THE DEMISE OF GOOD FAMILY

 

Michael: We’ve played together for a number of years in different bands.  There was not a lot else going on and I had a guitar, so as the kid brother John got a bass. It’s the natural progression of things. Coming up in a small town anyway, a million years ago.

 

 

Michael: Lingle, Wyoming.

 

 

Michael: That’s what a few have said, but we haven’t purposely compared in a very long time.

 

 

Michael: We’ve never officially compared with a ruler or anything, but we have been known to piss in the same toilet if things are all full up.

 

 

John: Hahaha. So that’s kinda two different stories. I don’t know if we came up with sword fighting or if it’s normal brother stuff, but when you’re brothers you fight over who gets to do stuff first… including using the restroom. Being kids, we thought it was funny to cross streams like we were sword fighting. Later, it became a game where winner got to shake the last bit on the other brother’s shoe. Kinda weird saying it out loud, but growing up in Wyoming is boring as fuck. 

 

 

John: hahaha, growing up, I always noticed Mike was more endowed than myself and I was super self conscious about it. Being a kid with all that pressure, gets to ya at night haha. Anyhow, after school started making us shower after gym class, I soon realized I’m pretty decent sized and my brother is… well…

 

 

Michael: We started Good Family because we wanted to keep playing after our last band, Suspects, had broken up and we met Rusty on Craigslist.  

 

Rusty: I responded to the McCafferty brothers’ Craigslist ad for a drummer. We liked a lot of the same bands. And I was a drummer with a house, a job and a car haha

 

Michael: He liked what we had and we liked what he had.  A couple of lineup changes and we met Marc.  His writing style really complimented everything and was something really different.  It was a long time with the pandemic and stuff, but it was actually pretty natural.

 

 

Michael: It was crazy. We recorded it fully and our previous singer quit. We had to scratch the vocals and then had a different singer for a bit and then he quit too.  We just decided that Marc and Johnny should do it.

 

 

Michael: We try to take the, “don’t be a dick” stance for politics. That DeSantis fella does not live by the same honor code.

 

 

Rusty: Musicians across the board make less and less money. You’re doing good if you’re breaking even! Punk rockers might fair a little better because of that sense of community: we’re all buying each other’s merch, etc.

 

Michael: We’re not a spokesperson for punk at large but I think that we’ve stuck to what it meant for us. That’s pushing forward with good music and doing our best to not be assholes and encouraging others to not be assholes.  I think that sometimes this old, arm-crosser guy at the back of the show is a stereotype, but we’re just trying to get people to go to local shows.  Punk rock is so good.

 

 

Rusty: Breaking even financial and getting those Friday/Saturday shows were the first hurdles. Now we’re playing out more, networking, and saving money. Opening up for national acts at the theaters would be the next goal. We want to start getting out to the western slope, mountain towns, Pueblo, the Springs, etc. as well.

 

Michael: We also would like to get over 1,000 monthly Spotify plays and big muscles.

 

Rusty: Oh, and press some of this stuff on vinyl!

 

 

Michael: Very exciting news.  We just recorded four new songs and they’re mixed, mastered and hopefully it will have a release soon.

 

 

Michael: We sort of had to write lyrics to the songs last go and while the results were good, this, plus a few more years has really made this one way more cohesive.  We did this one at Crash Pad on advice we got at your last Halloween show.  The scuttlebutt around the merch table and we’re so fucking stoked for these four songs.

 

 

John: Everywhere but my butt. My butt has no hair. I’m like a baboon.

 

 

John: Haha, I don’t  know if there is any one story that sticks out in my head, and we are talking years of shenanigans. Even in our teens we were pulling dumb stuff. My high school bands drummer passed out on a lawn chair one day, so we put an electric fence shock dog collar on him and when he woke up, I stole his smokes and had him chase my pass the fence. Worst part is his mom helped me do it.

 

 

John: When I turned 21, Mike flew to Seattle to hang out and we had a short shorts party.  The idea was to get all the girls in short shorts. Unfortunately, only the dudes participated, and it was about 20 guys wearing short shorts and five chicks in pants. I made a pair of daisy dukes, but I cut them too short, so I kept falling out randomly throughout the night. Mike thought it would be funny to wear 80’s shorts and a mesh top with roller blades. Problem is I lived on the third floor, on top of a hill, so every time he tried to smoke, he kept falling down the stairs or rolling down the hill.

 

Another time I went to the bars with some of my drag friends. Next day I woke up in an old raincoat and high heels. Worst part is I had to drunkenly walk home and it never occurred to me to take the heals off.

 

Another time I was getting ready to go on a date and the gal told me she didn’t like hairy backs. I’m like a drunk MacGyver so I tapped a razor to a yard stick and tried shaving it myself. Well, I ended up cutting my back pretty good and ended up passing out and completely missing my date. I woke up the next day laying in my kitchen covered in dried blood and left over sticky alcohol.

 

 

I could go on for days about the dumb stuff I did. Like… the bingo hall incident where I got kicked out for flipping a table after finally winning, or the time I got kicked out of Panda Express for walking in the back and eating chicken straight from the pan, because they messed up my food at the drive though. Or getting jumped outside of the old diner on Colfax for accidentally walking out on my check. I almost getting in a fist fight with three dudes for going #2 in the bathroom at Streets of London.

 

 

John: Getting drunk with our old drummer at 3 A.M. and mowing giant wieners into our neighbors’ lawns. 

 

 

John: I’m seven years sober this month actually. It was brutal at first and I kept finding half bottles I had hidden from myself. Some in the old VCR, the toilet tank, on top of ceiling fans, etc. I was drinking a bottle plus a day for the last few years there. I would sit on the porch every night and tell myself the next day was going to be different. Then I would wake up and do it all over again. It was easier to stand in my own way and numb out than to deal with my shit. I quit drinking and drugs the same day, cold turkey. I slipped up once or twice at very first but things happen for a reason. 

 

 

John: I tried AA and all that stuff but it all seemed too judgy for me. Don’t get me wrong, it does help a lot of people, but I just didn’t have the emotional baggage. It always felt like a room where people just wanted to talk about the past and not look towards the future. I don’t even think about drinking anymore. I can finally look in the mirror and be okay with myself. When people ask for advice I always stress everyone is different, but the only way you’re going to quit is if you do it for yourself. Turns out, being happy and healthy brings the same type of people into your life and I met my wife, who I happen to love more than I thought was capable. She gave me my son years later and its like an instinct kicks in. Love much bigger than I could put to words. They are my people and I would do anything for them. Best part of my day is going home to them.