Synth pop/dance duo Great Good Fine Ok dabbles all over the place musically from EDM to pop to dance music. Add a little soul and funk to the mix as well and there you have is the recipe to this unstoppable duo.
The duo, who consists of Jon Sandler and Luke Moellman, have been creating a name for themselves on the West coast for ten years, but now they sees themselves coming over to play the New York City area soon. They were spending their time apart for bit—with Sandler in Brooklyn and Moellman in Los Angeles, but now they are both located in Los Angeles. They played the Troubadour among many other venues up and own the West Coast.
The duo’s new EP, EXIST, is out now via Nettwerk and the band is striving for a more mature sound as they keep on growing musically and lyrically and expanding on their repertoire. I spoke with Sandler on where they got the band name from, how this EP differs from their previous works, and collaborating with The Chainsmokers and The Knocks.
Where did you get the band’s name?
Great Good Fine Ok was a name I’d thought of many years before the band started. I have no clue what inspired it. I kept it in my mental bank of ‘cool band names’ and when it was time to put a name to our project, I unveiled it to Luke. His response was “I don’t hate it.” So it stuck.
GGFO experimented in the realm of electronic music.
We’ve worked with many EDM artists throughout the years, and some of our songs definitely have EDM elements, but I would say our style leans more towards pop, and we tour with a full band.
Why name the new project EXIST?
One of the definitions of the word ‘exist’ is to ‘live, especially under adverse conditions.’ There’s no single word that better sums up the themes of the 5 songs on our 6th EP. Also, as a fun little thing, all of our EPs have the number element to them, and EXIST includes the number six spelled backwards. That sealed the deal.
The lead single “Led Me To You” is about trauma and finding happiness that comes out of it.
Yes, that is definitely what inspired the song. We love playing that game where we trace all the events that needed to happen for something great (or not great) to happen. “Everything happens for a reason” is a comforting cliché. It’s amazing how many people end up in happy relationships given the amount of trauma we ALL have. It’s a nice thought that all the horrible things that may happen to you in your life lead you to the person you love.
How difficult was it to get into the music industry?
Luke and I both started making music when we were very young with no conscious thought of “getting into the music industry”. However, if you pursue it long enough, you just sort of seep into it. As we all know, the business aspects become important and unavoidable. We had both been working for so long without any significant commercial success that when GGFO started taking off, it wasn’t lost on either of us how incredible and lucky it was. To answer your question, it’s not difficult to get into the music industry, but it’s incredibly difficult to have success.
How does the songwriting occur?
It’s always different, but Luke is the producer, engineer and main instrumentalist, and I am more the heart on my sleeve lyricist and melody writer. Back in the early years Luke would send me a musical canvas to write to, but recently it’s been a bit more collaborative between the two of us. We also love collaborating with other artists, writers and producers so ideas can be inspired that way.
You did collaborations with The Chainsmokers and The Knocks. Are they inspirations for you guys?
They are absolutely inspirations of ours! Both artists are incredibly good at what they do and we feel lucky to have gotten to make music with them. It’s been incredibly fun and exciting to see both groups kick ass throughout the years.
You have been a band together for ten years. Do you feel like you are just now scratching the surface?
We released our first song in 2013 and it actually does feel like with these last 5 songs we’ve just started hitting our stride! The music feels a bit more mature and nuanced – As though we finally found our voice. We are constantly trying to push the boundaries of what we can do musically and we can’t wait to share what we’re working on next!
You will be touring the West Coast soon. Any word on the East Coast?
We are marinating up ideas for the east coast in September.
