The highly talented, multi-faceted, multimedia creator and musician known as The Goldwyn Experiment has arrived with his latest album Avenue B; the follow-up to Avenue A. Both albums are available on your favorite digital service provider.
A fusion of genres with a strong foundation in the liberating space of jazz, The Goldwyn Experiment is spearheaded by Goldwyn Thandrayen who grew up on an island where rock music was still considered underground in 2005. With that context in mind, Goldwyn managed to sprout and bloom into a creative force outside the box and paradigms of how the majority of citizens of the U.S. think about and consume music.
In our below Q&A, Thandrayen goes deeper into his history and growing music career; including his work with previous bands, his participation in the Montreal and NYC scenes and more.
Avenue B is Goldwyn’s latest release and is more than an album you just click play and listen to. The Goldwyn Experiment has created a multimedia experience through a video series which brings the songs from the album to life visually. (You can watch the videos below.)
Sonically, the album is exactly where I want it to be. The attention to details in the production and mixing process does not go unappreciated by this writer.
The eclectic mix of styles fused into the songs on Avenue B range from soaring rock guitar solos to rapid paced Hip Hop flows to gypsy jazz vibes with plenty of nuance, texture and sonic gems sprinkled in for good measure.
Best enjoyed from beginning to end, I am not able to choose a favorite track or even a list of three or four out of the 11 included songs that I recommend you listen to over the others. Avenue B is a sonic and visually fueled novel, each song a chapter leading into the next. I highly encourage you to take the time to sit down with this album to ensure you absorb the entire experience.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Goldwyn about the release of Avenue B, the web series, how being outside the U.S. music industry influenced his journey, challenges and much more.
Full Q&A along with links, music and videos below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
I’m from Mauritius, a small island off the east coast of Madagascar. I’m still uncertain to this day as to what type of music I create. It always has some Rock N’ Roll and Metal riffs attached that is for sure, but other than that I dabble into Blues, Jazz, Classical music and often into what sound like Latin rhythms, but to be honest I haven’t really listened to a lot of latin music, the closest thing to it that I listened to greatly was “The Gipsy Kings.”
As someone from the Island of Mauritius, what influenced and motivated you to walk down the musical path? What styles of music or bands did you listen to growing up?
I think the first time I saw SLASH play “The Godfather theme” solo on Use Your Illusion II VHS, I was hooked. And I knew I wanted to pick up a guitar and shred. At the time, Rock Music or even a career in music didn’t seem likely to happen in Mauritius so after high school I got a grant for “Glasgow Caledonian University” to study law and I pursued music from there on whilst completing my studies.
Growing up I was surrounded by Mauritian Sega, a very unique style of music, even though it wasn’t my kind of music it was always on no matter where I went. So I guess it must have had some sort of influence somewhere. But I was really into Boy Bands in the 90s like “East 17”, “Wet Wet Wet” and “Take That”. Until I heard “Spaghetti Incident” from “Guns N Roses” I remember disliking it at first, it was too heavy. But then it grew on me, and slowly I gravitated to listening to Iron Maiden, Megadeth, King Diamond, Blind Guardian, Amorphis, Carcass, Opeth, Children of Bodom, Arch Enemy and Dream Theatre. Anything with melodic guitars got me.
How has your work in the Montreal and NYC music scenes influenced your songwriting or helped shape your career as a creative talent?
NYC didn’t really develop my music skills, but it did teach me a lot of life lessons, that (a) I wasn’t ready for this city, everyone there already knew what they wanted and was striving for that goal with a merciless appetite. (b) The party scene swallowed me whole, cause if there is one city in the world that you can find a party any day or time of the week, its New York City. With that said, it gave me enough stories to recount for 3 albums I later put out “Psychocide -Alcohol & Bad Decisions.” And “The Goldwyn Experiment Avenue A & B” Which is by the way where I stayed in Manhattan.
Montreal on the other hand, was a whole different game, there I was very active in the music scene from Day 1, not knowing how the system worked or anyone, after a few weeks I would put together Psychocide and gig for 3 years. Which made me grow as a musician, all the while I was studying in Film School, to learn how to make Cinematic music videos. The music scene in Montreal was also more friendly, less competitive and more let’s get there together attitude, which I liked to a certain extent but was a bit slow paced for me.
How is Avenue B different from previous releases? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
Avenue B is a continuation of my previous record Avenue A, i.e. a JAZZ setup with Piano, Upright Bass and drums, only this time around I would be adding electric guitars. I don’t think it sounds like anything I put out before or even bands I listen to. Which was cool, as I was just trying something new. I just tried to write whatever came into my mind floating between different genres but coming out in one voice. If that makes sense. As you can hear all the songs are different from each other, but I am either alway playing guitar on them or singing which gives it this tie to be on ONE album and I think it flows quiet well, even though somewhere/somehow this shouldn’t have worked.
What inspired you to go the extra mile and create a video series to go with the album?
In Montreal, I worked closely with Olivier Sabino to do the Psychocide (my former band) Music Videos. The stories were great but I often felt like 3 odd minutes was not enough to get it all out. So while making Avenue B I had some ideas, for a story that would tie the whole album together. I later reached out to a former class mate of mine from Film School, Zachary Creatchman and we talked about it, I just wanted to see if it was even feasible, so we started fleshing out a script which Zach did a great job putting together, and from there I could see the story unfolding in front of me. Which is when I decided I have to make it happen. As luck would have it Tyler Guest, Tommy DiRocco, and Don Visage would validate my vision and get on board to help me achieve it.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
I guess time management, as you have to be on top of everything and it’s a very small team, so end of the day if you don’t manage your time right, you get swooped away from what actually matters the most, CREATING MUSIC and be heard. But with that said, the digital music age, has also helped me to break out of this cycle of when things should be released, and how, and that gives the Artist more control of connecting directly with their audience and see what the fans want to see or follow. And you can track that. For example the music videos for Avenue B, before I headed on this mission to create 7 episodes we put one out last year “Sad Boy Summer Episode 6”. That had a positive impact which pushed me to pursue the rest of the series. Had it had a poor reception I probably would not have done the rest of the series.
What was the last song you listened to?
Arch Enemy – Burning Angel (such a sick solo at 2:42)
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
Anything else before we sign off?
Yeah so I’m heading to Europe next week to do a few shows, and should be touring the USA at the end August from East to West coast whereby I will be hitting the studio to record a new Album/video series “Motel, Money, Murder, Madness” via my Patreon which launches in June 2019. So stay tuned and join my PATREON in June to be involved in the making.
