” or meant to be humorous. I wear a
wig I found on the floor of the Element nightclub in the
Vista many years ago while crawling through the scum,
super wasted. It has never been cleaned or combed because it contains a magical “Frosty” effect that was created by a Lovecraftian demon that lives only slightly
below the sidewalks of East L.A. It empowers me with
the Chongness. It also makes my fingers slightly faster.
The English accent at that show you were at was singular and me being posh. I am Hispanic.
I have to admit, the first time I saw Space Coke it
took me a couple of songs to get it. But once I did, I
loved it. Have you ever had someone in the crowd not
“get it,” and try to cause problems when you refer to the
audience, as, say, “twats?”
My “twatery” has been ranted on in the Free Times
after a show by my other
band, The Mercy Shot. I
have a punk background.
I like dangerous bands.
Sometimes the best performance has people running screaming into the street.
Great music has to have the experience of life behind it
and life is harsh.
The Space Coke sound
seems to operate on two levels. On one level it’s loose
and sludgy, almost comedic.
One another level it’s tight in
its execution. All the while it
kicks total ass. Was this intentional from the beginning, or
something that just naturally
developed over time?
Space Coke has to be able to flow freely with my
stream of consciousness, so it is intentionally a mix of
improvisation, meditation, partying and tightness. We
like to take a trip to the cosmos on a whim then return
to the snug familiarity of terra firma many times during
a set. My band is very accomplished and respond well
to the difficulty of having to support my mindset being
hither and yon.
Part of Space Coke’s
charm is that your character seems completely
out of it and couldn’t
care less. Yet, when you
go into a guitar solo it’s
obvious you know what
the hell you’re doing.
Can you give me some
background on yourself
as a guitar player? How
long have you been playing, and who are your influences?
That is just how I am.
Life is totally perplexing, but I do know how
to play some guitar. My
show philosophy is that
you have to leave familiar
shores to make the righteous journey. Music is
life. And to enjoy life as
it really is, one must see
our tiny selves from outer space. And at the same
time be the center of the
universe. Rock and roll is
the mountain and Space
Coke wants to take you to
the top. My influences are
Bootsy Collins, Eddie Hazel, Helios Creed and Hendrix
on Band of Gypsies, mainly. I started playing guitar
at age 8, with a 60s Sears guitar/amp set that my uncle
bought for $15 from a street junkie.
You have one of the noisiest, fuzziest and chaotic
guitar tones I ever heard, and I say that with complete
admiration. What do you use to get that sound?
I have a 1971 Music Man HD130 head on top of a
60s Standell bass cabinet, with 2 Jensen MOD 15-200
speakers in it. The majority of my fuzz and chaos comes
from a Black Arts Ritual Fuzz, and a Caroline Guitar
Co. Kilobyte. My guitar is a Dean USA Time Capsule
Flying V.
At Foxfield, the band attempted to play a cover song
live that you had never even rehearsed, ZZ Top’s “Just
Got Paid.” The initial attempt fell apart and you started
over. But the first time through when it train-wrecked
was almost as entertaining as the second time through
when you nailed it. Is this kind of fearlessness in front
of a crowd part of what Space Coke is all about?
We figured we would make up for ZZ Top missing
the SC State Fair due to a broken hip that week by playing a song I actually learned as a kid from Rapeman’s
cover of it with Steve Albini playing guitar. We didn’t
have time to practice so we figured, “go for it.” Like I
said, being able to improv and have a sense of humor
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