Article from the Pueblo Chieftain

https://www.chieftain.com/entertainment/music/eighties-cover-band-the-goonies-bring-hits-of-the-decade/article_0c185a30-16ca-54d5-b8fd-e927ef9de728.html

After escaping an attempted kidnapping by Sasquatch in 1985, five young rock stars jumped into a DeLorean a la "Back to the Future" and traveled forward in time to 2008.

Since then, The Goonies have brought its own twist on '80s classics, shredded clothes and high-energy to live shows.

The Goonies will bring the party to Pueblo, closing out Festival Fridays at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 10 outside the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center, 210 N. Santa Fe Ave.

The group will perform a bevy of '80s music, from pop and synth to hair metal and even some heavy metal.

Though the songs were made famous by other groups, The Goonies claim they themselves wrote the tunes before heading to the future.

"We definitely wrote 'Sweet Child O' Mine' and Axl (Rose) stole it from us at a party one night," said Ashley Eyre, aka Axxly, the lead singer of The Goonies. "We wrote a bunch of Journey songs. They maybe changed it a little bit -- a little bit of the lyrics."

Regardless, the band has played various shows around Colorado, including house parties and several shows at Ophelia's Electric Soapbox in Denver.

The band will play anywhere in fact, whether atop a mountain or in freezing rain and hail.

"We played at the top of Aspen Mountain for closing day this year," Eyre said. "It felt like the peak for us as a band 'cause we were literally at the peak. We encored, like, five times. We were worried because it was getting late and it was cold and we thought people would leave."But, they stayed and partied and dressed in '80s garb."

While performing at a Tough Mudder race, freezing rain and hail pounded the group for well over an hour. Concerned for their lives, and their equipment, the bandmates nonetheless played on.

"We were like, 'I guess we'll keep playing,' " Eyre said. "The storm felt like it was out to get us. It was hailing at a horizontal angle."We were looking at each other, and I was just like, 'I guess we'll see if we make it. I'll see if we live through this one.' " Fortunately, the band -- and its gear -- survived.

And if The Goonies can survive a hail storm, hauling their gear via gondola up Aspen and house parties where no one pays attention to them, they can survive anything -- even conflicts within the band.

"It's really impressive that we're all still together, especially with some of the stuff we've been through together," Eyre said. "It's pretty remarkable." They key, Eyre said. is their passion for '80s music.

"It's our undying love for playing music," she said. "Surprisingly, we don't get sick of many of our songs, probably because we bring our own twist into it."

That twist, and their passion for the music of the decade helped The Goonies earn the honor of being named one of Colorado's Top 10 cover bands by WestWorld. Now, they strive to bring audiences what they deem is the best music.

"We always say the '80s was the party and the '90s was the hangover," Eyre said. "I don't even know what to say about the next decades musically. They were confused, maybe?"

For more on The Goonies, visit thegoonies80s.com.

llyons@chieftain.com