Goddamnit

In the dreary Philadelphia winter of 2011, ex-bandmates and roommates, Jeff Kelly (ex One Year Lost) and Arik Victor (ex-Super Hi Five and Reject) got together and decided it was time to start a new band based on a mutual love for all the great guitar oriented music of the mid to late 90's and beer. They recruited bassist Kyle McKnight (ex bandmate of Jeff from Williams Eve and bass player of pop punk legends Buglite) after which the search for a befitting drummer commenced. Since all three members had played in multiple bands in the past, the list of potential drummers was lengthy. It was long time friend of Jeff and Arik, Jared Castaldi (ex-The Vote) who was the missing piece of the puzzle and the only drummer thought to have the chops and correct ideology to accomplish what the band was after. After just one practice, Jared was thrown into the mix and the four members started writing new, remixing old, and arranging songs that they would spend the next 12 months touring around. Four of those songs can be heard on the bands first release “Glory Hole Hotdog”, a 7” released on singer Arik Victor's label Creep Records. Goddamnit spent the year playing shows with bands like Guttermouth, Terrible Things, Down By Law, and Black Landlord in venues like Union Transfer, The Note, and The Shit Fucked House from bars, to all-age venues and house shows. After a productive year of playing shows, writing songs, and promoting the band added 3rd guitarist Tyler Pursel who was in between tours working as a keyboardist/guitarist with the band Gym Class Heroes and expressed an interest in playing with the band who were more than excited to have him join. Along with being a true professional musician and many years experience touring, Tyler came packing a portfolio of songs that aided in a slight reshaping of the bands initial sound. Sonically the Goddamnit sound harkens back to a time which the members collectively agree were the golden years of punk and post hardcore. A time when the word emo meant something far different then what it means today, when the word alternative actually referred to a vast array of truly different sounding bands, when indie rock was still a genre largely populated by bands playing guitars in a unique way instead of laptops and washboards. Goddamnit mesh the emotive sounds of bands like Jawbreaker and The Promise Ring with the ferocious intensity of bands like Quicksand and My Bloody Valentine all while maintaining a small touch of experimentalism and just the slightest amount of classic pop punk sensibility that could only come from years spent listening to The Descendents, basically enough pop to keep the songs catchy and memorable but not enough to not scare the shit out of your mom. In February the band recorded their 14 song debut record "Notches" Produced by Tyler And Arik in a dirty garage in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia along with an independent documentary filmed by band friend Paul Gorel based on the vigor’s of recording your own record on a limited budget. The band plan to spend their summer touring in support of the upcoming record.