Stuck to Betty Goo

by Joe Szilvagyi

Says Betty Goo's keyboardist (sic) Aaron Tap, "I'm a big proponent of constant activity for bands. None of this waiting five years to release an album bullshit. A band's main purpose is to entertain, and while doing so, to hopefully grow. If you can't fulfill those basic requirements at least once a year, then head back to your bagging job at the WalMart.

"The Betty Goo albums were released to coincide with the 78th anniversaries of the two Russian revolutions of 1917. The tape came out in February '95 and the CD in late October. I'll have to think of a significant date for our third album, maybe Herve Villechaize's birthday or something.

"The first tape was begun as an acoustic project, and while I was recording I started writing band-oriented stuff and decided to mix that in as well. We recorded twenty five songs over a few months at the Emerson College recording studio and used sixteen of those.

"Truth be told, I actually think of 'superchthonic' as more of a demo than the tape. We purposefully chose a coherent batch of songs to put on the CD, as we were beginning to showcase in New York City and wanted to court labels. We had a lot less time to record, and we really just wanted to get a batch of new songs out there on a radio-quality CD.

"The next album will ideally be a mixture of those two production styles, along with whatever new stuff has been incorporated into our sound in the past year. We've been following more of the pop-punk meets country style of late (like 'Adam in the Evening') and the songs for the most part have tended more towards the storytelling style than the gripe-filled-confessional style of the tape.

"Betty Goo is what we are. It's a bit like a goulash. We create what we feel; we borrow and steal. Betty Goo has been in effect for years, but only turned itself into a band last year. The name was coined by a Colombian former co-worker of mine, Nicholas Medina." (Hint: Muy Bueno)

By the way, a couple songs from the CD are going to be in an independent film called Party At Sam's from a Hollywood production group. Could be interesting.
- reprinted with permission from Geoff Wilbur's Renegade Newsletter, August 1996 Geoff Wilbur's Renegade Newsletter publishes 12 issues per year: - 8 local editions, featuring interviews and reviews of signed and unsigned bands plus local scene coverage alternating between Lansing and Grand Rapids, Michigan, and - 4 "industry" editions, featuring unsigned band interviews and reviews. Subscriptions are $12/year in the US (US$18 to Canada/Mexico; US$24 elsewhere) payable to Geoff Wilbur. Send to: Geoff Wilbur's Renegade Newsletter 2843 East Grand River Ave., Suite 200 East Lansing, MI 48823 For more info about the Renegade, send e-mail to renegade@voyager.net.