Space Kid performing to a sold-out crowd at The Rambling House’s Halloween show. Credit: Courtesy of Space Kid
Columbus-based garage-rock trio Space Kid will release their debut EP, “Stay Gold,” Saturday.
The band — consisting of lead guitarist and vocalist Patrick Gallaugher, bassist Riley Morgan-Boucher and drummer Liam Keron — is scheduled to perform live at Ace of Cups the same day — during the trio’s music festival titled Gold Fest — with doors opening at 2 p.m. and shows running until midnight. Space Kid is set to perform on the indoor stage from 8:30 to 9:15 p.m.
Gold Fest, a music festival featuring live music from seven musicians and bands, was brought about when the trio was brainstorming ways to honor the EP’s release.
“Gold Fest to us was just a fun way to celebrate our hard work recording in Athens. We had a great time doing it and getting the fest together,” Gallaugher said in an email. “Reaching out to friends, local bands who we look up to and getting it all piled together was a cool experience. It’s a lot of work, so we have a lot of respect for people who do it all the time.”
Gallaugher said the EP consists of five songs, each drawing from their own source of inspiration.
“All of them are kind of different in their own way and bring from different influences, but at the end of the day they’re all classic, like what you would expect out of a garage-rock band,” Gallaugher said. “We’ve kind of been doing this three-piece garage thing and I think we really figured out how to get it to sound just right so that it sounds like how we’re doing it live.”
Gallaugher said the upcoming EP was recorded at Amish Electric Chair Studios.
From left to right: Patrick Gallaugher, Riley Morgan-Boucher and Liam Keron photographed outside of Cafe Bourbon St. ahead of an April 2024 show. Credit: Courtesy of Space Kid.
He said one notable track on the EP is the last song, “Pony Boys (in The USA).”
“[I]t’s about our buddy Evan Westfall from Caamp. He’s on our label and he’s pressing our tape and all that,” Gallaugher said. “He had a moped gang with his buddies, and they would all go ride around Columbus on mopeds — they called themselves the Pony Boys. I wanted to write an homage to them.”
Evan Westfall is the banjoist for Columbus-based folk band Caamp and founder of Super Sport Records, Space Kid’s record label.
Gallaugher said they were initially connected with Westfall by their friends in another Columbus-based band, A-Go-Go.
“Our buddies in A-Go-Go were wearing Space Kid shirts around him, and he was like ‘that’s a sweet shirt,’ and they’re like ‘you gotta check these kids out,’” Gallaugher said. “We were sophomores at the time and we had just started being consistent about playing shows every month or doing stuff.”
Space Kid was formed about four years ago when the three members were about to start high school. Although they all met in fourth grade, Gallaugher said it wasn’t until 2020 that they started making music together.
“We just started playing in Liam’s garage and that sucked. It was really cold in the wintertime and that was a bummer,” Gallaugher said. “We had to bring out little heaters and set them up next to us. But, we definitely needed it — it was important for us to go through that rough patch of trying to figure out and learn how to do what we do now.”
The trio recently graduated from Thomas Worthington High School in Worthington, Morgan-Boucher said. She said as young musicians, Westfall has helped them feel more comfortable and confident in their music.
From left to right: Riley Morgan-Boucher, Liam Keron and Patrick Gallaugher of Space Kid photographed in a parking garage in Athens after recording their debut EP, “Stay Gold.” Credit: Courtesy of Space Kid
“It’s intimidating growing up and being surrounded by all these big names, and there’s so many connections, and you realize the world is really a whole lot smaller than you think it is,” Morgan-Boucher said. “I feel like [Westfall] being there really helped. It did put on the pressure of like, ‘We really got to get our act together.’”
Gallaugher said this EP is the most the band has collaborated in the songwriting process.
“All the songs I’ll write at home on my acoustic guitar and that’s kind of how we’ve been doing it for a long time,” Gallaugher said. “I think this was definitely our most collaborative [on coming up with ideas when we would bring it all together.”
Morgan-Boucher said despite how stressful performing can be, through time the band has learned to overcome their challenges.
“It’s a fun thing to have a lot of creativity within just three people,” Morgan-Boucher said. “I think we’ve definitely gotten a lot better at working together and encouraging each other, and I guess also calling each other out.”
Tickets for Gold Fest can be purchased at the door for $20 or online through eventim for $20.62, fees included. For more information about Space Kid and the Gold Fest lineup, visit their website.
