The Gotobeds take the realisation most 30 year old’s have when they can’t touch their toes, flip it on its back and kick its skull into a bloody pulp.
Debt Begins at 30 is an bold statement to make, yet one that is an apt title for their equally bold record. On the surface, one would argue that debt begins far before the age of 30 – hell, I graduated in my early twenties and at one point, had $40 in my bank account meaning I had to make a choice between keeping a doctor’s appointment or eating. But that’s not the type of debt The Gotobeds are anxiously railing against on their new, self-proclaimed “indie-punk mixtape”.
We’ve all got debts to ourselves, to society, to our families, and especially in this case, to our heroes and peers, as the band enlist help from an array of musicians-from-the-underground including members of Pavement, Protomartyr and Mission of Burma to hammer that point home.
The guitars are fuzzy, the musicianship fast and loose, and the production fit for a festival-ready garage band. It’s these factors that successfully support the bold declaration on the front of their album cover, and remind us that there is such a thing as good debt. We owe it to ourselves to be carefree. We owe it to our kin to be strong. We owe it to society to take care of each other. But maybe the quartet’s right – we don’t fully realise these debts until we’re out of our twenties. In any case, I would argue there are far worse things to aspire to.
Debt Begins at 30 takes you back to basement shows, when you danced around with a group of strangers who shared, at the very least, one common goal: to end the night covered in sweat, blood or any combination of various bodily fluids. Turn it up. You’re about to be as young as you used to be.
Haiku Review:
Gotobeds and friends
Take a trip to their garage
Make some fucking noise
🍒🍒🍒
Words by TJ Foster
