This Was It: Inside The Whirlwind That Was The NYC Rock Revival
In her new book, Meet Me in the Bathroom, author Lizzy Goodman constructs an oral history to tell the story of New York City rock and roll in the first decade of the 21st century. Though the period covered didn't happen that long ago, the scene's participants are now old enough, and maybe sober enough, to honestly reflect on what they went through during their highly scrutinized moment. Meet Me in the Bathroom covers standouts like The Strokes, LCD Soundsystem, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol and Vampire Weekend, but also includes stories about less-discussed influences, like Jonathan Fire*Eater and the Shout! parties that once ran wild. It also brings in groups that weren't from the city, like The Killers and Kings of Leon, but who followed the path that this scene paved for them. The New York bands of this era that didn't totally fall apart have long since transformed from upstarts to mainstays, reliable second-liners at festivals whose identities are no longer defined by what borough they live in.
Goodman became a music journalist in the early part of the decade, covering what was happening in New York for outlets including Rolling Stone, Blender and NME. For Meet Me in the Bathroom she not only spoke with the artists, she also interviewed managers, publicists, music industry employees, comedians, journalists, bloggers, party promoters, party-goers and Moby. Of course Moby. Here she discusses the process of making the book and living through the time it covers.
Eric Ducker: How long did it take you to write this book?
Lizzy Goodman: Oh, just a quick five years or so. Really the idea came in 2011 at those Madison Square Garden shows where the book ends — LCD Soundsystem and The Strokes. I went to both of them and it was the genesis point of wanting to write about that period of time.
Did it feel like the end of something?
Yeah. I
