More than a week is gone by since DEAD POET SOCIETY published their debut album “-!-". It was time for a collectionthat would showcase the band's remarkable sound. Their overwhelming "shitty old seven-string" and explosive rhythm section make them hard rock contenders, but there's also a musical cocktail of hip-hop, blues and R'n'B. What's the story behind their well known band name, their meaningful cover and the interview clips on their album? You can read Will Goodroad's mysterious answers.

Sarah-Jane: Dead Poet Society, what an interesting band name! What’s the story behind choosing this name?

Will Goodroad: Initially Jack Collins formed a band influenced by the movie title. The band fizzled and became something new with all new members excluding him. He really wanted to keep the name. Ironically Jack Underkofler has yet to see the film.

Sarah-Jane: What does the cover stand for – what is the idea behind the cover? How does it fit to your music?

Will Goodroad: It’s supposed to be interpretive and somewhat a representation of what the music stands for. Something that has impact beyond words.

Sarah-Jane: What is your personal experience during the time of the album production?

Will Goodroad: Personally speaking I was in and out of the hospital handling seizures and lung complications. All while JU and JC were hard at work producing what we had previously recorded. I was in my hospital bed, coming up with my parts for our next studio session and going back and forth with mixes. Good times...

Sarah-Jane: How would you describe your music in four adjectives and why do they fit?

Will Goodroad: unapologetic, self-aware, hones, probing

Sarah-Jane: When you look back at your career, what was your most important development?

Will Goodroad: Overcoming obstacles of health, relationships, success and failures. It’s no different than developing as a person.

Sarah-Jane: “.futureofwar” is very dark and dangerous. What message do you want to get across with this beginning?

Will Goodroad: -!-

Sarah-Jane: What was the occasion that you wrote the song “.georgia.”?

Will Goodroad: Our original bassist, Nick, came up with the intro riff and we just ran with it, the song came together in a matter of hours. We then wrote the melody and Nick wrote the lyrics. He was writing it about a girl he was dating at the time.

Sarah-Jane: “.CoDA.” is very remarkable, because it has a blues rock influence. It’s also very very catchy for the ear! Can you tell me a little bit about the development or ideas?

Will Goodroad: Our music stems from our influences collectively. We take them and try to put a spin on them. We want to keep the sound interesting for us and the modern listener. In this track the blues riff mixed so perfectly with JU’s powerful melody and JC’s meaty guitar on top. As a drummer I just thought I’d try something unexpected, playing a “trap” hi hat beat in the chorus for example.

Sarah-Jane: What was the reason to write some names of the songs with a dot and small letters?

Will Goodroad: Exactly.

Sarah-Jane: Why did you choose some interview clips and why did you put it on the record? Why do you think they added value to the album?

Will Goodroad: They were unstaged moments JC found on his phone. We like to record our rehearsal and writing sessions. He found some candid moments that captured how we felt and in the instance of -gopi-, some honest criticism.

Sarah-Jane: What was so special about the partnership with Alex Newport? How could he help you?

Will Goodroad: He was able to produce a certain sound in some of our songs that we had in our heads but were unable to create ourselves.

Sarah-Jane: Would you like to do features with others and if yes who would that be?

Will Goodroad: Unsure atm.

Sarah-Jane: While we are staying at home during the pandemic, what do you need to get inspiration? Some of us lose inspiration, because they don’t experience something new.

Will Goodroad: This has been a time of introspection. What’s more inspirational than reanalyzing yourself, the universe we’re in and what we can do to utilize what it has to offer?

Sarah-Jane: You have a mixture of genre in your music – what's your personal musical influence verses the influence of the band?

Will Goodroad: Speaking on behalf of “the band” I can say we all have many different influences. Excluding sub-genres (Rock, RnB, Hip-hop, blues).
We take inspiration not only from music we grew up on but also movies, historical events, super heroes, books etc.

Sarah-Jane: What was the last song that you listen to?

Will Goodroad: Cheryl Lynn - “Got To Be Real”
Don’t you dare judge me.

Sarah-Jane:What are doing when you not producing music?

Will Goodroad: Wanting to tour.