As Smash Mouth famously declared, “the years start coming and they don’t stop coming,” and the same can be said for the band’s members.
The rockers had a rough end to 2021, with then lead singer Steve Harwell infamously appearing intoxicated at a New York gig, threatening audience members and seemingly making a Nazi salute. Following the performance, he announced his retirement from the lineup.
Smash Mouth moved on quickly, with Zach Goode, formerly of Ghoulspoon, recruited as new lead singer last month. And now the band have celebrated the new lineup with a surprise cover of Rick Astley’s pop classic – and meme standard – ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’.
How meta – forever associated with Shrek and often ascribed the title of ‘meme band’, this cover surely has to be an intentional act. Only Smash Mouth’s 1999 anthem ‘All Star’ has the staying power to rival Astley’s ubiquitous hit in the meme stakes.
“One of our managers kept pushing for us to do this song,” the band’s bassist Paul De Lisle explained about the cover (as per Audacy). “We kind of resisted, like it’s not really our thing.” But eventually the band came up with an arrangement that worked.
That was one of the first songs they sent to me during the audition process,” confirms Goode. “It’s so pitch perfect, yet out of leftfield at the same time.”
Goode, meanwhile, revealed how he joined the band. “It was sort of a fluke,” he said. “I just saw somewhere that they needed a singer. I sort of wrote an email, almost as sort of a goof, as they’re not going to ever respond to this email.
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Well, maybe I put a little bit of thought into it, but it was one of those, ‘Hey, you want a guy with some bad ’90s tattoos and a dad bod? Come talk to me! I’m right here. Here’s my YouTube page. Not that I thought they’d respond.'”
Check out ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ (Rick Astley cover) by Smash Mouth:
