Goldfinger gaining fame their way

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Staff Writer

•	Goldfinger 7 p.m. Saturday World Cafe $17.50 advance 526-4400

"I'm the only fashion whore in the band," claimed Lemieux, car horns honking in the background. "The rest of the guys are, like, into Dickies and tennies. (Drummer) Darrin (Pfeiffer) wears the same pair of Hurley shorts every day.

"I'm out trying to work it so I can look cool and not stick out like a turd in a punchbowl with these guys."

Goldfinger is coming to town for a Saturday World Cafe performance, but what are they? Call them a ska-punk band. Call them a punk band. Call them the strange new kids on a Jive Records block heavy with fading boy bands, Britneys and Love Hewitts. All three carry some degree of truth, after all.

Just don't expect the four members of Goldfinger — Lemieux, Pfeiffer, singer John Feldmann and new guitarist Brian Arthur — to care all that much.

Feldmann and Pfeiffer (the former once a NaNa's shoe-store salesman, the latter an ex-Starbucks barista) founded the original Goldfinger in 1994. Its aggressive ska-punk sound garnered the band some fame in L.A. area clubs, but landed its demo tapes in the trash cans of record execs all over Hollywood searching for the next Green Day and Offspring.

The band eventually signed with indie Mojo Records in 1996, recording a self-titled debut and gaining some notoriety for the alternative radio hit "Here In Your Bedroom" and the 382 live dates it played that year. Lemieux replaced founding bassist Simon Williams after the release of Goldfinger's second and last ska-leaning release, 1997's "Hang-Ups."

"As soon as I got in the band, I was like, 'Hey, guys, let's get rid of the horns. They're in my way,' " said Lemieux, ushering his shopping-companion friend from Utah into a nearby boutique, then taking a seat outside. "The horns sounded cool ... but there were only, like, four or five songs we played that had horns. I still love 'em, but it was one of those Catch-22 things."

A 1999 live album "Darrin's Coconut Ass" featured covers of cherished Goldfinger teenage anthems like The Cure's "Just Like Heaven," Joe Jackson's "Is She Really Going Out With Him," and The Who's "The Kids Are Alright." Its studio follow-up "Stomping Ground" from 2000 produced a minor hit with a cover of Nena's "99 Red Balloons."

"We still like playing other people's music," Lemieux said. "When we were kids, we were all in cover bands, so it's kind of like being a kid again. I think we're going to have to shy away from doing covers we like so much, though."

The reason?

"Well, because people like you go, 'Hmmm, you guys are mostly known for doing cover songs, aren't you?' " Lemieux snapped back. "And then we're like, 'Oh, we are?'"

Goldfinger label Mojo was acquired lock, stock, Reel Big Fish and Cherry Poppin' Daddies last September by Jive Records to snare (in the hip wording of a company press release) "an array of credible, commercially successful artists who have succeeded by building fans through the traditional, painstaking, foolproof method of relentless touring and building a constituency one fan at a time."

Sound suspiciously like a bubblegum-heavy major's attempt to purchase itself some quick indie street cred to you, too? Goldfinger's Jive/Mojo debut "Open Your Eyes" is set for a May 7 release.

"I think this record has a lot more of a chance that the previous ones did because of the Jive factor," said Lemieux, again strolling Melrose. "Jive is on a big roll. And as far as our punk credibility goes, people have been calling us sellouts from the beginning so it's like, '(Expletive) off,' you know what I mean?

"If being able to pay my bills is being a sellout, well, guess what? I'm a sellout!"

Strolling into another store, Lemieux groused about being forced to purchase new vintage punk wear.

"I get to the point where I would buy used clothes all the time, and now it's so expensive that it's almost cheaper to buy this new stuff," Lemieux said. "Everything vintage here in L.A. costs, like, an arm and a leg."

Back to you, Kurt Loder.