Good Night Gold Dust Duo performing at Serendipity Series

The Centennial Student Union’s Serendipity Series is hosting local band Good Night Gold Dust The band is a regular with the series, being featured at least once every school year.

Good Night Gold Dust has been playing since 2010, with vocalists Laura Schultz and Colin Scharf at the middle of it. 

“We’re celebrating our 12 year anniversary this summer. We had big plans to celebrate 10 years in 2020, but COVID did away with that,” said Scharf.

The pair comes from fairly different musical backgrounds with Schultz growing up in Wisconsin and Scharf growing up in New York. Between Schultz’s folk influence and Scharf’s pop punk influence, they have come together to make music that mixes different genres.

“Coming together and hearing each other play let us see a future for how to meld them,” said Schultz.

Scharf acknowledged that the way the pair approaches music is very different. 

“What I love about Laura’s approach to writing music is that it’s the song and the content first whereas my focus is energy and getting people up and dancing,” said Scharf. “When Laura and I got together, we had to meld the two techniques. We would not be the band that we are without the two of us- we balance each other out.”

Both members have been heavily involved with music since childhood, with Schultz being involved with choir and Scharf with bands.

“I started performing with a band at 15, and we toured all over the state. From the time I was 15 up until now, I have performed almost every week. Its intoxicating,” said Scharf. “If I go more than a week or two without a performance, I get really down. It’s built into my life.”

Schultz has been singing since she was in 7th grade when her parents put her in voice lessons. 

“I loved being on stage and performing. As humans, we love being in front of people: its like, ‘I’m here, see me,’” shared Schultz.

Schultz elaborated about the difference between the process of creating the final product of a song versus the creative process. 

“In performance we get to taste that process, the creation. I always talk about the stress cycle- it is beautifully represented in performing: you get to see the build up of that anxiety and then all the way around the cycle until we’re calm again,” said Schultz.

The pair also touched on mental health helps them within their music.

“Performing has very specific obvious ties to mental health for both of us. The songs are great containers for us to place our worries and sad moments in our lives,” said Schultz.

“As musicians, we have that ability to process and give back those emotions. That’s kind of an additional plus for me, having people come up after a set and tell you how much it meant to them,” said Scharf.

The pair will be playing a variety of their original songs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, March 16 in the Centennial Student Union Hearth Lounge. The band is also playing at the Blue Boat Friday March 18, if viewers wish to see more.

Header Photo: The Good Night Gold Dust duo will be performing in the Centennial Student Union Hearth Lounge on Wednesday March 16. The duo will be performing a variety of original songs that are pop-punk and folk-influenced. (Courtesy photo)

Write to: Syd Berggren at sydney.berggren@mnsu.edu