Gold & Motion

Don’t forget the ampersand.

The symbol parts the name of the new Destin pop band, Gold & Motion, and the two words of its first single and upcoming EP of the same name, “Lost & Found.” Lead vocalist Buddy Brumit said the EP tells a story reflected in the single.

“It’s really about a love that was lost and now found,” Brumit said. “It’s something that didn’t work out in the past, and both sides experienced growth and then finally met back and tried it again.”

The three-piece band’s four-song EP will release Oct. 26. Listen to the single “Lost & Found” on iTunes, Spotify or Youtube.

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Gold & Motion is new, but the musicians aren’t.

The members — frontman Brumit, guitarist Trent Hays and drummer Hayden Welch — have performed in other bands. Brumit and Hays go way back.



Learn more about Gold & Motion at Facebook.com/GoldAndMotion. Listen to “Lost & Found” on iTunes, Spotify or Youtube.

The two grew up playing music together in St. Simons Island, Georgia. The coastal backdrop inspired their band name.

“We have always grown up playing music together around the sun and water — the golden sun and the motion of the water,” Brumit said. “It felt like the two words connected to our style, too.”

Despite a connection to the water, the members are in Northwest Florida for work. They left family and friends to pursue music, Brumit said.

“For the three years I’ve been here, I’ve only been to the beach twice,” Brumit said. “Strictly business. It’s so pretty, but me and (Hays), we work really hard at this.”

The members compare themselves to professionals, Hays said. They take notes after live performances.

“After shows, the next day, we’ll sit down and talk about, ‘Oh, you could do this better or this better,’” Hays said. “All the people that play with us we hold to very high expectations ... It’s not a bunch of dudes getting drunk up on stage having fun. We have fun, but it’s very serious to us.”

Gold & Motion does have some fun, Brumit said.

“We’re goofballs in the studio,” Brumit said. “Sometimes we record scratch tracks of my vocals with some funny stuff in there. We have parodies of our own songs.”

Brumit and Hays take a peanut butter-and-jelly approach to recording and writing. Hays has a textbook approach, he said, while Brumit is more creative.

Luckily, it’s a lethal combination.

“He’s like the outline, and I color it all in with the creativeness,” Brumit said. “He makes sure everything’s the way it should be professionally, and I put in these little creative things that twist it up a bit and make it into something we couldn’t have done without each other.”

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The band’s genre is a blend of pop, electronic and alternative music. Pop is the strongest in their arsenal of genres, Brumit said.

The band listens to the radio and pays attention to the Billboard charts, Hays said. They take it into consideration while writing music.

“We also think about the feel of the song and the emotion; we want it to mean something,” Hays said. “We just do our best to make a compromise between music that’s genuine and feels good and also what’s going to be able to be played on the radio and be able to connect with a larger audience.”

So far, the audiences have responded. Many people say the band sounds current, but one comment stood out to Brumit.

“They said that they’ve never heard a band out here write music like us,” Brumit said. “I’ll never forget it.”

Brumit’s family recognizes the band’s work ethic in the music industry, Brumit said. His father is especially proud.

“He’s getting in his 70s right now, and he made his first Facebook account so he could watch us,” Brumit said. “He’ll even tell me, ‘Buddy, you didn’t post. Your schedule’s looking a little thin there.’ I’m like, ‘Dad, we’re waiting until next year.’”

Right now, the band has a light performance schedule with a combination of current covers and originals. This year the focus is on songwriting, Brumit said.

“Next year is the year we really want to make a statement on our live performance,” Brumit said. “That’s what this year is for, we’re perfecting it. Then, next year we’re showing it to everybody.”

When Brumit refers to everybody, he means Northwest Florida. While the band hopes to perform at larger music festivals, its members plan to stay in the area for the foreseeable future.

“The greatest thing about playing music here is that the tour comes to you every summer,” Brumit said. “Everybody from all over, and you get to meet people. It’s like my little secret from my friends around the country. Destin is the key.”

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Brumit writes daily and busts out upward of 200 song ideas a year. Many of them have similar themes, he said.

“By the time we find an instrumental that we love that’s starting to go with one part of it, I’ll start grabbing from other songs I wrote, because they’re about the same thing,” Brumit said. “That’s how ‘Lost & Found’ was written. It’s about four different songs I wrote into one.”

Brumit wrote the bridge three and a half years ago, he said. Patience isn’t his weakness.

“I like to sit on things and wait ’til the perfect thing comes for it,” Brumit said. “My biggest fear is for lyrics not being heard the way I want them to be heard.”

Brumit wants his lyrics to reach everyone, he said. After studying songwriting for many years, he realizes simple is best.

Metaphors help.

Brumit has a specific story behind “Lost & Found,” but everyone has different experiences, he said.

“I have to put it metaphorically, so everybody can relate,” Brumit said. “Everybody’s been lost and found with something. It’s just my story behind it is very specific that nobody could really know but me.”

The band kept things simple on “Lost & Found” but Brumit describes the rest of the EP as pop with a twist. He won’t reveal much, but it includes a song called “Buy You Food.”

If you dig the single, you will like the EP, Hays said. Brumit explained.

“At the start of the EP, it opens up the story,” Brumit said. “You can tell if you listen all the way through, how everything’s related.

“It all makes sense almost like you read a book.”

Whatever you do, don’t forget the ampersand. Social media platforms don’t love it, but Gold & Motion does.

“I even put ampersands only in my lyrics when I’m writing now,” Brumit said. “He’s a twisty little guy.” - Northwest Florida Daily News