According to Goodnight Gorillas, touring bands eat free. All it takes is a carefully scripted call to the local Pizza Hut.
“I always had to make the call,” bassist Shun Matsuhashi said. “But one time we had a little mix-up and three different places said yes.”
The band arrived at the third pizza place with greasy fingers and a car full of half-empty pizza boxes. They got a dubious glare from the girl who brought out the pizza, but she still forked it over.
As best friends, housemates and bandmates, these are their usual shenanigans.
Goodnight Gorillas is scheduled to take the stage at Northrop Plaza for Student Sound, a concert series that features student bands from the University of Minnesota. Their performance at the Battle of the Bands during last year’s Spring Jam earned them the slot.
The band is named after a children’s book all four members read when they were little. Though they didn’t know each other when they were that young, the name is fitting — they have a close bond the way brothers do.
“It’s always been about friendship before the music,” drummer Connor Peck said.
Their math rock is technical and at times unpredictable. They have a total of three albums, and the growth between each is evident.
The most recent album — which is almost a year old — is called “The Absurd.” The guitar dances throughout the album, pirouetting through dissonant melodies and occasionally delving into heavy distortion.
Peck’s detail-oriented drums stand out, offering different rhythms and time signatures in each song. The vocals are charmingly nasally but avoid a pop sound thanks to the circa-1990 dark melody.
The members attended Eastview High School in Apple Valley and started playing together their sophomore year. They quickly picked up shows at local venues.
“Throughout the whole time, we’ve been recording our own music,” lead vocalist and guitarist Joe Graves said. “And throughout the years [the writing process] has kind of changed. It’s kind of just layers of people adding on parts.”
Though the previous albums have been musically complex — almost to the point of excess — the band says the upcoming album will be much different.
“It used to be about what’s hard to play,” said Peck.
Graves jumped in to finish his thought, “But we’re trying to make a shift in sound. The whole idea is to try and write [more emotional] songs.”
The album, scheduled to come out early next year, is still nameless. The band has previewed one-and-a-half of the songs to an enthusiastic audience response. They
promise to preview more this week at Student Sound.
This album will mark the final initiation of the band’s new keyboardist, Nick Salmon. The band is excited to introduce a new element to the music.
“We already get along socially,” said Salmon. “But we are still learning to get along musically. It gets more natural over time.”
Goodnight Gorillas
(Student Sound)
Where Northrop Plaza, 84 Church St. SE, Minneapolis
When Noon Wednesday
Cost Free
