Catching up with Goldfish

Goldfish is an electronic duo originating from Cape Town, South Africa, consisting of Dominic Peters and David Poole. They create unique and pretty sick dance music containing house, pop, jazz, and African music elements.

They also surf as often as they can.

We caught up with Dom, waiting for a plane in Dallas with Dave.

GB: WHAT’S GOING ON WITH GOLDFISH? ARE YOU ON SOME SORT OF MASSIVE TOUR?

GoldFish is back, baby. It was actually our 5th year anniversary of living and touring in the States on the 4th of July. We celebrated with a sold-out 3000 capacity party on the banks of the Hudson River with the fireworks to finish it off. It was wild. It felt like everyone was ready to party after over a year of being indoors. It feels like Plett Rage for adults every show we play at the moment. But seriously, we’re super stoked and grateful to be able to tour again, especially as so much of the world is still in lockdown. We’ve been touring solidly for pretty much 15 years, so the silver lining of the past year was the opportunity to catch up on a lot of sleep and take stock of everything. That and, more importantly, deciding what we want to do next.

WHERE ARE YOU HEADING TO RIGHT NOW, AND WHERE TO AFTER THAT?

We’re currently on a plane from San Diego, where we live now, to Nashville for a gig. Then on to Atlanta and Charleston, South Carolina. Never been to Nashville or Charleston, so it’s gonna be an adventure.

The boys...

THE NEW SINGLE IS KILLING IT. TELL US ABOUT IT.

Thanks, bru. We rarely do reworks, but this is a version of that classic from the 80’s ‘Everlasting Love’, and we gave it a GF spin. More jazzy and has a slower groove than we usually do. Also allows us to continue our animated music vid series with our little guy GoldFish man getting himself into various amounts of trouble in each instalment.

IS THERE A NEW ALBUM?

We’re working on a new album as we speak. The tricky thing is choosing from all the music we made during the lockdown and making sure it all links together. We’ll be releasing a bunch of new tracks from it through the second half of this year.

WHEN WILL YOU BE HEADING BACK THIS WAY?

Dropping in on friends doesn't count...

pulling in ekse.

Sneaky barrels for the fishies.

Missing SA so much! Usually, we’d sneak back round about now for some shows, but obviously, that’s not possible at the mo. Been watching the Surfline cam of JBay firing with all our mates going nuts and then surfing 2-ft beachies with 60-100 guys. Cali gives you a whole new appreciation of how incredible we have it in SA. But for our careers, we are exactly where we need to be.

WHERE ARE YOU GETTING YOUR SURF FIXES?

I surf Blacks and the reefs around La Jolla a lot, and Dave lives a bit further up and surfs around Del Mar. Lots of juvenile Great Whites buzzing around there at the moment, and we got chased out the other day. Nothing like home, though. We shoot up to Trestles when it’s flat down here and have done a few Hawaii missions. Stayed with Jordy a while back, and he took me out at solid Haleiwa, which was terrifying and awesome all at once. Also been epic surfing in Mex at the points around Salina Cruz and Nicaragua, which is so user friendly, so we’re making use of what’s around us this side.

WHO WAS IN THE BARREL AT KANDOOMA, AND WHAT WERE YOU DOING THERE?

Grabbing rail...

That Kandooma mission was such a luck. I was there in May and caught an early swell. Most of the crew were all older longboarders staying on the island, and they had all headed off to surf some of the other chilled spots and somehow had it all to myself. To this day, the best ocean moment where it all came together.

WHAT DO YOU MISS ABOUT SA?

Apart from family and friends, we miss the waves. We are so spoilt in SA it’s ridiculous. And I’ll never complain about crowds after living in SoCal. It gets good here, but the crowds are next level.

WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT THE LIVES OF GOLDFISH RIGHT NOW?

A new appreciation of doing what we love for a living and being healthy and stoked on surfing.