(Los Angeles, USA // In The Red)
GØGGS — a.k.a. the super-trio of Ex-Cult vocalist Chris Shaw, lo-fi renaissance man Ty Segall, and Segall’s Fuzz bandmate Charles Moothart’s — have been planning a collaboration for three years. According to lead vocalist Shaw, he and Segall began formulating their side project when the two toured together in 2013, frequently pairing off in their free time to write.
Finally, last July, they solidified a plan to record at Segall’s home studio in Los Angeles. “[Segall] gave me a call and said, ‘Hey man, I think I have some time, would you wanna come out for like a week and do some recording?’,” says Shaw, who still sounds surprised at the partnership, given the guys’ inherent songwriting differences — Shaw tends to thrive on musical chaos, while Segall is more organized in his approach. But recording took almost no time at all. “Basically we cranked out an album in about a week. [Segall] was playing the role of guitarist, drummer, back-up vocalists, producer, and engineer on the album. Which is pretty much what he does all the time.”
The result, which you can stream below, features ten jagged garage-punk blasts, which frequently reference the City of Angels’ less-desirable features (a sprawling trash pile in “Glendale Junkyard,” corrupt cops in “Needle Tradeoff”). GØGGS also welcomes guest spots from more West Coast musicians and Segall associates like Mikal Cronin, Wand’s Corey Hanson, and VIAL’s Denée Petracek.