Car Seat Headrest launched into the larger realm of indie rock awareness thanks to some new mixes of some old songs. So, it’s only fitting that Gold Connections — a band that CSH Will Toledo played with in college helmed by Toledo’s friend, rival and fellow Bill, Will Marsh — would reappear years after they first recorded with some re-worked songs and an eye on getting a little more love for their scruffy, slack-rock tunes.
And it’s a good thing they did. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have a tune as insanely catchy as “Faith In Anyone.” The crashing guitars along with Marsh’s howl provide some of the best windows-down music of the year. Toledo –who is no stranger to unexpected team-ups — recently explained how the song came back to light years after it was first recorded.
“If you attended one of the rare Car Seat Headrest shows thrown in 2011-2012, it’s possible you heard us play this song,” Toledo said. “I think that makes it the oldest song on the EP, so it’s appropriate that it opens the record. I was never satisfied with the original mix when we recorded it in 2014. I overhauled it when I came back to it last year, and we were all surprised at how fresh it sounded.”
Toledo also explained how he met Marsh and how he ended up mixing the band’s debut EP — which is out now on Fat Possum.
“When Will Marsh strolled into his first [College of William and Mary radio station] WCWM meeting with his solo EP tucked under his sleeve, like I had done the year before, I knew I’d found a worthy competitor,” Toledo said. “I asked him to play guitar in Car Seat Headrest. He deigned to for a time, then told me to eat a peach, and formed Gold Connections instead.”
Marsh admitted that he couldn’t be contained to playing rhythm guitar in someone else’s band.
“Will and I soon recognized that I was both too wild for rhythm guitar — judging by the icy side-glances on stage — and equally stubborn as a songwriter I had to take my newfound ruckus somewhere else, so I formed Gold Connections,” he said. “Toledo was determined to produce the project. Why settle for your own campus band when you could rule all two?”
Toledo added that Gold Connections have a strong connection to his breakout album Teens Of Denial, saying he was inspired by their riffs.
“I also recorded an album for them. I thought it was good but Will didn’t like it, so I started working on songs with rock riffs like Gold Connections did that I could play on my own, and eventually put them on my album Teens Of Denial,” he said. “Two years later, I phoned his manager and pleaded for Will to release the master tapes to the college album. Instead he suggested I remix the best tracks for a debut Gold Connections EP, so I did. This time he liked them, I think.”
Marsh explained why the track’s remained tucked away for so long.
“Going into my last fall semester, William and Mary’s library was far more promising than its rock scene,” he said. “A year later, when I graduated and fell out of the academic illusion, I got back to my first dream. And yes, I dig the new mixes! Are you happy now, Will?”
I don’t know if Will Toledo is satisfied, but I’m certainly happy that songs like “Faith In Anyone” finally made their way into the world. Check out the video up top.
