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(from the Arlington Heights Post, Oct. 24, 1996)

Songwriter mines for gold with Coin

by Martin A. Bartels
Diversions Editor - Northwest Group

At the tender age of 5, Dean Goldstein was making up silly songs and singing them to his family.

Today, he's still making up songs, but they're not so silly - and, he's playing to a much bigger crowd. Goldstein and his band, Coin, have cut their first album, "Liberty," on Chicago's Waterdog Records. They'll celebrate its release at a performance Halloween night at Durty Nellie's in Palatine.

"When I was little, my uncle on my mom's side lived with us for awhile," Goldstein said. "He was like a big brother to me, and he turned me on to the Beatles when I was 5 years old.

"I remember going out and mowing lawns to save money for my first rock album - it was 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.' "

Goldstein, a Wood Dale resident who was born in Arlington Heights, later bought a guitar from a friend with money he earned from a newspaper route. By the time he was in high school, he was already throwing a few original songs into the mix with his rock band.

"We used to play three-chord AC/DC stuff - the 15 seconds of stuff that we knew, and then we'd just start making things up," he laughed.

It was only over the course of the past year, or so, however, that Goldstein decided that he would pursue songwriting and performance professionally.

"About a year ago, I took a soul trip to Colorado," he said. "I felt something was calling me to take some time out. So I went out there, I didn't have any set goals, and I just drove through the state and thought. And wrote.

"It just came to me when I was out there that I was most comfortable when I was creating.

"That's not an easy thing to do," he added. "It's not stable. You're not guaranteed that you're going to have security. You won't be out there punching a clock and working 9 to 5. You don't have insurance. And coming from a secure suburban family, that was a big step. It took a while for my parents to accept that this is what I was going to do."

Before that trip, Goldstein had auditioned for the lead guitar slot for the popular local rock band, The Bad Examples, headed by singer/songwriter Ralph Covert. He had also brought a demo tape of his original music.

"Ralph told me I wasn't the guitar player he was looking for, but that he liked my music, and that he thought I could benefit from a songwriting class he taught at the Old Town School of Folk Music," Goldstein said. "I took the class, and when I made the final commitment to actually record, everything just kind of happened. And being able to work with someone like Ralph is a blessing."

Covert not only produced the album, but helped with back-up vocals and guitar, as well. And many of the Bad Examples, along with Goldstein's friend Greg Interdonato, make up the band, Coin.

But the sound contained within is pure Goldstein. Musically, the songs fuse pop melodies and harmonies with powerful rhythmic and hard rock influences. Songs like "67 Cents of Heaven," "Innocent and Young" and "Covered In Lace" have a radio-friendly appeal that is equally at home in a live setting.

And, lyrically, the songs are extremely accessible - in many cases because they are drawn straight from experience.

"In my case I write three different kinds of lyrics. One kind is directly from my life. And the second kind is totally fictional. The third - well, I don't know how to describe it, but I think it's subconsciously about myself. On the outside I think it's fictional, but then I go back and look at it and realize, oh my God, that's about me in a certain place and time."

As 22, "Liberty" is symbolic of many aspects of Goldstein's life. But, he admits, it's only the first step of what he hopes are many more to come.

"I went through a time when I was writing songs and everything was starting to sound the same," he said. "And when you write like 5,000 songs and think they all sound the same, you think they all suck. But during that time, there were a couple I did that were breakthroughs.

"As a fan, I like a smorgasbord of different music - but I tend to push the peas and carrots aside. So overall that's the one thing that I tried to do on the album, and I think that I succeeded. None of the songs sound the same. All of them have different rhythms and feelings."

[...]

(from the Arlington Heights Post, Oct. 24, 1996)

Songwriter mines for gold with Coin

by Martin A. Bartels Diversions Editor - Northwest Group

At the tender age of 5, Dean Goldstein was making up silly songs and singing them to his family.

Today, he's still making up songs, but they're not so silly - and, he's playing to a much bigger crowd. Goldstein and his band, Coin, have cut their first album, "Liberty," on Chicago's Waterdog Records. They'll celebrate its release at a performance Halloween night at Durty Nellie's in Palatine.

"When I was little, my uncle on my mom's side lived with us for awhile," Goldstein said. "He was like a big brother to me, and he turned me on to the Beatles when I was 5 years old.

"I remember going out and mowing lawns to save money for my first rock album - it was 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.' "

Goldstein, a Wood Dale resident who was born in Arlington Heights, later bought a guitar from a friend with money he earned from a newspaper route. By the time he was in high school, he was already throwing a few original songs into the mix with his rock band.

"We used to play three-chord AC/DC stuff - the 15 seconds of stuff that we knew, and then we'd just start making things up," he laughed.

It was only over the course of the past year, or so, however, that Goldstein decided that he would pursue songwriting and performance professionally.

"About a year ago, I took a soul trip to Colorado," he said. "I felt something was calling me to take some time out. So I went out there, I didn't have any set goals, and I just drove through the state and thought. And wrote.

"It just came to me when I was out there that I was most comfortable when I was creating.

Before that trip, Goldstein had auditioned for the lead guitar slot for the popular local rock band, The Bad Examples, headed by singer/songwriter Ralph Covert. He had also brought a demo tape of his original music.

Covert not only produced the album, but helped with back-up vocals and guitar, as well. And many of the Bad Examples, along with Goldstein's friend Greg Interdonato, make up the band, Coin.

But the sound contained within is pure Goldstein. Musically, the songs fuse pop melodies and harmonies with powerful rhythmic and hard rock influences. Songs like "67 Cents of Heaven," "Innocent and Young" and "Covered In Lace" have a radio-friendly appeal that is equally at home in a live setting.

And, lyrically, the songs are extremely accessible - in many cases because they are drawn straight from experience.

As 22, "Liberty" is symbolic of many aspects of Goldstein's life. But, he admits, it's only the first step of what he hopes are many more to come.

"I went through a time when I was writing songs and everything was starting to sound the same," he said. "And when you write like 5,000 songs and think they all sound the same, you think they all suck. But during that time, there were a couple I did that were breakthroughs.

"As a fan, I like a smorgasbord of different music - but I tend to push the peas and carrots aside. So overall that's the one thing that I tried to do on the album, and I think that I succeeded. None of the songs sound the same. All of them have different rhythms and feelings."

[...]

by Martin A. Bartels
Diversions Editor - Northwest Group