Alternative Press has named them in their “10 unsigned bands to keep an eye on in 2021″ and aptly called their music a fusion of pop-punk and post-hardcore, with “cathartic emo vocals and lyrics” that make for an eclectic blend all their own. For a band that says they’ve never felt like part of the in-crowd, this is just one of many accolades ringing throughout the industry.
The band has been featured in Rock Sound, had several features in Alternative Press, a spot on San Antonio’s Warped Tour, So What?!, Summerfest, and SXSW official showcases. They’ve even shared the stage with acts like Belmont, As It Is, Forever Came Calling, The Ataris, Aaron Gillespie (Underoath, The Almost), and more through regional and national tours.
This, is Gold Steps.
Made up of married duo Liz Mauritz (vocals) and Zach Duarte (guitar), with Ryan Rivas (bass) and Mike Britz (drums), the foursome have a slew of releases lined up for 2022. Up first is “Stay The Same” a collaboration with Nick Thompson (Thief Club, Hit The Lights), who not only shares vocals on the track, but appears in the music video as well.
In this interview, Liz chats about how the song almost didn’t see a release, what it was like filming at the legendary Milwaukee Four Seasons skate park, and recording with Nick Thompson (Thief Club, Hit the Lights).
Thanks for taking the time to chat with us, and congrats on the release of “Stay the Same”! The video had us laughing all the way through, it looks like it was a lot of fun to film. Are there any moments that stand out in the process for you?
Thank you, it’s awesome to hear that the video made you laugh. Fun was exactly what we were going for. We wanted the video to be our homage to classic pop punk music videos from the early 2000s.
I really loved that we included shots of us riding the little green tractor. That’s a bit of an Easter egg and personal connection for me. Our song “Empty Space,” released in 2019, was about the loss of my grandfather, and my siblings and I used to ride that little green tractor around my grandpa’s driveway and patio as kids. So I’m really happy that everyone was down to goof off on it and include it.
Anything that didn’t make the cut that you wished had?
I wish we had gotten longer takes of Paula, one of the skaters, twerking. She comes in at the end. In hindsight, I wish we had gotten our videographer to capture us taking the tractor down some of the bigger ramps. Nick actually bunny-hopped the tractor up onto a box jump, which was INSANE. There’s some iPhone videos that we’ll toss up on our socials one of these days.
You talked about the choice to shoot at Four Seasons, a legendary warehouse skatepark in Milwaukee that’s covered in local art, and then asked the CIB Milwaukee chapter to skate in the video. When you began thinking of the concept behind this music video, what led you to decide on this theme?
Ryan actually came up with the idea to include CIB after seeing their videos on Instagram. It just so happened that one of the skaters he saw was my coworker at Lakefront Brewery, and I knew a couple other girls I work with were part of the crew. So we asked! We wanted to do something less narrative that our other videos, and also make the connection that we’re a Milwaukee band now since we transplanted from Austin. What better way to do that than by filming in one of the most iconic spaces for skate/punk/alt kids in the city?
Four Seasons is special to probably every skate kid in Milwaukee and plenty of people in my personal life are connected to it. I went there with friends in high school. One of my incredible coworkers, Emmy, painted the Frank Zappa mural featured in the video as well as many other murals at the skatepark. Jeff, who worked the park the night of our shoot, is a dude I’ve known since college and shared many a PBR with.
The collaboration with local skaters and a Milwaukee institution like Four Seasons really stood out to me, because you’re collaborating with other local artists and institutions, and I think that’s such a powerful thing that more artists should be doing, is collaboration. Have you always made collabs a regular part of what you do?
There’s a saying that no man is an island. No artist, no band is an island either. By making connections and reaching out and collaborating with one another, our community becomes stronger. In the past, we’ve collaborated with HeartSupport, an organization that spreads awareness of mental health. We’ve included friends and members of other local bands in videos before.
Milwaukee is my home, it’s the reason why we moved here. I love this city so fiercely because it has some of the kindest, caring, and passionate people I’ve met. We can seem like a self-disparaging, cynical bunch—and we are—but that’s just our style of Midwest humility. The love in this city runs deep. I hope we can be more involved with the city and community in the future.
What would be your dream collaboration? (it can be musician, brand, product, anything)
Well we already collaborated with Nick so… haha. He’s incredible. In my wildest dreams, I’d love to collaborate with Patrick Stump on vocals, or write a song with Taylor Swift.
You’ve had some impressive successes, including being named an Alternative Press unsigned band to watch, and playing Warped Tour and SXSW. What do you attribute those successes to?
We hustle. We take great care to do everything that we do well. We write songs we’d want to listen to, and make sure that the instrumentation, the vocals, the mix are done as well as we can. We practice twice a week and are always working on improving our performance. On top of working full-time jobs, we also spent multiple hours a week on social media, planning merch, other behind-the-scenes stuff. We also make sure that we treat other artists and creatives the way we’d want to be treated, and give them the recognition they deserve. We pay our merch designers, our photographers, our videographers their asking price, and don’t try to undercut them. We try to be good people in every aspect. Sometimes that means we’ve been walked over, or we’ve had to cut ties after being taken advantage of. But I hope we have a reputation as a band that is helpful, kind, with a great work ethic, and maybe curses a bit too much, but all in all that we’re people you’d want in your circle.
For indie bands hoping to achieve that same level of success, what advice would you give them?
Take your time. Don’t rush things, and don’t let others’ expectations (or your perception of their expectations) outweigh what you want to do. Make the music you’d listen to. Make the merch you’d wear. Make the videos you’d watch. Figure out your audience, and find a way to make it harmonious for yourselves and them. And give yourselves a break. You’re not superhuman, and burnout is real. It happened to us, and it took me more than a year to come back to it with a better headspace. If I’d paced myself and took better care not to lose sight of myself, I probably could have taken a week off instead of 18 months.
You’ve talked about never feeling a part of the in-crowd, which I think a lot of people can relate to. What advice would you give to your fans that have felt like they never quite belonged?
Love who you are. I like who I am, I truly do, even when I think I don’t. I’m a goodhearted, silly, rad human with a life that I’m grateful for. But anxiety and years of being picked on, or being turned down by people I liked or wanted to work with really did a number on me. These days I try to be kinder to myself, and spend more time doing things that make ME happy, not someone else. And it’s weird… once you project confidence, people pick up on that and want to be around it. The less I cared about what other people thought, the more I felt like people sought me out. Almost like, fake it til you make it? But make sure that what is on the inside, and what you project outwardly, is the best version of you, and that you remind yourself of your intrinsic value. And practice gratitude. Take time every day to reflect on what you’re thankful for.
What can fans expect from Gold Steps in the coming months?
We’ve got some singles up our sleeves, videos, and we’re dropping our first LP. Date is to be determined because we haven’t decided yet! The perks of being independent, our timeline is whatever we feel like.
Where can readers find you?
We’re on all the socials (FB/IG/TikTok/Twitter) as @goldstepsmke. We’re streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, pretty much everywhere as we release through Distrokid. Our music videos are on YouTube. Our website is goldstepsmke.com. All the important links are in our Linktree in our IG bio.
Follow Gold Steps:
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Keep an eye/ear out for some love from Gold Steps around Valentine’s Day 😉 Also, check out Nick Thompson’s other music as Thief Club! He’s an incredible musician, and dude has hooks for days.
Photo credit for all photos: Lily Shea Photography
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Interview and post by Corey Kleinsasser
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