A Little Background on Dean Goldstein & Coin

 

When the four band members of Coin are in the beginning stages of a song, it's the music that is the driving force of complex emotions that are felt but not often explained. Adding honest and compelling lyrics to the mixture results in songs that recount a series of turning points in the grand story of life. Coin embraces the varying volume levels of Americana music, with enough diversification to play in soft, intricate acoustic settings as well as full-on electric rock shows.

Dean Goldstein, born in Elk Grove, Illinois, is the leader of Coin. He originally met Ralph Covert of The Bad Examples while auditioning as a lead guitarist when Steve Gerlach left the Examples to create MysteryDriver. Although Dean wasn’t the guitarist Ralph was looking for, Dean’s demo tape caught his ear with its melodies and lyrics, so Ralph suggested enrolling in his songwriting class at The Old Town School of Folk Music. The two developed a strong musical synergy, and when Dean decided it was the right time to make a CD, Ralph agreed to produce it.

The result was the Waterdog Records 1996 debut of Dean Goldstein & Coin’s Liberty (Waterdog 9604, released regionally), an impressive display of finely-crafted pop rock. Musicians on the disc include Bad Examples members bassist Pickles Piekarski and organist Steve Wozny plus Examples alumni guitarist Tom O'Brien and drummer John Richardson (who now pounds for Shoes, Badfinger and Tommy Keene). Brother Brother multi-instrumentalist John Zdon adds keyboards and guitars while the Insiders' stringmaster John Rice contributes licks on ukelele, mandolin and guitars. "Innocent And Young" is features Dean's longtime vocal partner, his younger sister Emily Goldstein, who also drew the disc art. The album was recorded at Short Order Recorders in Zion by Jeff Murphy of Shoes, the seminal pop band.

Dean remarked, "The coolest thing about working with Jeff and Ralph was that all three of us had an intuitive understanding of each other." Jeff Murphy adds, "He looks at a song differently than I do. He's very fresh because he doesn't have any preconceived notions." Murphy was having enough fun behind the board that he stepped out to add harmony vocals on the nostalgic "67 Cents Of Heaven" and the lead-off track. The critical praise of Liberty brought Dean the attention of several local commercial and college radio stations as well as the usual mix of popular live venues (Durty Nellie’s, Martyrs’, etc.) for local acts. Dean also performed at Chicago’s Independent Label Festival as well as Cleveland’s Undercurrents Festival.

In the wake of Liberty, however, Dean found himself without a band. All the musicians on Liberty were hired as session players, hand-picked by Covert. To help promote the album, the session musicians toured with Dean after Liberty’s release, but this was only to last a few months. This left Dean to making his way through the radio and coffee house circuit as a solo performer for an entire year.

In mid-1997, Scott Gillis volunteered to play drums at an impromptu open mic at Adam’s Place (now Lunar Brewing Company) in Villa Park. A friendship formed and the duo started rehearsing together.

While the format of critically-praised Liberty featured finely crafted pop songwriting with a very spiritual feel, most of the songs on Liberty were written years before they were recorded. With a continual ambition to move forward, Coin’s latest material breaks away from the finely crafted pop of Liberty and characterizes a casual, edgier feel. This new sound is a direct result of the varied musical backgrounds of Coin; it can be heard on the WIIL FM 95.1 (Kenosha) charity compilation CD to fight hunger, featuring the Coin original, “My Prayer.”

Scott Gillis played drums for several years in the metal fusion bands Eastern Front and PUSH. Recently Jason Trtan (Haymaker, Mike Austin Band) took over the bass chores, while Willett T. Grashade (Subconscious Troubadours, Sweetfish) adds his vocals and guitars to the mix.   Dean's lead guitar playing nowadays draws comparisons to Neil Young and Tom Verlaine for its angularity and power. The result is an energetic, dynamic embellishment on the realm of Americana music.