Getting to Know… Good Time Locomotive | Interview 🎤

In the 383^rd Q&A in our Getting to Know… series, we get the inside scoop from London new wave pop/rock band, Good Time Locomotive.

“Stick the ALL in the melting pot with a heavy focus on emotion and arrangement and you have GTL.” Cool beans, 🎙 Good Time Locomotive! The London 🇬🇧 new wave pop/rock band adds, “GTL was born out of a soaring passion for emotionally charged music and its intoxicating, transformative power to change human life for the better!” Woo-hoo! Like our many other Getting to Know Q&As, we get the inside scoop on the collective’s genesis, goals, musical influences, and of course, current, and future musical endeavors. So, without further ado, let’s jump right into 🎤 Getting to Know… Good Time Locomotive: Interview No. 383!

For those who may not be familiar with you, what would you say makes Good Time Locomotive distinct or unique? How do you rock the audience’s socks off?

We are made up by a very eclectic mix of influences. The origin of our ideas come from a background of hip-hop and pop but produced via old school pop and finished off vocally by Indie influences. Stick the ALL in the melting pot with a heavy focus on emotion and arrangement and you have GTL. We rely on the music to do the sock rocking, but we are looking forward to taking to the stage again soon to do just that!

Okay, let’s explore some juicy backstories. How did Good Time Locomotive form and what were some of the goals or visions you had early on?

GTL was born out of a soaring passion for emotionally charged music and its intoxicating, transformative power to change human life for the better! The journey really started many moons ago way back in December 2003! That year, a 15 year old problem-child named George Taylor (GTL’s former guitarist) turned up to a local gig for a drum n’ bass metal band called Shellshock. Little did he know that eight years later, a chance one-off gig between him and the drummer he saw that night, James Phillips, would sow the seeds of what was to become GTL a decade later. Fast-forward to 2020, and this collaboration had spawned 12 tracks and countless riffs and ideas. And so it was that, during the deepest, darkest days of the first COVID-19 lock-down, George and James set out to find their ‘once in a lifetime’ vocalist. After surprisingly little effort, they found him! In the form of the fantastic Hugo Leite. The band now continues on as a 2 piece and is in the process of holding auditions for live members to play shows in support of their upcoming EP.

Let’s talk more about goals.  Have your goals or your perspectives changed since first starting out? What do your aspirations or goals look like now?

In the words of Tony Montana, ‘We want the world…and everything in it!’ Cliche, but true. We love this music, believe in it and want to share it with the world. There is no limit to our ambition!

Everybody is influenced by somebody else. Whom would you consider some of your biggest musical influences and how are they influential?

As I said earlier, the bands influences are eclectic to say the least, but central is a love of music from the new wave era of pop such as Duran Duran and New order, to other greats of the time such as Dire Straits, U2, Michael Jackson and George Michael to the heavier side of rock and hip hop like Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and Dr Dre. And throw some Indie like Tame Impala and Oasis and you have GTL!

Ah, the fun stuff.  What’s your craziest tour story or the wackiest thing that’s happened during a performance?  Feel free to be creative.

I know it sounds a bit dull, but not all that much in this band as yet. We are only just getting our feet on solid ground. Although we certainly have a lot to live up to with a name like ‘Good Time Locomotive!’

Up until this point in your career, what would you describe as your favorite song you’ve recorded or performed live? What makes that song special?

Ah, the ‘please choose between your children’ bit of the interview 😉. Well, although I love all our babies, my personal favorite is our latest single, 🎵 “The Dark Within”. I just love how it has hip-hop, pop and heavy metal as well as indie all in the same song but all stitches together somehow. Our most special songs are locked away for EP 2! 😉

Is there anything else awesome, cool, or left of center the world should know about you? Secret talents or surprising tidbits?

Our singer is Portuguese but left there to follow his musical dreams/aspirations. Oh, and we recorded everything so far on my Canal boat studio.

Closing out, what is Good Time Locomotive currently working on, promoting that you can share with us or want us to know about? We love secrets, but there’s no pressure. 

We are cooking up a couple of very special music videos for the next batch of songs and going hard on the promotion for the next batch. All or nothing!

Thank you so much for sharing taking the time to answer these questions, and best of luck moving forward. 

Getting to Know… Good Time Locomotive: Interview No. 383 [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Good Time Locomotive; Tumisu via Pixabay]