Goodbye June: ‘We’re taking a lot of chances and swings on this record, we’re big fans of nasty, dirty rock ‘n’ roll!’

Nashville-based rock band Goodbye June will release their guitar-heavy and poignant fourth album, Deep in the Trouble, on 28 June, giving us more of their unique blend of Deep South blues, hard rock licks and gospel swing.

Goodbye June comprises lead guitarist Tyler Baker, lead vocalist and guitarist Landon Milbourn and drummer, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Brandon Qualkenbush. All three are first cousins, with Milbourn hailing from West Tennessee, while Baker and Qualkenbush were raised in Indiana. The band formed after the death of Tyler’s brother Shane in June 2005 in a tragic car accident, with their name chosen as a way to honour his memory.

Deep in the Trouble takes the listener on an emotional journey, in a celebration of what music means to them collectively, charting the highs and lows of love, family and life on the road, culminating in one of the most heartrending closers I have heard this year, ‘Hard Livin’: ‘We took the album title from me, Landon and Brandon’s favourite song on the record, which is ‘Pile Of Bones’, it’s a lyric in there,’ Baker said. ‘To me, Deep in the Trouble sums up the whole spirit of this record, even the way we recorded it and the position that we were in as a band and as a family. I would describe it as a very nice combination of our first three records, I think it has little elements of all three. It’s hard to quantify why and how a record sounds like how it does. It’s really just kind of a snapshot of who we are as musicians in that certain time and who we are as songwriters but we’re really proud of this record.’

‘What’s cool about ‘The Hard Way’ music video is that we wanted to show everybody how we write songs’

The opener, ‘The Hard Way’, explodes with an incredibly chuggy riff before Milbourn comes in with his distinctive, powerful vocals that sound as if they could, quite literally, bring the roof down. It’s a huge song, neatly fusing all the elements we’ve come to expect from them yet you have no idea where it will go when you first listen to it but that, combined with Milbourn’s unique, gritty voice, is what keeps you hooked. Much like Jack Cochrane of The Snuts, he just doesn’t sound like anybody else: ‘That was one of the first ones that we wrote,’ Baker said. ‘Landon came in and we had a little bit of studio time scheduled to try to start a new record, really just for us to get together and put instruments on and look at each other and be: “Okay, what’s this thing gonna sound like?” Landon was: “Hey, I’ve got this idea” and he just started tapping his hand on the piano and singing “I went left, I should have went right, I learned the hard way”. We all started looking at each other and I started just going “Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun” (laughs).’

It’s a pattern that can be found across the album, according to Baker: ‘There are stories like that all over this record but what’s cool about ‘The Hard Way’ music video is that we wanted to show everybody how we write songs because we thought that was kind of interesting. So we filmed it in my garage, where we jam out songs when we’re off the road, because we all live really close to each other. We’ll get a little setup, we’ll get a cooler of beer (laughs) and we all switch instruments because everybody can play bass and keyboards and all that stuff. I’m a terrible drummer (laughs), I can keep a beat but the other guys are great drummers. The first step is we sit down with acoustics, we show each other and figure it out. Step two is like: “Okay, let’s go to the garage”. And then, you know, step three is we take it to a studio!’

The exuberance and energy of the song belies its darker lyrics: ‘I think Landon was going through some stuff in the hard way, his love life and many different things, like he just learns the hard way,’ Baker said. ‘Maybe you’ll have to ask him about the deep, dark secrets (laughs).’ The standout element of the song for me is Baker’s fiery guitar solo around two minutes in, which turns out to have been something of a happy accident: ‘We were in the studio and it was such a raw, in your face song,’ he said. ‘We were like: “Okay, well, it’s kind of solo time”! I’m gearing up (laughs), I started with that descending then ascending line (he picks up the guitar on his lap and plays it). I found that really quick the first time I picked up the guitar. And I was like: “Oh, that’s pretty cool (laughs), then I’m just gonna do some licks later”. That’s weirdly how most of the solo work in Goodbye June happens, we don’t spend a ton of time on solos.’

‘Our producer always calls me “Wild man” after one type of solo that I can do, he’ll say: “I think this song needs a wild man”‘

Subsequently, coming up with solos fast is a big part of what Baker does, as he says he’s often trying to write something whilst his bandmates are cajoling him to be done in 20 minutes so that they can go to lunch: ‘Our producer always calls me “Wild man” after one type of solo that I can do, he’ll say: “I think this song needs a wild man” (laughs). A “wild man” just means massive energy. I’m not super worried about how beautifully I’m articulating all the notes and melody, it’s more about injecting energy into the song.’

As songwriters, they contribute pretty equally to the songwriting process, according to Baker: ‘Some songs we’ll write all together as a group, and then other songs, one of us will be the leader of it and the other two just support that songwriter on that song. For example, Landon wrote a lot of ‘Riding Through’ and Brandon wrote a lot of ‘Turn Up the Rock N Roll’ and ‘Hard Livin’. And I wrote a lot of ‘Waller In The Mud’ and the chorus of ‘Pile Of Bones’. And then sometimes, somebody will walk in with a whole song, that’s a newer thing. We used to not do that as much on our younger records.’

Baker chalks that up to getting older and maturing as songwriters: ‘Life is happening (laughs), and we can’t spend as much time together as we want to in the songwriting world and to be honest, we’re all getting better at songwriting. So as you go through that journey, you need less and less help to flush out the idea that you have in your mind.’

”My Place’ is inspired by that side of my family, we were really excited that we had an opportunity to write a feel good song about that’

‘My Place’, which opens with Milbourn whistling softly, has an altogether different energy. On the surface it is a sweet, shimmery and tender old school love song but it turns out to have an entirely different albeit equally lovely provenance: ‘It’s inspired by my dad and my grandma, they would always have people stay when I was growing up,’ he said. ‘Many times in my childhood life, we would invite people in who were down on their luck. My dad was a manager at a factory and if one of his factory workers was really going through a hard time, he’d be: “Hey, you want to come stay with me?” I noticed it a lot in growing up. And I thought it was normal, I thought doing that was normal. I wish it was. My grandparents and dad would always show people kindness, they’d bring them in, have them eat dinner with us every night. There was this one guy who stayed with us, I remember his name was Darren. He was probably in his 20’s and me and my brother were probably eight and 13 but he was he was a cool dude, he’d wrestle with us and play video games with us. He didn’t stay with us long, he just needed a little time to get his feet underneath him. ‘My Place’ is inspired by that side of my family, we were really excited that we had an opportunity to write a feel good song about that. “Hey, my place is always yours”, I think that’s a wonderful message.’

They co-wrote the track with long time friends, Nathan Sexton and Blake Hubbard, with whom they grew up in the church playing music and, amazingly, all ended up all moving to Nashville at around the same time. ‘Nathan actually slept on Landon and Brandon’s couch for probably six, seven months when he first moved to town. We’ve known these guys for so long, we’ve made tons of music with them,’ Baker said. ‘We wrote this song in the early days of this record. Brandon had the main theme on the guitar, that nice, pleasant walk up, and then Landon started scatting something that ignited something in me. And I said: “Crawling through the window, strolling through the back, or through the foyer, my place is always yours” and everybody kind of looked at each other. You kind of know when you land on something. Me and Landon got a pen and pad out and then the other guys were jamming the music, that was a really cool team effort.’

It speaks volumes about their songwriting chops that tracks like ‘My Place’ sit so well against the more rambunctious songs on the album, like ‘Turn Up The Rock N Roll’, which has all the vitality you would expect from the title; it’s a 60’s and 70’s-infused hip shaker that you have to play as loudly as your speakers will take. Qualkenbush did a lot of ‘the heavy lifting’ on the track, according to Baker: ‘Back in the 60’s, when rock ‘n’ roll was in its infancy, or maybe adolescence, people were writing about the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle but it kind of fell out of fashion. We thought we’d do a very simple song that, in our mind, somebody like Jimi Hendrix would sing. This song is more about just getting into it and dancing! We’ve got plenty of songs where we’re diving deep into the darkness and talking about all the negative, crazy stuff that has happened in our lives. But ‘Turn Up The Rock N Roll is not that (laughs), it’s an exercise in fun!’

‘The great thing about rock solos and how I play, is that for a little bit of time, nothing has to really be that in tune’

Baker has another killer guitar solo around two minutes in and I say I’m spotting a pattern and he laughs: ‘That’s another story, I’ve got a story for everything! We were cutting that song and I was playing with the Les Paul. Everything sounded great, it was really cool but we weren’t quite happy with it, so the solo and my guitar work that you hear kept getting pushed back to later in the project. So I’m pushing this thing (laughs), it’s getting to the point where we need to get something done when Paul walks in, who has produced two records for us. He didn’t produce this record, we self-produced it, but he executive produced it, meaning he peaked in on us every now and then to make sure the studio wasn’t burning down! He comes in and he’s like: “Dude, you got to see this”. So I get up, I was looking for any excuse not to play guitar that day (laughs), and he opens up this 1950’s Les Paul, Jr. in TV yellow with big P90 pickups. He’d found it at a guitar shop in Saskatchewan or wherever he was at. And I start playing it, I’m like “Dude, let me borrow this for a minute”. It’s not set up and the strings aren’t good on it, it doesn’t hold tune that well because it needs to be set up. It’s an old guitar that had been sitting in a closet for probably 40 years, right? But the great thing about rock solos and how I play, is that for a little bit of time, nothing has to really be that in tune. So I put it in, and I hit the solo the first time. What you hear is me tuning it up and being: “Okay, this thing’s not going to hold tune very long!” If you really pay attention, you can hear that the solo’s not that in tune, it’s really on the edge of being out of tune.’

As such, he is channelling his inner Billy Gibbons, who is one of his heroes: ‘He would do a solo and then he would cut a double over the solo but he would make the guitar go out of tune, he would tune it out of tune a little bit and then play the same solo to make it have what you call a really wide sound,’ he said. ‘So I was like: “Okay, well, you know, Billy Gibbons plays stuff out of tune!”

Much to his dad’s delight, Goodbye June have got to to tour with ZZ Top a number of times: ‘I’ve gotten to sit down with Billy Gibbons and talk with him and he’s watched our set and been really kind to us,’ Baker said enthusiastically. ‘That was such a trip because Billy Gibbons was an icon in my childhood home. My dad loved him and loved his music. It was awesome on two fronts – to meet Billy Gibbons for myself but it was also cool to tell dad that, hey, we’re gonna open up for ZZ Top. He was like: “What?!”” That was one of the beginning moments of where I think my family started to be “Oh, you want to be a musician, musician, to write records and stuff” (laughs). Dad got to meet a bunch of his crew and say hi to Billy, it was really cool for him.’

Tracks like ‘Pile of Bones’ are incredibly cinematic, with references to the ‘desert’ and ‘loneliness’, with a feeling that the ‘bones’ in question could be either literal or figurative, as you picture a man standing in the desert questioning every decision that led him to this moment and place. Milbourn’s sometimes anguished vocals rise and fall as if keeping time with the landscape. The frenzied guitars echo the turbulence consuming him before the song fades away; you think it’s over, before it revs back up with even more fevered and fuzzed up guitars in the outro, like an emotional explosion echoing what’s going in the head of the character in the song.

In the wake of their 2017 full-length debut Magic Valley, the boys earned the endorsement of Rolling Stone, contributed ‘Liberty Mother’ to a high-profile Budweiser TV campaign as well as a WWE theme song, packing shows across the U.S. and Europe, racking up 50 million-plus Spotify streams in the process and their third studio album See Where The Night Goes, debuted at #1 on the UK rock charts.  

‘The “cigarettes and loneliness” line in the chorus, that sums up hard living, it was very self-biographical’

The closer ‘Hard Livin’ is a beautiful track, starting off gently as a country song before pulling out all the stops to become an anthemic bluesy rock song. The lyrics are poignant, heartfelt and wistful and Milbourn sings it with real conviction. It turns out to be one of their favourite songs on the record, with the lyrics written by Qualkenbush. ‘Brandon was sitting on my back porch with an acoustic and humming and singing “I’ve done some hard livin’, slept in the desert, had to get better but nothing has changed”. He had the theme and that kind of the waltz, I don’t know if that makes sense? That swinging back and forth. It feels like 1970’s Texas country to me. I was like: “How much you got on that?” And he’s like: “I just have this verse”. We didn’t finish it that day but we wrote a second verse to it. The “cigarettes and loneliness” line in the chorus, that sums up hard living, it was very self-biographical.’

However, they don’t end the song on that note, it steams ahead, evolving into something that is both hopeful and life-affirming: ‘We had thought we were going to end it on that sad note (laughs) but then we thought, instead of ending it with complete sadness, what if we inject a little bit of hope and bring a little bit of energy back? That outro: “I’m gonna, I’m gonna find my way home, I just need to know which way to go”, that motif, the Allman Brothers style of chord progression in that uplifting outro, that’s how that song formed and molded. We’re real happy with it, when we had all the songs recorded, we were listening back to everything, and we knew ‘Hard Livin’ had got to be the last song on the record because it’s such a good story. Landon had to find that groove and old school country sound, it was out of our wheelhouse (laughs). We’re taking a lot of chances and swings on this record, we’re big fans of nasty, dirty rock ‘n’ roll, like Creedence and Kings of Leon! We always want a few tunes that are like a turn around. We don’t want to put out a sleepy record!’

The crisp, clear beautiful guitar tone underpinning the track is one of the standout features but it turns out that it was one of the hardest elements to get right: ‘That guitar tone where Brandon strums the first chord, it took longer to find that than in our entire history! We must’ve tried 10 guitars and amps, we wanted a crystal clear tone. He was playing a Les Paul with P90 pickups through a Marshall amp but he turned the gain right down. The longest part of this song was finding the stinking guitar tone!’

‘I got to see B.B. King on his 80th birthday tour, I could just have sat and listened to him talk’

He throws me a brilliant curveball when I ask him which musician he would like to go drinking with: ‘Holy cow! I think it’d be really interesting to have a beer with Mozart or Bach, the first rockstars ever! I think they would have a very interesting perspective, you could say: “Those cellos slay, Bach!” I’d also love to have a beer with Jimi Hendrix, I’m not sure if he drank? Or Stevie Ray Vaughan and B.B. King. I got to see B.B. King on his 80th birthday tour, I could just have sat and listened to him talk.’

During our chat, Baker has a guitar on his lap that he picks up a couple of times to play and I ask if it’s workhorse guitar and he nods: ‘Joey Morrow from Badflower (an LA-based rock band) lent it to me years ago and I haven’t given it back (laughs). It’s a (Gibson) ES-275. I wrote the last two records on it on this porch, it’s an electric that projects really well.’

Locally, he is a big fan of prog stoner metal band All Them Witches: ‘Sleeping Through the War, I think is a great record to start with. It’s great for getting on the treadmill and zoning out for an hour or taking a hike. It’s incredible music to be in nature with. In the past, when I was driving the van through the desert or something, I always put on All Them Witches. There’s also a really great funk band that we’ve done a couple of shows with called Them Vibes. They’ve been around for a while, so I think they’re on the front end of the “them” trend (laughs).They’re wonderful people and incredible musicians and they write really good funk rock music. There’s a ton of fun to listen to. If you’re loving hard emo stuff, I think Badflower are one of the best in the business, they live down the street, Joey lives a couple of blocks away, so we hang out a lot.’

‘He’s from the school of Beatles songwriting but he writes very cool Americana’

One of Baker’s favourite singer-songwriters is Jacob Thomas Jr. who has played bass on several of their tracks: ‘He’s from the school of Beatles songwriting but he writes very cool Americana,’ he said. ‘He has a song called ‘Running Through My Mind’ I wish I would have wrote it! He’s sonically akin to Father John Misty, he writes really dark Americana, they’re heavy topics. It’s not like you’re putting it on before you go out to party with your friends (laughs), that’s not the vibe. You put it on after your boyfriend broke up with you but it’s awesome music!’

We get chatting about Father John Misty’s latest album, Chloë and the Next 20th Century (2022), which is very orchestral and old school and I ask him if they’ve ever considered doing anything similar: ‘We’ve done four rock ‘n’ roll records, if we would do a record that’s more expansive and orchestral, it would have to have more strings in it, more piano and upright bass and I’m sure you could fit rock ‘n’ roll in there somehow! Love it or hate it, Metallica S&M (1999), where Metallica performed with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, was a very formative record for all of us, we thought it was amazing. That’s how you grow as a band and that’s how you explore your chops. It’s like, let’s try to get an orchestra involved! We’ve been interested in that but it might be a project 10 years from now.’

Baker had an unexpectedly emotional response to the strings on the album, which come courtesy of cellist Ben McConnell. ‘I think he comes from London but he moved to Nashville, he’s a buddy of ours. He loves music and he’s an incredible cello player. He laid down cello on ‘Pile of Bones’ and ‘Heart Still in It’. I’m not a super emotional guy, a lot of people call me a robot (laughs) but I was tearing up, it was so moving to me because it’s weird as a musician to get the opportunity to give your music to another great musician and be: “Hey, what do you think?” You do something, you play it however it moves you and man, he played it. It was like me hearing someone else’s song for the first time, ever since then, we’ve been: “Man, we got to do more strings!” Ben’s got a quartet or an octet and they crush. Maybe we’ll get him coming in the studio or do a special album where we redo all the hits with an orchestra or something like that, we’re talking about it.’

If he could write a song with anyone, Baker picks John Lennon ‘to try to get a stompy, thuddy war protest song’: ‘That’s what I would probably want to write with John,’ he said. ‘Other than that, one of my favourite songwriters of all time is John Fogerty from Creedence Clearwater Revival – I wouldn’t mind writing a song with him! I would even – and I know this is kind of crazy – like writing a song with somebody like Eminem, one of the greatest rappers of all time. I think that would be very interesting, you know? It’d be like: “Hey, Eminem, check out this nasty blues riff. What you got?!” I think that would be a fun day – it’d be very special or very terrible!’

(Special edition vinyl and merch for the album can be found at www.GoodbyeJune.com/merch)

(Top photo from left to right: Tyler, Landon and Brandon.)