“I have not had enough coffee yet,” Goldfinger guitarist Charlie Paulson said sleepily before Wednesday’s show in Wichita, Kan.It should come as no surprise that Paulson is tired – he and vocalist John Feldmann, bassist Simon Williams and drummer Darrin Pfeiffer have had an intense touring schedule, opening shows for 311 in September and following with headlining dates that have taken Goldfinger throughout the country.The band’s current tour is in support of their new release, “Hang-Ups”, a follow-up to their self-titled debut LP, featuring the single “Here In Your Bedroom”.Paulson was tired this particular day, because the band had stayed up until 5 a.m., recording at a studio in Omaha, Neb. The venue they had played contained a nightclub, a bowling alley, a daycare center, a pool hall, an arcade and the studio. The studio owner invited Goldfinger to record, so the band went to the studio after their show at the nightclub, Paulson said.”We just decided to record all the covers we do that we’ve never recorded,” he said. “We did ‘Just Like Heaven’ by The Cure, ‘Is She Really Going Out With Him’ by Joe Jackson, ‘Nightclub’ by the Specials…I think we even wrote a song on the spot.”Goldfinger has also recently recorded a cover of “Rio” for the new Duran Duran tribute album.Paulson said he does not want Goldfinger to be labeled as a ska band, because the members are influenced by many different types of music.”Ska is definitely a part of it, but I just consider us a power-pop band,” he said. “As a whole, we like other bands that stretch across musical genres, like The Police or Fishbone or The Clash.”Fishbone vocalist Angelo Moore joined Goldfinger in the studio during the recording of “Hang-Ups” to do vocal parts on “Carlita” and “I Need To Know”. Moore also arranged horn parts and played the saxophone on the new record.”It was definitely a religious experience for me,” Paulson said. “I’ve been listening to and watching Fishbone for 10 years. He (Moore) definitely brought a new level and a magic into the studio.”The album’s title and cover, which is a drawing of a phone and a noose made from a phone cord, have a triple meaning, Paulson said.”You’ve got hang-ups in as much as it relates to the phone, personal hangups, which everybody has, and with the cover and the noose, you’ve got that too,” he said.The album title is also significant, because many of the songs on “Hang-Ups” were written about life on the road, Paulson said.”Your only connection to home, your only connection to real life and the people you miss is the phone,” he said. “It gets difficult.””Hang-Ups”, with songs like “Authority”, which is about troubled youth, and “Too Late”, which deals with problems between a father and son, is a slightly more serious album than the first record, Paulson said.While recording “Hang-Ups”, the members of Goldfinger were not afraid to slow the music down, Paulson said.”If we kept putting out the same record for the next five years, I think people would get pretty bored with us,” he said, “and we’d get pretty bored playing it.”Paulson said he is frustrated when fans do not allow a band to change.”Bands are made of human beings, and human beings have different experiences,” he said. “Hopefully they continue to grow and evolve as people.””Hang-Ups” is more of an honest Goldfinger record than the first release, Paulson said.”The first record’s got more of a streamlined vibe from start to finish,” he said, “and this one definitely takes you on more of a trip.”Goldfinger will perform Saturday at the Ohio Union Ballrooms. The show begins at 8 p.m. with opening band Kara’s Flowers. Tickets are $6 for students and $8 for the general public and will be available Saturday at the Ohio Union Newsstand. General public tickets can be purchased at Ticketmaster outlets, the Wexner Center ticket office and the Ohio State Theatre Box Office.The concert is part of the Grammys Festival, which includes an industry symposium that begins today at 2 p.m., and at 8 p.m., the Freddy Jones Band will perform at the Ohio Union Ballrooms.

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