David Rinck shares a recent interview about the etymology of his band The Goldfingers. Featuring Eric Bacher (guitar), Kinch Degrate (keyboards), Dave Doyle (bass) and Matt Johnson (drums), The Goldfingers will rip it up at Casbah San Diego Feb. 19 for A Che Underground Midwinter Masque.
AMR Reporter Doug Faride caught up with Goldfingers rhythm guitarist and vocalist Dave Goldfinger in his native San Diego. What he learned about the origins of the band and their plans for the future are revealed here in this exclusive interview. These guys are definitely shaken, but not stirred in the least!
AMR: So, when I mention the Goldfingers, a lot of people say, “Yeah, I’m not that familiar with their music, but I do know the name.” Why do you think that is?
DG: Well, it’s the name of a James Bond movie.
AMR: Really? Is that true?
DG: Yeah, it’s like the third Bond film, with Sean Connery.
AMR: Oh wow, okay. So why did you pick that one?
DG: Well, a lot of the other the films wouldn’t make good band names. Like, if we called ourselves “The Spies Who Loved Me” or “The Men with the Golden Gun,” that would be lame.
AMR: What if it was “The Diamonds That are Forever”?
DG: That name is lame.
AMR: Yeah, OK … I guess so. That is pretty lame. Plus a lot of the titles don’t work grammatically. Like, no way you could have been “The You Only Live Twices” or “The From Russia with Loves.”
DG: No, those names don’t work grammatically.
AMR: But umm, well … I guess you could have been “The Thunderballs,” though — right?
DG: Oh wow no, I mean c’mon, that’s awful. That sounds really awful. Could you imagine telling your wife and kids you’re in a band called “The Thunderballs”?
AMR: “The Moonrakers”? At least that works grammatically. You could have called the band “The Moonrakers.”
DG: Yeah, I guess that name would be okay, like grammatically. But it’s not as cool as “The Goldfingers.” Plus, Goldfingers is a good name for musicians. Because it could be interpreted to mean our fingers are like made of gold, like because we play so well.
AMR: That’s right, those other names don’t really mean anything as band names. They have nothing to do with music. Well, like “The Casino Royales” could work if you were, like, playing a casino. But that’s not happening, so I guess when you think about it, “The Goldfingers” really is a pretty good name.
DG: Thanks.
ARM: In fact, the more I think about it, the more I like it. It’s actually really cool.
DG: Yeah, thanks. That’s what I think, too.
AMR: Oh, I got an idea: You could play, like, the theme from “Live and Let Die”! It’d be cool, (imitating Paul McCartney and Wings) say live and let DIE! Say Live and let DIE!
DG: Hmmm … I don’t know, I don’t think that’s really what we’re into.
AMR: Well, OK, but it’d pretty cool. So … anyway, what are your plans for the future?
DG: Well, we’re playing at the Casbah on February 19, with a lot of other cool Che Underground bands.
AMR: That should be a blast.
DG: Yeah, for sure it will be great. You’d have to be crazy not to be there.
AMR: Well, thanks so much for your time today.
DG: You’re welcome.
AMR: And “The Skyfalls,” if you were heavy metal, that would be cool, it sounds like, maybe you play so loud that the sky literally falls!
DG: Yeah, I guess. But, well, we’re not a heavy metal band, so we didn’t really consider that.
AMR: Okay, gotcha. Yeah. OK, well … Thanks again.
DG: You’re welcome.
“The Octopussies” could work.
And what the hell? Who’s picture is that? I look more like Roger Moore.
Years before the Bond film, “The Living Daylights” was in my list of top possible band names, along with “The Upper Hand”, “The Mere Mention”, and “Flip Starking”.