A Good Fight looks to push open the national door
By Brian Washburn
One of Northwest Arkansas’ biggest rock bands is about to get even bigger – but this time they’re about to blow up on a national level. With the help of an abundance of shows around the states and a new album being released this week, A Good Fight are taking off.
After the release of their debut full-length album The City Could Be Ours By Morning, Fayetteville’s A Good Fight – vocalist Eddie Love, guitarist Dustin Woods, bassist Jon Woods and drummer Sean Merriott – seemed to be on the verge of breaking out of the NWA bubble and hitting the big time. The band was featured in national music publications, and their music has played on MTV. But even though The City Could Be Ours By Morning was played heavily around the area and featured a modern-rock guitar riffs with unique, distinct vocals from Eddie Love, the band thinks their new album is going to be a step up and the one to take them to the big time.
“On The City Could Be Ours By Morning, it was apparent to us that it wasn’t crisp, polished or as big as we wanted when we went back into the studio,” Woods said. “We really took our time with this record, involving many powerful moments of our lives that left us bare. This album is no $5 peep show. There was plenty of focus, passion and emotion that went into every second of it.”
Part of the focus the band found was in communication with each other, as Woods describes the band moved past the awkward moments of conversation they used to go through. Part of the band’s new focus also came from their reminder to themselves to “have fun, strive for creative peak and still keep a resemblance to our sound,” Woods said.
“This album is really a carnival ride of influences and lyrical intent. We wrote a few songs that included local artists like Colin Hardaway, and Amyh Hart to bring out these different influences. It was just a natural progression to come close to the basics of why we all play in a band,” he said. “The best part of this album is trying to narrows each sound down to a certain band. Most critics love to do that,” Woods said.
The band’s modern rock sound with unique vocals is what got it noticed by the national media in the first place. Even though record companies seemed interested in the band for a while now, A Good Fight’s new album – tentatively self titled at the moment – is what the band is going to use to present to those managers and labels.
‘There are plenty of prospects out there that have been waiting on this new album to surface. We are still talking to those people, and once these CDs get in our hands, the first ones out of the bunch are going straight out the door to them,” Woods said. “We are currently seeking management, booking and label support. It’s hard to get backing, especially when you are based in the fly-by states, but we will take it one day at a time like always, keeping our eyes and ears open to new possibilities.”
The new album features a mix of the same rock sound the band has been known for throughout the scene, but as Woods puts it, it is bigger. Even though A Good Fight does slow it down on a few of the tracks, the harder, faster songs resemble old-school Green Day pop-punk with a strong mix of the current post-hardcore rock scene. However, it is Love’s distinct vocals that will catch listeners’ attention.
A Good Fight will release their album Saturday at George’s Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville. However, this will be far from the only show the band will be playing this year as they will be hitting the stage with several big-name acts throughout the state and region. Though the album is the No. 1 priority on the band’s list right now, Wood said the band’s first goal is to build a faithful audience.
“Without the fans that we have made so far, this new record wouldn’t have been possible. Each one of us wants to hit the road and live from stage to stage,” he said. “There are several ways of doing that, and we are working out the best ways for us to do that now… We are looking to fan this fire all the way to the coasts.”
