Life & Times of Golden

The Singer's Path to Becoming A Better Person

Words by Ray Mestad  •  Photos by Michael Salisbury

The sun shines overhead, seeking out every nook and cranny it can illuminate. We’re sitting outside with Mike Golden, or Golden, a locally-centered, talented artist offering a little bit of everything. The Northwest Indiana native has been searching out a corner of his own for years now amongst an increasingly crowded scene, and knows the drill quite well. Speaking of influences and contemporaries, he’s always seemed more concerned with his own choices. Having watched the foundations of what was possible in Chicago music be built anew as the Renaissance took form the last several years, he’s only just begun to understand his own potential within the scene. The fundamental question of "who" was a roadblock as long as it remained unanswered. Trial and error are some of the few constants in the life of a musician, and certainly at the center of who Mike Golden is today.

A fan spelled it out for him, communicating over twitter a few months back, a mantra emerging as the title of Golden's new project, Just Be A Better Person. It was how Golden’s music made them want to change. The simplicity is beautiful, providing the concept for the project, in turn offering Golden some much needed perspective as an artist figuring it out. 

“Someone literally told me they try to listen to my music every day because it makes them want to be a better person,” said Golden on a late August afternoon. “And that’s where I got title for the album and everything, but that’s my goal.”

Released on August 25, it’s the project he most sees as offering a path forward, most representative of his own truth. Just Be A Better Person is Golden teaching himself how to navigate life’s trickier pathways. Musically, the project is bliss, appropriately offering wide-ranging elements of rap, rock, pop, r&b, everything in between, but never, ever feeling like Golden is checking off boxes. Having found a corner to call his own, his style is simply Golden, a sound that’s universal, positive, and never lacking in authenticity.

Listening to Just Be A Better Person, it’s easy to recognize a product that’s self–assured, knowing exactly what it wants to be. That wasn’t achieved overnight though and Golden is an open book on past attempts that just didn’t cut it for him. Having perfomed alongside a rotating crew of bands like ‘Mike Golden & Friends’, ‘Cardboard Cutout’ or one of many intonations of similar groupings throughout the years. He’s finally got what he was looking for though through working within himself, and pressing play on Just Be A Better Person, you hear the sum become greater than its parts. In a way, it took Golden living the words behind the title to make its creation possible.

Hailing from Northwest Indiana, Golden has felt like part of the Chicago music family for years now, regularly making the ride past smokestacks, over the Skyway and into the city. He charged into the local landscape in his late teens and early twenties, first with Cardboard Cutout and then with Mike Golden & Friends. He fondly recollects the early days, including a memorable show at EIU in 2010 where Kids These Days opened up for MG&F, a self-actualizing moment as fans sang their hearts out to his songs. Early victories like this would help him through later dry spells.

Golden is familiar with career traffic. Despite a talented Chicago music scene finally seeing mainstream success come to fruition, for a long time Golden was never as close to his destination as he wanted to be. No salt, but he’ll modestly point out that he was likely the only feature on Chance's Surf to not quite see a huge uptick in popularity. He mentions it with a slight smile and a glance upwards. A positive dude, any disappointment is self-directed. Golden has been here, and knows himself as being capable of a seat at the table.

At times Golden ran on fumes. Addressed on Just Be A Better Person's "Morning Momma", the career waiting room takes its toll. Loaded with question marks, short on money and looking for a reset, Golden moved back with his family in Hammond. Partying more than he would have liked, the switch didn’t flip at first and Golden found himself in the basement, fucking around, spinning his wheels. As many can have experienced, at a certain point it's easy to turn away from the work that needs to be done when the pressure builds. Just as addictive is the approval you need from others while when you’re in the midst of self-doubt.

“I was caring too much about what everyone was thinking, my friends, my girlfriend, my parents, and it was really holding back my own decisions,” said Golden. “This isn't about making everyone else happy, this is about making me happy.”

Combine with the on-and-off nature of success as a rising musician, and it can be a lot.

"Every 5 months I could make something that would make somebody happy, something would pop off with music that would be dope and look like I’m doing something with my career, and three months later, my mom's like, opposite end of it - "what the fuck are you doing with your life?”

The cycle continues.

“Three months later something amazing happens… three months later back to the same shit. What are you doing with your life? "

A different way of looking at things was in front of him the whole time, courtesy of the fans. Small yet loyal, years on the local circuit gave Golden something precious that money can’t buy: a loyal following.

“Fans that are DMing you pictures of tattoos they got of your lyrics. And fans that are telling you they listened to your shit and they didn’t kill themselves today. And it’s like – what? How do you stop making music when that’s the goal?” As Golden leans into the subject his brow furrows and the passion behind his voice is obvious. “Understanding your influence as an artist means understanding your music, in a context outside yourself. And the same applies to your actions as a human, surrounded by humans. In this sense, Just Be a Better Person is a directive, a challenge, aimed at him and his listeners,” said Golden.

These interpersonal connections provided the clarity. “That was when it kicked in. It’s time to finish the album. I’ve got to do this, it’s got to be a story, it needs one more song to put here, I’m going to make sure “Shade” makes it, I know “Rain Dance” is the single, biggest fucking crazy song I’ve ever done…stuff started clicking. There were little things. Every small victory and every story that would happen …the songs helped me grow“. Golden’s insight from listeners, that his music could mean more to them than he ever realized, required creating for his most personal project yet.

Being ready to make these choices meant embracing his independence as an artist. New listeners look closely and see that his project is under the name “Golden”, no longer “Golden & Friends”. Dropping the commitment to a full live band and taking on much of the production responsibilities himself, Golden went all in on making Just Be A Better Person a mirror reflection of who he was, above all else.

“I had to. I have to make sure this shit comes out… this is my record. If I’m taking the “& Friends” off, if it’s “Golden” or “Mike Golden” or whatever, I want to make sure this comes out exactly how I want it to be,” said Golden.

The freedom of flying solo allowed him to expand what was previously possible for him, allowing him to position the project to be an honest piece of who he was, personally and musically. “My vocals, I learned a totally different range. What’s defining you is your melody. Use what you’re amazing at to make you better than everyone that’s around. Certain lyrics, that’s not what I’d say, that’s not what I’d WANT to say. They’d feel this song more than this song, and I’d know what they don’t like, and it’s the same shit other people don’t like. I redid “Shade” twice, it was in trouble, and it became one of my favorite songs,” said Golden, pacing across the room and stopping to brush something off his Bucketfeet.

It wasn’t so easy on previous attempts. Things fall into place when they’re ready, and not a second before. Regarding the difference between now and past attempts, “I didn’t want to miss the movement, but I was lacking, and it was evident because my life wasn’t ready. I didn’t have a project ready, I didn’t have the songs ready, I didn’t know what the story was going to be, I didn’t know what to theme it as.“ Answering to yourself is a learned skill, and one that made all the difference as Just Be A Better Person came to be. “That’s how I’m trying to reach being a better person. Trying to get the message out, not just about myself. And as much as I’m trying to tell everybody else, the whole album is me telling myself to be a better person.”

It’s a central tenant of the album, even when the tracks are feel-good as can be. “The theme of the album works even with songs like that. We’re talking about partying, being crazy, getting “too funk to drunktion”, but in both of our verses were telling you what not to do, and that you’re going to have effects. Don’t drive to Denny’s when you’re drunk. Don’t get in that car. Just Be A Better Person, the whole theme can fall under that, every song.”

Golden isn’t sure where he goes from here, but through his experiences has learned there’s no sense overthinking it. A respected artist in perhaps the most respected contemporary market, a day one collaborator with locals turned international sensations, the recent release of his best project in the rearview; his future is bright. Stressors that once dogged Golden no longer linger in the same way, though the game will stays an intense one. Beaming with confidence, “the internal battle is definitely over. This is me, this is where I am and what I do”.

Keeping up with the Jones’s is a career sideshow, the rest is going to happen as it may. Golden once felt the sense of a closing window, but “I’ve set the window aside. What am I trying to do here? Who am I racing? I’m not trying to be famous, I want to be financially stable, man. That is outside of you. You make gut decisions. Art is supposed to make you happy.”