There is something special about knowing, going to or even living in a place that a band on the rise has a connection to. Closer Still is a pop-folk band whose members, twins Maggie Goble (class of 2010), Maynah Goble (class of 2009) and Jason Checkla, (class of 2010) all graduated from Oswego State.
While in school, the Goble’s modeled an independent band for a music business class. The class worked with Closer Still to gain experience in the industry and even wrote and produced a song together, which was released as a single in early 2009. It was debuted at Oswego’s annual college concert.
Maggie and Maynah also performed in Peru, Romania, Austria and China while they were studying at Oswego State.
“We pursued a lot of different avenues to travel overseas,” says Maggie. “Our trip to Peru was with a group of Oswego and S.U. [Syracuse University] students; we traveled to Romania with a local volunteer group to perform in orphanages. Oswego has a great study abroad program.” The band has not toured overseas after graduation, but they are crossing their fingers that they will get a chance to.
It was not always the three of them; the sisters had formed the band before meeting Checkla with their other sister, Millie. Maggie and Maynah met Checkla while at Oswego State and began playing together in the summer of ’09, while Millie left to pursue other endeavors.
The three of them chose Closer Still as the band’s name together. “The name of the band has to do with getting closer to the things you want out of life,” says Maggie.
Checkla and the Goble sisters frequented the local open mic scene in Oswego during college. It gave them a platform to perform on while they were in school.
“We performed with [Checkla] on a radio show called ‘Indiegasm’, hosted by Claire Lindsay and Chris Spofford in 2009,” says Maggie. “After seeing Jason perform, I told him that he should be in our band. He didn’t think I was being serious! He was also in another band at the time.”
The following summer, they performed with Checkla at Harborfest, an annual Oswego event. Even without much rehearsal, they were still prepared. “I would tell [Checkla] what key the song was in and he would play along,” says Maggie. “Maynah and I were very impressed.”
Along the way, the trio picked up a fourth member. Closer Still heard Tom Miles play at a performance in Glen Falls, N.Y. and soon after found himself joining the band in early January.“He is such a fun person, so full of life,” says Maggie. “We started hanging out with him a lot and jamming together. It just worked.”
Pre-Miles, the band would travel extensive distances and hours to perform in different open mic nights around the country. One in particular that immensely helped them occurred at the end of their tour. It was a last-minute entrance thanks to another band that had just cancelled.
Out of the 29 bands that performed that night at the Lizard Lounge, in Ma., Closer Still was one of bands who made it to the final three groups of this competition before winning the entire contest. The owner of the club decided to book them on the spot for a paid performance in October 2010. “The song we played is called ‘Old Blue Sweater.’ It will be on out next album,” says Maggie.
The four still travel in the same transportation they came to love over those several weeks of touring on open mic nights – Checkla’s 2008 Gold Honda Civic.
While traveling, the band used social media to promote themselves as a unified brand. Utilizing Facebook, Twitter and their blog, The Open Mic Tour, they were able to create a stronger online presence. But with all of their traveling, where did they practice?
“In the car while we were driving, in parking lots before shows, friends’ houses, basically wherever we could,” says Maggie.
The band sticks to a pop-folk genre because they fill it connects to more people. “To many, pop and folk are on contradictory terms,” says Maggie. “We use folk instruments and folk-style harmonies, but the songs we write are more pop.”
What folk instruments do they create music on? “[Checkla] plays a banjo, he and I play ukulele; we also have a mandolin and a lap steel,” says Maggie. “Tom has lots of random percussion instruments, but he doesn’t play a drum kit.” Instead, he utilizes a cajon, conga, shakers tambourines, a ride and crash cymbal and a box cajon. Not to mention a set of harmonicas is always nearby at every show.
While they all were inspired by the bands they listened to at a young age while growing into their knowledge of music, one would assume that with this assortment of instruments and category in music style choice many of their inspirations would come from past folk singers. However, that is not the case for Closer Still.
“We all have very different tastes in music actually,” says Maggie. “We might listen to Lady Gaga, Marvin Gaye or Girl Talk during the day, but this was a sound that we all fell very naturally into. Listening to music from all genres and being well-rounded music listeners helps you find what you are most passionate about and allows you as a songwriter to incorporate different aspects from all types of music.”
All of their songs are inspired from life, love and their own personal experiences. With keeping that same momentum, they do feel they have finally found their own originality as they have grown musically since their first album, ‘Happy Everyday.’ The album, which consisted of five songs, was written in a short period of time when the band first started playing together.
“It was a really fun time during our last semester of school, while the band was getting to know each other,” Maggie said. Through the use of different instruments, banjo and ukulele, the sound now has engaged deeper into folk.
As of now, they are hoping to continue touring the east coast in the fall. They are going to record their next album in the spring, following a theme of change and growth. Ultimately, they want to keep playing as much as they can; for as long as they can. The group plans to continue to develop their sound, progressing as musicians, songwriters and experimenting with new sounds and ideas.
“We all genuinely love what we do and would love to see our fan base continue to grow,” says Maggie. “That’s the whole goal; we want people to enjoy what they hear and have as much fun listening to our music as we do playing it.”