Goodbye June will be coming through Pittsburgh playing at The Smiling Moose on Feb 12th. GBJ is a Nashville based rock band made up of three cousins. These guys have landed a major label deal w Interscope Records (and EP was released this past fall, new music is coming soon and a full length later this year) The band hails from Nashville and their sound is something along the lines of Cage the Elephant meets ZZ Top, meets CCR meets Shinedown.
Growing up scattered throughout the South and Midwest, cousins Landon Milbourn,
Brandon Qualkenbush, and Tyler Baker had longtime plans of forming a band. Then in June 2005, Baker’s brother was tragically killed in a car accident while home on military leave. “It wasn’t until after Shane passed away that we decided to finally make this happen, and to focus on writing music that felt really meaningful to us,” notes Qualkenbush. Having chosen a name to mark the month of Shane’s death, Goodbye June soon forged a heavy, soulful sound that fused Milbourn’s ferocious vocals with Qualkenbush and Baker’s brilliantly gritty guitar work.
In 2012, Goodbye June inked a deal with Nashville-based record label Cotton Valley Music, which eventually paved the way for their signing to Interscope Records in early 2016.
Goodbye June are now making their debut with the Danger In The Morning EP (Cotton Valley Music/Interscope Records), created in the thriving rock scene of their adopted hometown of Nashville, TN. The band worked closely with producer Paul Moak (The Weeks, Joy Williams of Civil Wars) to carve out a selection of songs that reveal both their frenetic energy and dynamic musicality.
Since their start, playing live has been essential to the lifeblood of the band. With recent performances including dates with ZZ Top, Forecastle Festival, Live on the Green, Louder Than Life Festival, and a European swing, the band delivers a show that Milbourn describes as “sweaty and dirty, with hair flying everywhere and tambourines getting broken and me falling down every once in a while.”
Now at work on a full-length debut to be released in 2017, Goodbye June is focused on channeling that raw energy into their studio output. “There’s definitely a structure to the madness with this band,” Qualkenbush points out. “We want to give people the kind of rock-and-roll experience that’s a little harder to come by these days-and hopefully they’ll come away with something that has real meaning.
