Is the Coronavirus pandemic getting you down? If so, the Gold Hope Duo can cheer you up with Songs in the Key of Quarantine. The Kingston, New York-based duo, Lara Hope and Matt Goldpaugh self-produced the album while stuck at home and unable to perform with their bandmates in Lara Hope and the Ark-Tones. We spoke with Lara Hope over Zoom about the pandemic, the new album, and her eclectic influences.
What is the origin story for Lara Hope and the Ark-tones?
Lara Hope: Before playing in the Ark-Tones, I’d say about 11 years ago. I joined a traditional rockabilly band called Lara Hope and the Champtones. I did that for a couple of years. Then, people were moving to different parts of the country and I had all these shows that were booked. I was scrambling. I wasn’t ready to quit and give the Champtones up. I needed a band.
Then I met Matt (Goldpaugh), who is now my husband and my bass player. We had met around the time the Champtones had disbanded. Matt and I had met through our other bands. I was playing in a more punk rock and roll band called Tiger Piss. Matt was – and is still – sometimes playing in a psychobilly band called The Arkhams. We had been starting to hang out and toured together with those bands.
When the Champtones were disbanding, I needed a backup band pronto because it all had fizzled quickly. I asked Matt will you and your band the Arkhams back me up for this summer of gigs until I can get a more solid lineup together. At the time, we had been Lara Hope and the Champtones and we got the Arkhams to back me up, so we kinda just put our band names together and called it the Ark-Tones. Then Matt and I ended up always playing together afterward. We got some other members who became more permanent. That was back in 2012, so we’ve been using the name for 8 years now.
Who are your influences? I know Lara Hope and the Ark-Tones is not pure rockabilly.
Lara Hope: When I did the Champtones, that was more traditional, I did it and that was great. I always have a hard time answering this question. Growing up my first musical influence was Broadway.
You were a kid growing up in Long Island.
Lara Hope: I was lucky. I actually wasn’t that far from Broadway, off-Broadway, and lots of community theater. That’s how I got started performing and singing in front of people was doing community theater with my mom when I was about nine. That’s when I got the bug of enjoying performing. Then from there, it’s been very, very varied. Everything from Fiona Apple to Dolly Parton to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Beatles. Quite a wide variety, which I think has worked in my favor just trying to write with a wide palette.
What inspires you to write songs? I’ve noticed that you often write with a sense of humor as seen on “No Time to Get Bored.” There’s also “Whiskey Pick.”
Lara Hope: I think that the love and the loss songs have already been written. And I have written my own share of those. I feel like I’ve said what I needed to say in terms of that. Now, I’m writing about the things I actually. You know I’m not walking around all day thinking about love or the losses I’ve had in my life. I’m trying to write about the things I find amusing or maybe the things that I find sad or things that are humorous or things that frustrate me. Or things that I think other people can relate to beyond the emotional plain of things.
Your latest album, Songs in the Key of Quarantine was released as the Gold Hope Duo. Why did you release it as a duo instead of with the Ark-Tones?
Lara Hope: Plain and simple, for those first few months of quarantine, we didn’t see our bandmates. We were at home seriously quarantining back when it was really strict in March, April, May, June. Matt and I pretty much were home with no gigs and not seeing that many people, so we started working on stuff. We had already been doing the duo as a side project, but it kind of forced us into making it our main project at least for the time being because of the virus. We were here so we able to write together and we learned how to record ourselves. That was the first time we had ever recorded ourselves. Out of necessity, we put out this album as a duo. Also, helped keep us sane and gave us something to work toward and work on.
How is the duo different from the Ark-Tones?
Lara Hope: There are a few songs that overlap that we’ll play with both bands. For the most part, I’d say 75 percent I try to do different songs and make it a different experience so that people can feel like they can come out to both shows and not be seeing the same thing twice.
In the full band, it’s a little more rock and roll and rhythm and blues. The duo, I’d say leans a little more toward country, folk, and Americana.
What songs/music do you recommend listeners start with if they’re first getting into the Lara Hope and the Ark-Tones Experience?
Lara Hope: Right now, obviously, the new duo album is really topical. I feel like people should listen to it now because I hope in a year from now this will be old news, nobody will want to be reminded of it, and nobody wants to listen to it. But right now, we’re so engulfed in it that I think it can give people a little bit of a chuckle or a little bit of a more positive perspective on the virus.
The last Ark-Tones album that we put out in 2017. I really like the way that album came out. I like a lot of the songwriting. That was Love You to Life. I personally like that one better than the album before.
Which was Luck Maker. I believe.
Lara Hope: When people say they can only buy one, I usually say to get Love You to Life. There’s also an unreleased Lara Hope and the Ark-Tones album. I’m actually glad we got to release Songs in the Key of Quarantine because it was killing me to be sitting on this other album, but at least we were able to release something.
How do you describe your music to new listeners?
Lara Hope: The genre that I’ve been saying to be all encompassing is roots rock and roll and rockabilly twang or you could say roots rock and roll. It really is some rockabilly, some old country, some rhythm and blues, and some jazz. I’m sure some of that Broadway influence slides its way into it.
In 2018, you opened for the Brian Setzer Orchestra’s 15th Annual Christmas Show. What was that like?
Lara Hope: That was one of the best experiences of my life. Needless to say, it was such a huge hone and so exciting. And it felt like a culmination of all the hard work we had been doing for almost a decade was finally paying off and we were finally being recognized. It was a dream come true.
When is the next time you will be performing?
Lara Hope: Since March, we have been doing a livestream every Monday from 7 to 8 pm on our Facebook page.
Anything you’d like to add?
Lara Hope: I don’t know how long this pandemic is going to last, but I do truly believe people are missing music and the arts in general. Maybe even more than they expected to. I think people who didn’t realize what an impact the arts had on their life are now realizing how much they miss it. I believe that when we and the arts can come back safely that they’re going to come back with a bang and people are going to have a newfound appreciation for them.
Once the pandemic is over, you won’t want to miss Lara Hope and the Arktones or The Gold Hope duo performs locally. Until then, you’ll want to check them out on Monday nights or on November 12th at 5:30 when they’ll be performing live on their Facebook page and the City of Kingston’s page as Lara Hope receives the Kingston Distinguished Artist Award at a virtual award ceremony.
Songs in the Key of Quarantine can be purchased on Bandcamp, so can Lara Hope and the Ark-Tone’s music.
