When you’re the daughter of 70’s power pop icon Andrew Gold (“Lonely Boy”, “Thank You for Being a Friend”, Linda Ronstadt guitarist/collaborator), you have some big shoes to fill. Sometimes, it takes collaboration. That’s why Emily Gold enlisted a full band comprised of veteran players in the California indie rock scene for her latest project, renaming her solo effort from Velvet to Cosmo Gold and quickly hitting the studio to prep a debut statement. Waiting On The City is the band’s debut EP, and features Gold’s most fleshed-out songs to date.
In anticipation of their new EP, the whole band weighed in on their favorite cities and songs, as well as the nicest things anyone has ever done for them in our latest Indie Mixtape 20.
What are four words you would use to describe your music?
Emily Gold: Honest, intuitive, lucid dreams.
Stephen Burns: “Tom Petty’s Ghost Lives”
Years from now, how do you hope people will remember your work?
Burns: “I’ve heard of them”
What’s your favorite city in the world to perform?
Burns: León, Spain
Mike Deluccia: New York
Peter Maffei: Los Angeles or London
Who’s the person who has most inspired your work, and why?
Gold: Never one person, always inspired by the ever-changing world around me, the people I meet, music I listen to, my relationship with myself, etc.
Burns: I’m inspired artistically by strangers more so than people I know. The more I know about someone, the less imagination I get to use to fill in the blanks.
Where did you eat the best meal of your life?
Burns: Copenhagen, Denmark — Duck confit sandwich
Deluccia: Udine, Italy at the mother of my 2nd cousin’s place, everything was homemade from their own garden, too much food to list.
Maffei: Feijoada in Lisbon
What album do you know every word to?
Gold: Jenny Lewis – Rabbit Fur Coat
Burns: Miles Davis – Kind Of Blue
Deluccia: Wilco – A Ghost Is Born
Maffei: The Clash – London Calling
What was the best concert you’ve ever attended?
Gold: Roger Waters at Desert Trip.
Burns: Deerhoof at The EARL in East Atlanta Village (shoutout EAV!).
Deluccia: Hard to pick one but Roger Waters’ The Wall at Yankee Stadium was pretty epic. Radiohead at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley maybe tops it.
Maffei: Television in Joshua Tree.
What is the best outfit for performing and why?
Gold: Jeans. I feel uncomfortable whenever I make the rogue decision to wear skirts or dresses. I don’t really wear them in daily life.
Burns: Anything but shorts.
Deluccia: I can’t play drums in shoes other than Vans for some reason.
Maffei: A yellow jumpsuit.
Who’s your favorite person to follow on Twitter and/or Instagram?
Gold: @chaz_bozo
Burns: @chaz_bozo or @gayvapeshark
Deluccia: @nasahubble
Maffei: @passedoutwooks
What’s your most frequently played song in the van on tour?
Burns: Van Halen – “Jump”
Maffei: Alice In Chains – “Man In The Box”
What album makes for the perfect gift?
Gold: Carole King’s Tapestry. I feel like you can get a lot of mileage out of that album.
Burns: Blood Visions, Jay Reatard’s Blood Visions
Maffei: Cosmo Gold’s Waiting on the City EP!
Do you have a favorite hotel you enjoy staying at when you tour?
Gold: Friends’ houses.
Burns: Super 8 by Wyndham.
Deluccia: A clean one.
What’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?
Gold: Favorite tattoo is the UFO on my right bicep. I just like alien stuff in the most superficial way. I would never want to be abducted or have an up-close experience with aliens though, it would be too scary.
Burns: It’s my spirit animal’s decaying carcass, something I’ve been drawing on my arm since high school.
What artists keep you from flipping the channel on the radio?
Gold: Steely Dan.
Deluccia: Anything but Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Burns: CCR. You can’t turn off a CCR song (shut up, Mike).
Maffei: Creedence, man!
What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?
Gold: Joined my band.
Burns: Bought me a musical instrument.
Deluccia: Birthed me.
Maffei: All of the above.
What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give to your 18-year-old self?
Gold: To listen more.
Burns: Move to California.
Deluccia: You actually can smoke too much weed.
Maffei: You really don’t need a Marshall half stack.
What’s the last show you went to?
Gold: Kevin Morby at The Ace Theatre DTLA.
Burns: Mad Walls, Flaural, and Sugar Candy Mountain at The Echo.
Maffei: Big Search at No Name Bar.
What movie can you not resist watching when it’s on TV?
Burns: Dumb & Dumber.
What would you cook if Kanye were coming to your house for dinner?
Burns: Yeezys, over-easy.
Deluccia: Lasagna.
Maffei: I’d just have him over for some cold ones.
What’s the last thing you Googled?
Gold: “What is Kanye West’s favorite food?”
Burns: “How to appear interesting in a magazine interview”
Maffei: “Feijoada”
Waiting On The City is out 6/7. Pre-order it here and check out the band at any their upcoming West Coast tour dates.
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