As the keyboardist and producer behind Golden Sound, Peter G delivers soulful old-school gold.
Give Me Sight, Give Me Sound is his second LP under the Golden Sound moniker, and features an impressive selection of guests.
“Obviously there's a notable one which I'm very happy about,” Peter says, “Reggie Watts from New York.” Their collaboration resulted in ‘See You Again’, a track featured on Triple J Unearthed.
After years of jamming and playing everything from funk to jazz to percussion, the latest album settles in a realm Peter dubs ‘psychedelic cosmic funk’. His vision was displayed at the album’s elaborate live launch, which featured a 12-piece band and a go-go dancer. Unfortunately this is not the setup for every show. “I wish! If only I had endless amounts of money, I could afford to have a go-go dancer,” Peter says.
“In a live sense, the band is real James Brown, feel good street funk. I must say that the live experience is a bit more in the traditional soul funk tip. Sometimes we might do more of the love ballad stuff, other shows it’s more of a club thing. There's interaction between members, we're definitely not an indie band that look down at our shoes.”
Old-school instruments and equipment are crucial to the sound, and Peter is an unabashed Moog enthusiast. “The Moog is cool because it was the original. I like all vintage things, because I believe things used to be made a lot better than what they are now. In this age of computers and software synthesizers, I think its essential for purists to have an instrument like that because it sounds so goddamn good. It's got a warmth and soul to it. Modern day instruments sound like a fucking computer speaker!”
Peter is also living proof that white people have funk, and has even been described as the whitest black man alive. “I'll go with that tag,” he laughs. “I think everyone's got the funk, you just need to search deeply for it. I used to be jealous that I wasn't black and then the older I've gotten the more I've listened to music like Sly and the Family Stone. A lot of the bands I dig now have a cross section of cats. But yeah, I'm black on the inside, maybe from too much tobacco.”
Golden Sound perform in the VIP Lounge at Bacchus, South Bank, this New Year’s Eve.
