Focus on the local scene
The Barefooted Bootleggers make big strides with classic rock sound
By Courtney Baldasare, Staff Writer
May 28, 2008 | 5 p.m.
In a basement adorned with iconic posters of great musical legends and brimming with amps, various guitars, microphones and drum sets, local band The Barefooted Bootleggers captures the quintessential reggae rock sound in its impressive songs.
The band’s dynamics among members work just as well and are just as compelling as its songs. As they playfully and humorously discussed the origin of glossy-paged magazines as a means to end their wrongful usage as toilet paper, their comradeship and appreciation of one other as band mates as well as friends was apparent.
The Ohio University students/musicians who compose the talented four-piece band include Ryan Goehler on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Eric Mitchell on drums, Frankie Straight on bass guitar and Evan Reed on lead guitar. The Barefooted Bootleggers are OU born and bred, as Mitchell met Goehler in the dorms freshman year. Lucky for Athens music lovers, both boys were looking to play some tunes, and a couple of years and member/instrument replacements later, the band is creating and performing great music.
“We had a big run of shows these last couple of weeks," Reed said. "Palmer Fest was really good. We’ve all been playing really well." The band will also be playing at Mill Fest toward the end of the year at 119 Mill Street.
The Barefooted Bootleggers’ members have made local venue the Blue Gator their music spot. When the band was much younger it played at Jackie O’s, but now it plays the Gator twice a month in addition to some house parties, fraternity parties and, of course, campus festivals.
As far as shows go, the boys claim to especially enjoy playing with other noted local talent Alex Vaughn but performing live is always a great pleasure for them regardless. In their opinion, the bigger the show, the better. Being as honest as it gets, the band members admitted that they like to show off, but it is well deserved. “People usually give a good reaction,” Goehler explained.
However, if they had to choose between a big crowd of people who do not appreciate the music as much and a small crowd that does, “I’d rather have two people clapping than ten people standing there,” Reed said.
The band's newest songs are likely to get the crowd cheering even more. With a more significant energy to them, the tunes will get old fans and new admirers alike to tap their feet a little harder.
The few new songs that the group is working on are a fresh take on its old genre. While still maintaining its Chad Urmston-inspired reggae rock beat, the band has placed a more classic rock spin on some of its new tunes. Instead of using the softer acoustic guitars to back its songs, it has managed to set them down and pick up electric guitars on the newer tracks. According to Goehler, they hardly even pick up acoustic guitars at all anymore.
Each member’s own style was put into the new songs, especially “the first of the new songs,” and the band likes it that way. As a whole, the members are fond and proud of their recent work, none of which has been named as of yet. With The Kooks, The Beatles and John Butler Trio as their personal favorites and undoubtedly part of their backing inspiration, it is no wonder that the new material has come out sounding so spectacular.
Goehler is at the forefront of putting these latest songs together. “Ryan sits in his room with his guitar and puts together some crazy music,” Mitchell said. Although Goehler writes the majority of the lyrics and puts chords together, each member of the band contributes his own fair share.
“We always just jump right into it,” Straight explained of the band’s music-making process. Their passion for playing and willingness to “jump right into it” is apparent in their newer, more energetic songs.
Each of the boys has his own busy schedule as a student with a challenging major (i.e. accounting, for some of them), but every one of them is as passionate about music as any band member could possibly be.
Though it is a successful college band, The Barefooted Bootleggers' members do not have plans to continue on after their schooling is finished. Their fervor for and love of music, however, will not readily fade. “I’m pretty sure I’ll be playing music for the rest of my life,” Mitchell said.
Unfortunately for the music world, the band most likely will not be together forever. But fortunately for The Barefooted Bootleggers and Athens inhabitants alike, the band is very much alive and well at the moment. Check out the Dispatch-reminiscent, talent-ridden band out at Mill Fest, but be sure to be prepared for some good old soulful rock‘n’roll first.
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