After putting out an acclaimed debut EP and putting a year’s worth of club dates behind them last year, Chicago Modern Indie/Surf-Punkers The Golden Rule are of the city’s busiest bands to date with a brand new EP in tow.
“The first time Malcolm, Rob and I got in a room, it was just f*cking magic. The energy just sparked like a match and the ambiance that came from the music we made together was like fireworks,” says frontman and guitarist, Mohit Mehta. “It’s just something you have to experience live. There is no substitute. The first time we heard the term ‘surf-punk’, we were kind of surprised. Personally, I had never heard the term, and it seemed to pigeon-hole us into a weird subgenre. Pretty much not more than five minutes later I realized ‘surf-punk’ is the most fun music I’ve ever played.”
The Golden Rule started out as a solo project for Mehta in late 2012. After a few one-off gigs and some finely-written tunes, TGR entered Backhouse Productions to churn out a debut EP, “These Shoes” in May 2014. Well-received by critics, the EP was featured on WXRT, WZRD, WLUW, WGN and Fearless Radio among local stations, and was well-reviewed by local press.
Soon after, Mehta recruited Rob Miller on bass and Malcolm Rutter on drums to help him slug it out in the underground rock and roll club scene in Chicago. “We met at a record store north of Lakeview,” Mehta explains about teaming up with Miller. “Yeah they have cool weird shit, like records and art and stuff,” interjects Miller. “I was playing with another group and we had brought all our stuff there, and the owner shut us down for being too loud.”
“Yeah it was lame,” adds Mehta, “but he brought his 70s Ampeg V-4, which was sexy as hell. I thought it was the coolest thing, plus he brought all of his neat pedals.” “Don’t get this kid started on gear,” jokes Miller, “he’s got a borderline obsession of Marshall Amps built between 1978 and 1983.” “My babies,” replies Mehta, with a ridiculously silly smile.
Malcolm “Fancy Hat” Rutter came along by random coincidence alone: “We went to school together, [Mohit] was in business school, I was a liberal arts kid myself,” Rutter explains about both his and Mehta’s time in college together at Loyola University Chicago, in the Rogers Park neighborhood on the north side. “Malcolm and I both had the same circle of friends, probably met once or twice, but never really hung out or anything. It was so random how we got in contact,” responds Mehta. “Craigslist,” explains Rutter, “solves 90% of the world’s problems. It was how we got things started and how I got in the group.”
With the trio intact, The Golden Rule started to make a name for themselves as one of the hardest working original rock bands in the Chicago DIY scene. TGR proceeded to take Chicago’s indie scene by storm in 2014, playing 17 dates in the summer alone to support the release of “These Shoes” as well as numerous radio appearances on Chicago’s major stations. “We ended our run at Double Door,” states Mehta. “The Stones played there!” Rutter has to exclaim. “We know. And when we played, it was one big party,” finishes Mehta.
The music for the second EP came almost instantaneously as the group came together. “I brought these songs to the guys and we wound end up putting these incredible tunes together in like 2 hours. Which was fun but not the brightest idea, because we had an ever changing setlist every night we played,” explains Mehta.
The “Crowes” EP releases on March 10th. This is not one to be missed.
