NYC’s Blue & Gold seamlessly blend my childhood’s musical obsessions with my adulthood’s love of the subversive and also acceptance of certain particularly delectable works well into realm of “pop.” Their roots stem back to singers/guitarists Alex Kapelman and Chloe Raynes kicking out covers of songs originally belted by Robert Plant and Gwen Stefani (who each played an integral role in my tastes about two decades ago). Blue & Gold’s other half, rhythm section GG Gonzalez and Derek Cabrera have a formal background in jazz, but a leisure penchant for pop punk (neither of which are my thing but which, in small doses, I believe can really spice up a party).
Blue & Gold have been together for more than a year now and are set to have their debut LP, In My Head, drop on January 13th, with a January 10th album release party at Mercury Lounge (They’re also planning a number of regional dates in the near future, which will likely have them hitting up Philly at some point soon.) The album embodies a diverse array of brands of kicking ass, from gritty garage rocking and an incredibly punk take on the blues to soulfully sassy pop and the kind of quirky and sing-along-able Americana doo-wop that would have made the perfect soundtrack to one of John Waters’ ‘80s ventures…
I recently had a brief chat with Chloe, GG, and Alex of Blue & Gold about the band, which they all seem ecstatic about, but about which they have relatively few words. Chloe explains to me their process of songwriting: “Alex and I write on our own, separately, and work on it for a little while, until we get to a place where we are happy with it and bring it to the band and then it really comes alive in the studio. As for our influences, we all bring in our different backgrounds: rock, grunge, Motown…” And when I ask the band how they would describe their live show, Alex and GG simultaneously proclaim proudly, “We bring the rock!”
