High octane stateside punksters - Goldfinger - release their new album "Open Your Eyes" on the 27th May. The Southern Californian's fourth studio album is packed full of the same explosive energy that rocketed them to the top of the "So-Cal" punk-pop league for the past couple of years - and earned them a major deal with Jive.

Self produced and featuring special guest appearances, Open Your
Eyes is available on enhanced CD in the UK - featuring previously unseen video footage of the band on the road and a shed load of bonus tracks and videos - including their mash up of Nena's euro-trash anthem "99 Red Balloons"!

When it comes to playing fast, short punk-pop classics no one does it better than Goldfinger. Since 1996 the SoCal band has been churning out rampant energy anthems to the delight of their fans. And the 15 new tracks on their latest effort Open Your Eyes are no exception, in fact the whole disc times in at a whopping 39 minutes and 14 seconds.

"I just want to finish a record and listen to it again," singer and band songwriter John Feldmann says about the point of writing a short record. The song "Liar" is only 19 seconds. "I wrote that song while walking my dog and I thought, 'What more could I add?'" Feldmann remembers. "It's got an intro, a verse, a chorus and then you're done."

But there's more to Open Your Eyes than just fast songs fans can mosh to. Sure, Goldfinger (singer/guitarist John Feldmann, bassist Kelly LeMieux, drummer Darrin Pfeiffer and new guitarist Brian Arthur) is known for writing songs about a girlfriend's showers and love gone wrong but the songs on Open Your Eyes are quite a departure for the band.

Although there is that new song "Spank Bank" about Feldmann's recent sojourn to a peep show. "As silly as it is it was just an inspired moment," the singer recalls. "I'd never been in a jack shack and it was the grossest thing I'd ever seen and I had to write about it. I will never go back although I won't swear on anyone's life." But this time there are also songs about Feldmann's opposition to hunting, his relationship with his father, insincerity in pop music and even J-Lo. "I think this record is more focused than any other record we've done," the charismatic singer says. "I've become so involved with animal rights over the years (he's been a vegetarian for six years). It's inevitable as you get older to be more socially conscious whereas when you're younger all you want to do is party and get laid and discover who you are.

I think we are expanding rather than just being about relationships or songs about women which is great for me because I have to grow as a songwriter."Produced solely by Feldmann, Open Your Eyes was recorded at the singer's home studio. "The whole recording process was so different this time because I would write a song at my studio," the singer explains. "I would track the drums and bass and give the guys demos that they could use for ideas. It was completely different than doing the basic arranging of the song. There was more freedom because I have the drums set up here the whole time so Darrin would track a song and a month later he'd say, 'I could do a better fill.' And then he'd come here and do a better fill. It was so much cooler than having to live with, 'You're done with the drums forever.'"

Filled with short, catchy, stop-and-go rock juggernauts, Feldmann rails against the current state of popular music on the song "Spokesman" where he asks, "What happened to integrity? I don't see it on MTV. All I see is choreography and I'll never be a dancer." Declaring, throughout the song, "I want to believe the goddamn singer wrote the song."

www.goldfingermusic.com
www.goldfingermusic.net