Local garage pop heroes Gooch Palms have been AWOL recently. Having relocated to L.A early last year to play shows, record a new album (with Bill Skibbe) and drink heaps of watery beer, they’re now back home with a new single titled ‘Tiny Insight’ and 12 other songs under their belt – all of which the band promise sound unlike anything they’ve recorded previously.

Kat, one half of GP, says on making their new record titled Introverted Extroverts and set for release on their own label Summer Camp Records this June “We had so much fun making it, it was awesome to work with Bill and be in a real studio for 2 weeks, something we’d never done before. The songs are definitely more mid-fi this time around but are classic Gooch Palms, we’re really excited for our fans to hear it!”

Their debut album Novo’s was released on cassette courtesy of tastemakers Burger Records on September 25 and European label Surfin’ Ki Records reissued the vinyl not too long ago, both releases come two years after the record’s initial Australian release back in 2013 – better late than never.

Having lived stateside for a prominent potation of 2015 and having played over 70 shows across America, it’s clear the two piece know the US better than most, so to celebrate their visit back home and subsequent tour they’re taking us inside their favourite parts of their adopted city L.A. If you’re planning a rock n roll holiday – take note.

Favourite Neighbourhood: Silver Lake

This one was easy cause it’s where we live. Our house is just off good old palm-tree-lined Sunset Boulevard and it’s a five second walk to some great places. Our bathroom has a view of the Hollywood Sign and we’re close to Echo Park, Downtown and well, everything really thanks to the millions of highways. Coming home to Silver Lake after a long tour really feels like coming home and we never thought we’d feel that way in a foreign country, but we do! (Photo: thepeopleandthecity.tumblr)

Favourite Bar: Cha Cha Lounge

The night we arrived in Los Angeles at our new house, our (then) housemate Dan took us to Cha Cha and introduced us to everyone he knew. And lucky for us, he’s a popular guy!!!

From that point on, it’s been our favourite place to go! It’s a small, dimly lit and always crowded little Mexican themed bar in Silver Lake where our friends hang out and also DJ sometimes. Getting a booth is the goal and we like to drink the big blue margaritas! Whenever we’re not on tour, this is where you’ll find us. (Photo: @thegoochpalms Instagram)

Website: chachalounge.com/losangeles

Favourite Venue: The Echo

Whenever we’re looking for something to do and have nothing particular in mind we just look up The Echo website and see who’s playing that night. There are a lot of great venues in Los Angeles but The Echo is our favourite.

It’s close to our house and always has great bands playing for not a lot of money. Although one of the perks of playing with a lot of American bands is that we can often get door spots!!! We’ve also played there a bunch of times and they treat bands really well and are able to have all ages shows where over 21’s can still drink, so it’s always a good time for everyone!  (Photos: @sehoops Instagram)

Website: theecho.com

Favourite Place to Eat: Toi on Sunset


This one was actually REALLY tough. We are definitely not “foodies” and aren’t searching all of Los Angeles for the best food but there are a lot of places we love to eat in Los Angeles for various reasons, and it’s not always the food.

The runners up are Canter’s Deli, Flore, Taco Delta, Vege Grill and the Glendale Galleria food court (haha, love that food court). But our go-to place to eat is the first place we ever ate a meal in LA back in 2008 when we stumbled across it on vacation and that’s Toi “Rockin” Thai on Sunset. We were staying in West Hollywood and took a walk down Sunset to find a place for dinner.

We came upon this “rock ’n’ roll” looking Thai joint that had a bunch of Vegetarian options so we had dinner there. The walls are royal blue covered in a million cheesy old band and movie posters and “wacky” artworks. It may be because of the sentimental value this place has as our first American dining experience ever, but we just always come back to this place. Also, could be the purple wholegrain rice and Thai iced tea!!!  (Photo: Toi Thai)

Website: toirockinthaifood.com

Favourite Store: Big Mac’s Liquor

This might make us seem like alcoholics but Big Mac’s is the store we visit the most and like to visit the most. It’s about 100m from our front door and we are sometimes there multiple times a day. We love beer, what can we say!!?

But all the staff there are really friendly and always ask how we’re doing and how the band is going. We sometimes buy a scratchy or a candy bar but mostly Coors Light, Miller High Life, Budweiser or Pabst Blue Ribbon. We drink beer on tour every night so when we come home we like to keep the party going with the watery American lager we have grown to love!!! (Photo: @thegoochpalms Instagram)

Favourite place to spoil ourselves: Chateau Marmont

If we want to celebrate something exciting and drop a lot of money doing it, we go the The Chateau. It’s ridiculously “Old Hollywood” and it’s fun ordering a bottle of wine for over $100. There’s ice in the toilet troughs and there’s always an A-list celeb or two having a drink in the patio of the restaurant.

It’s pretty much the opposite of anything else on this list but one thing you should know about The Gooch Palms is that we LOVE spoiling ourselves with the occasional extravagant experience!  (Photo: @thegoochpalms Instagram)

Website: chateaumarmont.com

Favourite daytime activity: Parks

We like to hang out at parks in the sun now that we are a bit far away from the beach (it’s a big commitment to head to the beach from the city). Echo Park is sweet and we like walking around the lake or taking some beers down and sitting on a picnic rug with all the ducks.

We often go the the park under the Hollywood sign, Lake Hollywood Park, and look at all the dogs. La Brea Tar Pits are also cool and you can poke a stick in the tiny tar pits that they have all over the park and get some dinosaur tar on a stick and take it home!!! We also have a carpark out the back of our house that we like to drag out the banana lounges and make cocktails and sit around drinking in the sun with our housemates and friends.  (Photo: Taylor Wong)

Favourite nighttime activity: Karaoke


Followed closely by rollerskating at Moonlight Rollerway, which we don’t do as often as we should. But karaoke, whether it’s at a private room in Koreatown, public karaoke where everyone sings along with you at East LA institution Smog Cutter (which is worth visiting just to meet the infamous bartender, Joanne) or to our neighbours dismay, at home in our loungeroom with our housemates and friends, we just LOVE singing karaoke. Which is weird seeing as though all we do every night on tour is sing on stage but yep, karaoke is the best!

Upcoming Shows

29 Jan, 2016 – Brisbane, QLD | The Foundry
30 Jan, 2016 – Byron Bay, NSW | The Northern
04 Feb, 2016 – Ballarat, VIC | The Eastern
05 Feb, 2016 – Melbourne, VIC | The Curtin Hotel
06 Feb, 2016 – Canberra, ACT | The Phoenix
19 Feb, 2016 – Wollongong, NSW | Rad
20 Feb, 2016 – Newcastle, NSW | The Cambridge
25 Feb, 2016 – Sydney, NSW | Oxford Art Factory​
Tickets and info at www.thegoochpalms.com

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