Wilder Music

Article by Maddie C.

Michael Kozakov on Good Kid’s influences, developments, and future

Good Kid’s next eagerly anticipated single, Eastside, is set to be released February 3rd, and with its gritty intensity, confrontational lyricism, and explosive energy, it’s sure to be well received. Following the earlier drop of the pending album’s second single, Rift, Eastside is the latest song to be released from Canadian indie rock band, Good Kid’s, debut album Can We Hang Out Sometime?. From being teased on TikTok, to a full live performance at The Streamer Awards in early December 2025, the track has steadily built momentum, with fans falling in love with a new sound not yet heard from the band – punchy guitars, distorted vocals, and driving rhythms.

Good Kid’s newest track is rooted in frustration, described by the band as: “being outraged that you keep seeing this person that you can’t stand all over your town. And you thought they moved across town and you go to the shop and they’re still there and you’re like, oh my god.” – a feeling that translates into the sharp distorted vocals with a diss-track like edge, while also encapsulating the broader feeling of tension of outgrowing your surroundings without quite managing to escape them. The band’s visual inspirations shine through in the distortion, overdriven guitars, punchy vocals and relentless, forward-driving drums, drawing clear influence from the Scott Pilgrim animated series. With strong Sex Bob-Omb energy, Eastside nails both its sonic and visual references, something Good Kid’s own bassist, Michael Kozakov reinforces, describing the track as: “kind of like Song 2 by Blur, because it’s super distorted, super kind of, like, silly, and kind of angsty.”

Lyrically, Eastside portrays a confrontational approach reminiscent of the band’s earlier track Slingshot, grounding the song’s frustrations and grievances in vivid, almost cinematic lines. Lyrics such as “I heard that you moved to the eastside, why do I still see you around?” and “I saw but I couldn’t believe it, your smug face from the side of my eye” reveal the irritation and disbelief of realizing that someone you dislike, that you thought had left, is still lingering around you. The phrase “side of my eye” speaks like a literal side-eye, disgusted, judgmental and unwillingly aware, while “you’re still stuck as a thorn in your side” reanimates that annoyance as something painful and inescapable, suggesting that not only is the person a nuisance to others, but that they’re stuck with themselves too, a notion the protagonist almost pitties. When the track builds to the line “I’m not going away,” it feels like a declaration of resolve, a refusal to back down in the presence of someone who once caused you pain. Together, these lines turn Eastside into a clear portrayal of resentment, self-assertion and the uncomfortable realization that outgrowing someone doesn’t always mean they disappear.

Ultimately, Eastside stands as one of Good Kid’s strongest tracks to date; while its heavier sound may have caught some fans off guard initially, it signals an exciting evolution for the band. If this track is anything to go by, Can We Hang Out Sometime? may contain some of Good Kid’s strongest releases yet.

FULL INTERVIEW Q&A BELOW

What was your creative process like when writing the album? Do you like to focus on singles specifically or is it like a general overview? 

So there is kind of two phases to making a record. This is also our 1st ever full album. So it, you know, a lot of this was really new to us, but the way we approached some of it was exactly how we always write, our band meets every Tuesday and Thursday and we are always working on new demos. So some of the songs that made it on the record are demos from years ago. I think one of them was a demo I brought from like 6 or 7 years ago. So there’s all the demo prep work. And then you kind of accumulate a folder of demos and then you’re like, okay, these are the ones we want to get into shape a little bit more. 

And then phase 2 started, which is we showed up in LA to record the album with our producer John Congleton. This is the 1st time we’ve ever worked with him. And then we sent him a folder of demos and then it was like, go, go, go. We had approximately like a day and a half to finish a song. Every song. So some of them were more fleshed out, like, the song wall. We’ve been playing wall live for like years now. So there were a lot fewer decisions to make on Wall. Whereas some other songs, we didn’t even have lyrics for them. So that was a very different phase. But at that point, we already knew which songs we’re working on, and then it was just about problem solving. Like, how do you get it from a demo to something that sounds really good to everybody? I don’t know if that answers your question about singles versus not singles, but I think the answer is no. Not singles. It’s about, what are the demos we’re most excited about and then go and problem solve those demos? 

What are your creative influences for Eastside? Do you have specific ones for the whole album or is it song specific where you look at different artists? Because I found listening to Eastside, it’s very The strokes/ Catfish and the Bottlemen vibes. 

I would say, so when we were writing the demos, we weren’t thinking of them in the context of an album. I think, like, album-afying the songs happened much later in the process. At first it was just writing demos. Specifically for that song (Eastside), there was both a sonic reference and a visual reference, and the visual reference came first.

Basically, we were hanging out in a rehearsal space, and we heard that there’s gonna be a Scott Pilgrim animated series. And we love Scott Pilgrim. It’s just filled with references we love. So we’re like, how cool would it be if we had a song in Scott Pilgrim? We should write a song for Scott Pilgrim, and I think we were kind of talking about what it could be, blah, blah, blah and just devolved into nothing. Then, I think I was like, okay, band, I’m gonna count to four and on four everybody play what in your head sounds like a Scott Pilgrim song. So it was like one, two, three, four. And then everyone starts making noise, and then we kind of do that for 20 seconds, and then 20 seconds in, David kind of does the da na da na da na and I was like, oh, that’s sick. I kind of switched to do what David does. And then I think within 5 minutes, we had a song. It just kind of morphed itself into Eastside. Because I think when you give a visual reference, like make a song for Scott Pilgrim, the movie has such a strong sense of what it is and the sound, that when you’re trying to create something that fits it, it’s very easy. And then I think when we kind of got the riff and Nick started mumbling some words over it. Uh, then it was more like, In my head, I was aiming to write a song kind of like song 2 by blur because super distorted, super kind of like silly and like kind of angsty. So I think the Sonic reference was blur and the visual reference was Scott Pilgrim.

Is there a story behind the album? Are there any ongoing themes or stories or anything like that you can spoil for it?

Kind of? So there is, you know, with Good Kid we have two layers of storytelling? We have our songs. And then we have the visual narrative that we tell with our music videos. I think the character stuff, I’m not gonna spoil. I think we’re gonna keep releasing, stuff and there’s a really cool story there and the world is richer than we’ve ever thought it was gonna be. So that’s really exciting. 

As far as the lyrics side of the recording, I think one thing I can spoil is, so Nick kind of got obsessed with, like, inserting, sometimes more, sometimes less obvious references to Lord of the Rings, throughout the album. So a lot of the songs, you know, they’re songs about, like Rift is a song about, kind of like, being let down by someone you love, and when he was writing it, he was writing it about Frodo being let down by the ring, you know? Which is, hopefully nobody’s like, oh, what a Lord of the Rings song. But, it sort of helped him write lyrics, uh, to use the relationships from Lord of the Rings as references, because they’re like really intense relationships. Every relationship in that book is very intense and Nick knows a lot about Lord of the Rings. So, I think that’s kind of like a subtle underlying motif of the record is all the messed up relationships in Lord of the Rings. 

Are there individual stories behind each of the songs? Like you said with Rift being about being let down by someone you love, What would you say Eastside’s specific story would be?

Eastside is kind of like a diss track. The song is basically just being outraged that you keep seeing this person that you can’t stand all over all over your town. And you thought they moved across town and you go to the shop and they’re still there and you’re like, oh my god. 

I’ve been listening to Limbiscuit more recently. Limp Biscuit is a band that kind of grew up on, that honestly gave me so much musical identity, and in a really interesting, not obvious way, they’re a very theatrical band. I think they kind of portray themselves as kind of douche rock, but really they’re just theatre kids. They love playing this character who’s just like, “It’s just one of those days.” And I think Eastside is kind of like that. It’s very theatrically like, nah I hate you. Like, I thought you moved to the Eastside. Why do I still see you around? Uh, it’s like an opportunity to play out this anger with somebody.

Are there any specific lyrics from Eastside that hold a specific meaning?

Well, when we were recording it, there was probably the biggest argument we had in the process of recording, so there’s a lyric that mentions keyside, which is not a real location. We technically, in Toronto, we have an area called, Queens Key. The world we’re building in our story is called NeoTO, which is kind of based on Toronto. And so we’re like, oh, it would be cool if there was a key side in the story. But that came after, because we needed to, the reason that happened was because we needed to swap a lyric. Originally, the lyric was about Lee side, which is the name of the high school Jacob went to and Jacob was like, no, you can’t talk shit about my high school. and literally he’s (Nick’s) like, what do you mean? It’s a song. I’m not even talking shit. Who knows what Lee side is? He’s like, no, you’re not talking shit about my high school and the high school is on the east side of Toronto. So they literally went at each other and Jake was like, nope, it’s not going to be Lee Side. So we’re like, okay, well, what is it gonna be? So then we had to come up with Keyside, which I think actually turned out great because it helps us build NeoTO. 

What is your favourite song to perform live? Are there any from the new album or the new singles that have been released that you’re really excited to perform on the next tour? 

Yeah, so from the new album we’ve only ever played wall on tour. And recently, we, for the first time ever performed, Eastside as well. I think Eastside is a very, very fun song to perform because it’s just, like, punk. Yeah, that was the Streamer Awards, right? Yeah, the Streamer Awards. I think like, we’re a band that loves moving around the stage and energy, whenever we talk about accuracy versus energy, obviously go for energy. Yeah. I think that’s what we enjoy when we watch shows, so that’s what we try to do in our performances, and Eastside brings out, everybody wants to jump off of something. Everybody wants to run around. So I’m very excited for Eastside. Also, there’s a thing in the Eastside, which, um, is new for me on bass, which is, do these, I don’t know if you can notice but there’s, “why do I still see you around?” Chicka chicka, and that chicka chicka is done on an overtone. And you really have to be dead on in the middle of the fourth, on the right side of the fret in order for it to sound really crisp. So that’s also like a fun challenge because you’re moving around, but then you have to really go. And in order for it to punch through, otherwise it’s just gonna sound like a scratch. Um, so yeah, really excited for that. From the old catalogue, I still love playing slingshot. I think, uh, Also, the only other distrack. I think I love diss tracks as well.

For Eastside, are there any specific reasons that you had Nick’s vocals distorted, or is it just the vibe that you were going for? 

I think it’s sort of, like I said, when we were writing the song, we were thinking of Scott Pilgrim, and if you think of ‘we are the sex ba bombs.’ It was so distorted, it’s just like a fun, unapologetic mess, so that was the reference. So, honestly, we had 3 versions of it in the mix. One was like not distorted at all. One was like a little bit distorted, or like medium distorted, one was fully distorted. And the band was like, yep, fully distorted, distort as much as you can distort. So yeah, that’s, it was just like it matched the reference

How has your music inspiration changed from when you first started writing as a band to now?

When we were just starting the band, a long time of being in a band was spent on figuring out how to sound like my favourite bands. We’d look at like 2 door cinema club and be like, like, this sounds so good. Why are we nowhere near that? And so you’re kind of learning songs from other bands, learning production tricks from other bands, just trying to figure out what makes something sound good versus not good. Eventually, you end up kind of forming your own sound, which is nothing like, or you’re aiming for copying someone, but then you actually end up, accidentally creating something different. So today, less of my time is spent on how do I achieve the sound from this band or something? More is spent on what makes a song really good. 

Like I still can’t get over how good where’s my husband from Raye is? It’s like just a crazy song you hear it for the 1st time. And you’re like, yeah, this, that was amazing. I need to hear it again. Lyrically, melodically, the grandma, the bridge, like, it’s just a crazy song. I think it’s the best song of 2025. So I hear something like that, I remember that happened when stay from Justin Bieber came out. And you hear it and you’re like, I have to hear it again. I don’t know why it’s just I have to hear it again. I think that stuff, that’s where I often love getting inspired and thinking about, what made that song immediately, bypass all checks in my brain and go straight to the heart. 

What would you say your top three songs out of all your releases are? Including the upcoming album, like out of everything you’ve written, what is the top 3 top five if you can’t pick?

Okay. I think the first time we released a song was, well, honestly, the first time w made Nomu. It’s still very important to me because it was the first time I heard something and was like, oh my god, I think we’re going to be a band that I actually like listening to. So that song meant a lot. I think drifting was a song that when we wrote, I was like, oh my god, we can also do that. Like, we’re not limited to doing only one type of song, drifting is different to me and interesting. Uh, and more melancholy, and David did a lot of songwriting on it. Um, So drifting is a very important song to me. 

From the new songs, honestly, Eastside, because it pushes us in a different direction. Eastside and rift, both are like… I think it’s a sound that nobody’s heard from Good Kid yet. I think when the record comes out, it just sounds different, because working with a different producer gives you, new things to try in a way that, you’re not just repeating the same process over and over and over. You were just trying new things. So like all these new different bases that I recorded on new effects, new ways of playing. And also, I think you’re going to hear that on this record that bases a lot louder than on previous records that we made because the parts and the sounds are so interesting. Sorry I’m giving you a non-answer, but I think from the new songs, I would say Eastside, Rift, Ghostkeeper, I would say those 3 are my favourite. 

Did you have any previous band names before Good Kid?

We went, we went through like 3 or 4 band names with Good Kid. One of them was very funny. We have a friend whose name is Lyon Leigh, like Lyon is his first name, L-Y-O-N. And I was like, what a weird, cool name. And what a cool guy. So we’re just going to name our band Lyon Leigh, like. So we were Lyon Leigh, and then we had a show, and then we put up posters all around our university. That lyon Leigh is playing their 1st show. And then the actual lyon leigh walks into the university and goes, what the fuck? Why is my name all over? And it says that I’m playing a show. I’m not playing a show. like, no, no, it’s not you. It’s lyon leigh. And he’s like, no, it’s my name. dont do that. So we were lyon leigh for a total of like 10 hours or something. 

What other ones did you have? 

What other ones did we have? We were lyon leigh. There’s a building in our university called Ban, where we spent a lot of time together as a band. So we, tried out baon, baon wolf, uh, as a play Beowulf. Uh, It was too dark. I don’t know. It didn’t fit the vibe. And then Good Kid came for, so we always kind of knew we didn’t like our names. Uh, good kid came from, we were practising one time and then David and Jacob started playing a song from their old band called Streets Ahead. And then someone was like, oh, what are you playing? They’re like, oh, we’re playing good kid. Like, oh, that’s a cool band name. They’re like, well, it’s our song name, but sure. And then I think, I think it was like within 5 minutes, everyone, everyone was both really tired of picking band names, and also good kid kind of sounded neat, and it had a fun reference. When the song was written it was inspired by the line from the mask, where Jim Carrey goes, you’re a good kid, real good, but you’ll never be as good as me or something like that. And I think we all like the mask, so I was like, okay, yeah, good, let’s go with that.

Um, who are you currently listening to music wise? 

I think the 2 bands, artists that have been listening to the most in 2025, I would say, were Joe Keery, Djo and The Beths? They’re a band from New Zealand. I love the beths. 

Um, and they released a crazy good album, and then I saw them in Toronto. They played a show. And they have this bit where for a bridge of one of the songs, the 2 guys on, so it’s a female led band, and then they have 2 guys, a guitar player and a bass player, and at some point both of them in perfect sync tap on some kind of device that they built, and recorder flutes pop out of it, and they in sync catch the recorder flute, and then they do a solo on the recorder. That takes up maybe like 10 seconds of the entire show, but they built the machine to have the flute pop out. Like, mad respect for the band. And then I’ve also, in the last month, I’ve been listening to a lot of older music because I listen to a lot of my records now, and so I went back to listening to Interpol and Foals. 

Which song by another artist do you wish you’d written yourself? 

Um. Do you know the man Bombay bicycle club? They’re a British band. really good, and they have a song called shuffle. And it’s been like, 15 years of me being very jealous of this band for writing the song shuffle. It’s a perfect song. 

If you were pulling an all nighter to record, what would be your favourite snack? Like a full day recording, what is your what is your go to snack? 

You know, from my experience recording this album, we were doing it in America and they have a place called Sweet Greens. Which is healthy food and sweet greens, like, I’m not a big healthy food person, but sweet greens did something good to our hearts and brains. And we were able to get through this record. So if I’m recording anything again, it’s sweet greens. 

Um, who out of the band would you say has the best sense of humour? 

David, easily. Like, if he wasn’t in a band, he would be, doing comedy. He’s so funny. What kind of, like, jokes does he tell? What is one that he said thats stuck out to you the most? I can’t, I don’t, I don’t want to recite David jokes cause I’m not going to do them justice, but the thing that he does is he just has like an infinite memory of quotes. Like, he can just quote, like do you remember that scene in The Simpson? Hes, like, yeah, and then he quoted it perfectly. Like, how do you remember this? I’m on the extreme end of that where I don’t have any memory. I can’t quote anything. I don’t even remember lyrics to good kids songs. I don’t know anything, and this guy just knows everything all the time. Uh, and so his comedy, a lot of the time, is just like he will just throw in the perfect reference and you’re like, this is like magic. How’d you do that?