Can Goober Shuck Novelty Tag?
Lenny Stoute
The Toronto Star
June 3, 1993
They look like Hank Williams' backing band and play a punky pop with double shots of wry lyrics from a straw-strewn stage.
They answer to Goober & The Peas and why these Detroit dudes with so much of Iggy & The Stooges in their souls would want to come on all cowpokey is probably not worth getting into - unlike their tight shows last Thursday at Lee's Palace.
Beanpole frontguy Dan "Goober" Miller is a natural entertainer, which enables him to get away with lyrics like, "Gonna buy my own graveyard/ kill everyone who ever done me wrong."
He can milk a chuckle from the almost hackneyed "My Own Best Friend" and "Up The Stairs," revel in the genuinely twisted "Hunt For Grandpa" and "The Ballad Of Ms. Amichi," sings passably fine and has considerable babe appeal (especially with the hat off).
This band's only apparent problem in selling its new The Complete Works Of . . . album is that the novelty-act tag sticks too easily. That usually makes for a strong live following but, historically, novelties don't sell a lot of albums.
Goober & The Peas return to Toronto in July, after their inaugural tour of western Canada, heh-heh.