Boy Golden kicks off first west coast headline tour in LA
The alternative singer played “Best of Our Possible Lives” at the Moroccan Lounge.
By ADEN MAX JUAREZ
Swapping his usual electric guitar for a keyboard, Boy Golden transformed The Moroccan Lounge on Tuesday night into a lively honky tonk as he performed “I Wanna Know,” passionately singing “wouldn’t it be nice to smoke some weed on a beach” with grit and fervor.
Kicking off his headlining tour on the west coast with a show in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, Boy Golden created a charming atmosphere for his audience, with rustic, vibrant performances of songs including “Suffer” and “Eyes” from his latest album, “Best of Our Possible Lives.”
“My live show, I want to feel exciting and improvised, even if it’s not,” Boy Golden said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “There’s big sections of the show that are pretty wide open and could go one way or the other. That keeps it really exciting for us and hopefully exciting for the audience as well.”
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Hailing from Canada, Boy Golden is the stage name of Liam Duncan. Under the project, he has released four studio albums and gained popularity from his hit single, “KD and Lunch Meat.”
Stephen Best, a longtime Boy Golden fan, has been listening to the artist for at least five years. He said he first discovered Boy Golden from “KD and Lunch Meat” and loved how different Boy Golden’s discography sounded compared to mainstream music.
“It’s a very authentic sound; he’s not heavily, heavily, heavily produced,” Best said. “He obviously writes his own material … He’s a very real person — totally approachable, cool guy, so I like to support artists like that.”
Boy Golden recorded his latest album at Lucy’s Meat Market in L.A. and said Tuesday night was the first time he and his band performed songs off the album live.
“Sometimes, it’s as simple as putting on a cool outfit and smoking a little bit of weed,” he said about tapping into the Boy Golden persona. “I try and leave my ego and some of my insecurities and stuff at the door, and just follow the song wherever it goes.”
Boy Golden described his sound as malleable and said he tries to push himself to venture into different sonic territories. For “Best of Our Possible Lives,” he said he wanted to create a sound similar to the over-the-top nature of his debut album, “Church of Better Daze,” and make the new music without limitation.
“I’m better at playing music now, and so are my friends who are playing on the record,” Boy Golden said. “The quality of the production went up quite a lot, but I was trying to retain some of that youthful exuberance.”
Remy Sher, an alternative country and Americana artist, opened for Boy Golden at The Moroccan Lounge on Tuesday. Both artists’ music are influenced by country sounds. (Aden Max Juarez / Daily Trojan)
Crossing between folk, rock, country, bluegrass and other genres, Boy Golden said “following the spirit of the song” allows him to explore diverse styles of music.
The artist said “Moontan,” featuring Cat Clyde, is one of his favorite tracks on the latest album because of the song’s growth: the demo featured more country sounds with a prominent banjo, but transformed into a more rock-forward sound thanks to influences from Paul Simon’s album “Graceland” on the final recording.
“[We were] just exploring in the studio and letting them go wherever it seemed fun to go,” he said. “It’s like putting on different costumes. It’s just fun. It’s like playing dress up.”
Alternative country and Americana artist Remy Sher opened for Boy Golden on Tuesday night, with both performers characterized by their country twang. Like Boy Golden, Sher said he was trying out a new sound at the show.
“I’m playing electric guitar tonight, which is a bit different. I’m usually doing all acoustic,” Sher said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “I was running through tones and figuring out what songs I can do electric, just to mix things up a little bit.”
Boy Golden said the biggest change to his live shows was giving up a lot of control. He said guitarist and vocalist Austin Parachoniak takes charge of the live shows as the musical director.
“Having [Parachoniak] take over sort of the direction and a lot of the big decisions and everything with the show has freed me up to just work on my parts and deliver the best performance that I can,” he said.
Boy Golden said one of his biggest dreams for his music career is having fans in both Canada and the United States. He said his fan base grows with each new concert.
“My dream has always just been that I can hop in a van and tour the whole continent and just play shows to people and play my music,” he said. “We’re getting closer and closer to realizing that.”
