Square in the middle of A-Go-Go’s debut album, Today, Today (released February 7), is a song called “Picking Up the Pieces.” It’s a nitty-gritty, down-and-dirty, crunch-ified and country-fried slab of garage-rock gold, and its bridge is one of the greatest sections of a song I’ve heard in recent memory. Before that moment, tension steadily builds in lead guitarist Case Koerner’s thick, grimy guitar lines, Jack Smitheberger’s crashing percussion and Henry Schuellerman’s wailing harmonica, and an uncontainable energy rises like steam from a tea kettle in Schuellerman and bassist/co-lead vocalist Niko Francis’ ascending harmonies. And then: The instrumentation all falls around Schuellerman; the guitars screech and shiver, crashes of drums become punctuation marks to the lyrics he stretches ’til they nearly snap. “Don’t need no reason,” he sings, drawing out each vowel like a rubber band, “You are, only one…two…three”—and with that, the hurricane of sound recommences, every member throwing their weight into the thing as the music swelters and crescendos to what might be the album’s highest, most ecstatic peak.
I’ve seen A-Go-Go play the song a handful of times over the last year, most recently at a small Cincinnatian venue that felt reminiscent of a semi-renovated basement. A-Go-Go closed the night, coming on around 11 PM. Much of the crowd had thinned out by then; what audience remained had a highly concentration of granola white guys, a handful of whom were on their phones or lightly conversing as the band played. All I could think about was how badly this band deserved to be playing to crowds with a capacity to absorb and reflect back the sheer heart and spirit transmitted from every shock of guitar and hit of the drum. Every time “Pieces” reaches that feverish boiling point—really, every time I see the band play—I can’t help but feel I’m a witness to the beginning of something very, very special.
A-Go-Go’s roots trace back to Ohio State University, where the band met as students during the autumn semester in 2020 (Schuellerman, Smithberger and Koerner’s freshman year and Francis’ sophomore year). Schuellerman more or less brought the group together; he met Koerner on a Facebook roommate search before school started, and, towards the start of the semester, he met Francis and Smithberger in two separate but identical instances, while skateboarding on a campus tennis court. The four quickly became friends, and with COVID restrictions still in place, there wasn’t much for them to do other than get together indoors and jam. As the world began opening back up, the future became obvious: start a proper band. So, in fall 2021, A-Go-Go burst onto the Columbus scene, gradually becoming a regular presence at house shows and small local venues. When the band’s first lead guitarist quit in spring 2023, Koerner—“the best one I know,” Schuellerman grins—naturally filled out the lineup. “The first few gigs we played with you,” Smithberger says to Koerner, “it was, like, perfect. Suddenly, everything seemed to fit into place.”
Listening to A-Go-Go is to hear four pieces of one puzzle click together, each corner aligning exactly. There’s a tangible synergy between them, palpable in every nod and smile from one member to another when they play live. It’s so real, and so strong, in fact, that it transcends 358 miles and an hour’s time difference—Schuellerman, Smithberger and Koerner meet me in a small café in Columbus, where they all still live, while Francis, who moved to Chicago last summer, joins in on-call from Koerner’s phone, which sits in the middle of our table. Francis is about a five-hour drive away, but he’s right there with us. Throughout our conversation, all four members parrot my questions to each other as they take turns answering, remember inside-jokes from recording, piggy-back off on one another’s thoughts and hype each other’s particularly great parts on the album. Francis describes their friendship as “a very special bond that spans time and space,” and I don’t doubt him for a second.
The guys have, quite literally, grown up side-by-side: For two years, they lived together across from a beloved local venue, Café Bourbon Street, in a small blue house (one that my friends and I have jokingly deemed Columbus’s version of the “American Football House”). The dwelling remains a near-and-dear site to the band—the title track of their latest EP, Best House, is even named in its honor. There, innumerous songs, including those that would eventually make up Today, Today, were conceived. Instead of driving each other crazy, as often is the case for roommates, the physical proximity was extremely conducive to developing the band’s unmistakable musical chemistry. “We would see each other every single day, and then play music,” Scheullerman remembers. “It’s like, you don’t really even have to talk. It’s kind of funny.” “Facts,” Koerner interjects. “[We] can definitely read each other better. Because you gotta read each other as a roommate. If you can’t read your roommates, you’re probably not doing the best job,” he laughs. More than once, the guys liken their bond to that of siblings, which has proven to be productive—most of the time, anyway. “We all love each other a lot and are super close, but I think it’s a good thing creatively that we’re not afraid to tell each other when we disagree on something,” Francis explains. “I think that that occasional friction leads to something better happening musically.”
Given that A-Go-Go is a triple-songwriter unit (Schuellerman and Francis have shared lead vocal and lyrical duties from the start, and Today, Today marks Koerner’s debut on the mic), some friction would have to be expected. The four have their creative disagreements from time to time, but when they land on something great, you get the sense that they all can feel it. How fluidly they converse through their harmonies, or even just through their instruments, is what makes their music so singularly dynamic, so thrilling to witness in action.
While sharing an affinity for artists like Twin Peaks, the Rolling Stones and Neil Young, each member brings his own particular influences to the table. Schuellerman—who got his first harmonica before his first guitar—has an affinity for MJ Lenderman and his “dad rock” forefathers, which shines through in his dryly comic lyricism and twangier arrangements; Francis’ early obsession with the Velvet Underground sparkles in his warm, wispy vocals; Koerner’s love of R&B oozes into “Knees,” a sultry, loose-limbed groove that flows as thick as molasses; Smithberger can credit the classic rock he grew up on for his ability to hold down the rhythm, citing The Beatles: Rock Band as an early inspiration. A-Go-Go’s sound is as delightfully timeless as that of their rock ’n’ roll, garage-punk and fuzz-country heroes, but make no mistake: They have built up something that is completely their own, as fresh as anything their peers are putting out.
Some bands lose direction without one clear leader to follow or definitive style to embrace, but A-Go-Go’s members have always found that their composite is greater than the sum of their parts; that just-right feeling from when they first played has been a constant over the years. “I feel it mostly when we’re putting together a new song, and it just feels like it’s just one big instrument, and like a wave of sound,” Schuellerman says. “You get in the zone when you’re doing a new song, and everyone’s on the same page, and it’s like, you all know where it’s gonna go. When you feel that, I feel like, ‘This is right.’” Francis’ appraisal of the group’s harmony is strikingly in-line with Schuellerman’s: “I feel lucky it’s not just a first time feeling it. It’s like an ongoing feeling, really anytime we’re working on new music or arranging stuff together,” he says. “It’s a beautiful feeling, to feel all the different pieces of the puzzle fitting into the different pockets, and just creating this bigger thing sonically than any of us could have ever thought it would be.”
On Today, Today, A-Go-Go have elevated their sound to the next level with help from some major names in modern indie rock and Americana. Colin Croom (Twin Peaks, Waxahatchee, Whitney, Kevin Morby) co-produced the LP with Jesse Henry (Caamp), and Colin Miller (MJ Lenderman, Wednesday, h. pruz)—whom Schuellerman contacted after reading he was looking for mixing/mastering projects—mastered the recordings. A-Go-Go’s most crucial contact, however, has been Caamp’s Evan Westfall, who co-runs the band’s longtime record label, Super Sport Records. After having worked with the four-piece on several EPs, Westfall decided to narrow the label’s focus and release a full-length from the band. They’re nothing less than grateful for his support: Schuellerman deems him the band’s “Lord and Savior,” and Francis likens him to their “fairy godfather.”
The masterstrokes of these seasoned collaborators are evident in the hearty, carefully layered compositions on Today, Today. Hear, for example, how the glittering, jaunty keys (played by the band’s close friend and frequent collaborator, multi-instrumentalist Colin Palmieri) attenuate the dense blanket of electric guitar on “Room Full of Strangers,” or how Schuellerman’s harmonies swell from a near-whisper to meet Francis’ pristine lead vocals—it’s enough to send a shock of delight to the heart and a shiver down the spine. Such meticulous production suits A-Go-Go well, bringing the strength of their songcraft to the forefront like never before. But, at the end of the day, the partnership between Schuellerman, Francis, Smithberger and Koerner is what binds at the heart of their music. Working with two producers and three engineers, “the only common thread” on the album, Schuellerman notes, was the foursome. “But, you know, I think it works,” he continues, with Koerner voicing his agreement. They’re absolutely right: Whether shaped through home recording or studio production, whether an original or the occasional live cover (it feels worth noting that their take on Silver Jews’ “Random Rules” is a total ripper), each A-Go-Go song is powered by the unbridled joy the four feel playing together.
Keeping up with precedents set by alt-rock and alt-country greats, A-Go-Go find beauty—or, at least, tales worth telling—in the mishaps and miracles of everyday life. Strolling through their discography, you’ll hear stories of getting dressed up and stood up, rushing towards nowhere in particular, holding a lover tightly on the CTA (for the uninitiated, the typically unromantic Central Ohio Transit System, that is). A-Go-Go harness the restlessness these seemingly unnoteworthy hallmarks of a Midwestern existence inspire—their music taps into the simple pleasure of sharing a the beers shared with friends on front porches past midnight, the transient camaraderie shared by dancing limbs splayed from wall to wall, flooding hole-in-the-wall bars with sweat unparalleled bliss. Their songs emanate warmth on the hardest days to slog through, offer solace the loneliest nights to bear; they make it easier to power through, and even appreciate, days overcast by boredom and hardship. In short, they make keepin’ on feel a little easier—or, at least, they extend grace and understanding when you just can’t.
The world of Today, Today is populated by characters who trudge through dead-end jobs, run from the things that let them down and watch loved ones walk out doors for the last time. In sum, they’re getting by on spare hope and even less money, their greatest relief often in having made it through the day. A-Go-Go’s ability to spin hard-luck scenes into charmingly frayed melodies and robust rhythms was indispensable as they recorded the album over a stop-start process from October 2023 to February 2024. It wasn’t the ideal way to churn out an album, but it was the only possible way to do it, given the year’s hecticness—Schuellerman, Smithberger and Koerner were finishing their final year of college (they recall completing homework during studio time and taking exams between sets at live shows) while Francis was in post-grad purgatory. Like almost every recent or soon-to-be college grad, all four were unsure where their lives would take them and their loved ones next. Cobbling together an album amidst the throes of an already-busy year was challenging, but with the future looming uncertain, it felt like a question of now-or-never. “I’m not a songwriter, but my experience, in a lot of ways, felt like—not exactly desperation, but like a last-minute chance to do something big before everyone graduated, then potentially moved away,” Smithberger says. “You know, everyone graduates college, and then there’s a period of time where everyone is like, ‘Do I stay? Do I go?’ It kind of felt like the last chance to potentially do something cool, write a record with close friends.”
Francis moved west when he was offered a longtime dream job in Chicago. Naturally, his move initially planted doubts among the band regarding their survival, but he’s found time every month or so to drive back to Columbus to play and record with the band. Plus, having another home base comes with its upsides, not the least of which being an immersion in Chicago’s own ever-vibrant music scene. Of course, the distance isn’t always ideal; many other young bands would have been hopeless to even try making it work. Then again, not every young band is built upon a friendship as enduring as that of A-Go-Go. It’s made every reunion feel seamless, and it’s also provided reassurance in the face of major life shake-ups. “My mom has this thing, that ‘People and things are worth it. You can’t shake them off,’” Francis shares. “That was something that definitely gave me comfort when moving away. I was like, ‘Things are gonna be okay.’ We’re still gonna be doing this thing that we love, even though it might look a little different—different in fun ways, too.”
As the band talks about how they’ve evolved and endured since Francis’ move, I’m reminded of one of his particularly great lyrics on Today, Today, the closing couplet on “Burnt Sky”: “If to move fast is to move alone / I will stay here, and move slow.” Francis wrote the track when moved by the environmental damage resulting from last year’s East Coast wildfires, and the song itself is a scorcher, burning with catharsis and renewal from the ashes of past troubles. It’s not necessarily about moving on from them—but that’s an overly simplistic concept, anyway. Rather, Francis’ lyrics reckon with change while finding strength in life’s constants, like friendship—something that, if you’re lucky, can withstand any distance.
“Burnt Sky” is the album’s lead single, which was an apt selection: Lyrically, it gets to the heart of the record, and musically, it charted a considerable step forward for the band—Smithberger calls it the song on which the band really found their sound. Notably, it’s their first to be furnished with pedal steel (courtesy of Croom), which fits right in when they favor their rustic side. And, not to mention, Schuellerman’s guitar solo in the middle of the track is among the most blistering I’ve heard of late. I couldn’t describe it better than Smithberger, who likens it to “taking a drag of a cigarette” (if the drumming thing doesn’t work out, music journalism might be a fruitful career).
Today, Today is enrapturing from the start, kicking off strong with “Hardly Saving,” a slightly twangy track that strikes a fine balance of melodic pop sensibility and garage rock grime. In a similar vein as the Replacements, it’s driven by solid musical instincts but rough in all the right places—like a pair of old boots that have scuffed but stay sturdy—and it hits you like a slurp of black coffee on a hungover Monday morning. There aren’t any weak points on the album from there; practically every song screams single potential. Still, each seems a stepping stone towards the final track, “On & On,” which easily ranks among the band’s best to date (we didn’t include it in a Best New Songs roundup last month for nothing).
Over its eight-minute runtime, “On & On” exudes an all-enveloping solace with its gentle, constant strumming and lackadaisical pedal-steel flourishes. Feeling like a deep exhale at the end of a long day, it is a gorgeous and ever-necessary call to slow down and heed the miniature miracles that make holding on at our weakest a little bit easier—the friends we rely on, the records we spin—in this ruthlessly-paced world. It might also be understood as the album’s thesis track, as it houses its very title: “Today, today / I looked it in the face, behind / A picture frame / Soon to be replaced,” Schuellerman intones on its opening lyrics. “If we would have named the whole album ‘On & On,’ I don’t think that would have been the wrong thing to do,” Smithberger says. “All of the central themes are in that one track, right there.” Schuellerman echoes his bandmate. “It’s pretty personal to me,” he says. “We don’t play it live that often, but the few times we have, it’s meditative. That’s one of the songs where I don’t really care how it’s perceived by the crowd; I don’t really care if people dance, or whatever. We just do our thing, and it feels good.”
Today, Today has all the trimmings of an early-career classic, and it’s easily conceivable that it will go down as one of the strongest debut albums released this year. It’s a walloping introduction to a band with increasingly apparent potential to make it big, and if it reaches the right ears, I anticipate that it will mean a lot to a lot of people. I ask the band what they hope listeners get out of the album. After a measured pause, Francis offers a gesture of faith: “I hope they find themselves.” “They find themselves, achieve nirvana,” Smithberger deadpans. “I hope they burst into tears, both joyful and not joyful.”
Okay, they don’t actually expect you to melt into a sobbing puddle or transcend your physical being. Yet, there are moments that do edge on nirvanic. There’s the way each hit of the drum on “On & On” spreads like an ink drop in water, the euphoric harmonies from “Room Full of Strangers” and “Be Gentle,” the throat-catching bridge on “Picking Up the Pieces,” the irrepressible joy and unabashed ridiculousness that spill over the edges of “Bobby Come Home”—a track Schuellerman drafted in his sophomore year, its titular subject a “seven-feet tall” college acquaintance whose last name none of the band can recall. These are the sort of moments when time stops, and it’s just you and the music. You’re forced to simply exist—right here, right now—and that’s all A-Go-Go really want you to do. “I think that my serious answer is, I hope that people take away that what we do right here today as humans matters,” Francis says. “And do the best that you can with what you’ve got, and be kind to people. Cherish the people around you, and try to do something that’s worthwhile, even amidst times that are confusing and dizzying.”
Francis’ message breaks through in these songs—exercises in living in the present, both treasuring the good and learning from the bad. As a result, they compose an invaluable time capsule, forever preserving the passion, dedication and, most of all, the friendship that nurtured them. Let them remind you of how precious today is, and if today is a hard one to get through, allow them to pacify—to borrow a line from “Comedown,” let them serve as “a helping hand in the dark.” Reflecting on the last time I saw A-Go-Go play, there’s another song that especially stuck with me: “Find a Way,” this gentle, patient track you could wrap yourself up in like a blanket. Bathed in a warm glow of orange spotlight on that cold December night in Cincinnati, they looked and sounded wonderfully in-sync: Francis’ voice gently uplifting Schuellerman’s as they harmonized, Smithberger and Koerner grounding the patient melody, letting it roll like a lazy river. On the final chorus, Scheullerman sings, “Yeah I think I’ll / Find a way to fix my mind / Find a way to use my time / Find a way and I’ll just stay.” He and his bandmates play with such confidence and ease that I’m prone to believe they will find a way. What’s more is that A-Go-Go are a rare kind of band, in that they just might convince you that you will find a way, too.
Anna Pichler is one of Paste’s music interns. When she’s not writing about music, she’s working towards an undergraduate degree in English Literature from The Ohio State University. You can find her on X @_Anna_pichler_ and Bluesky @annapichler.bsky.social, where she mainly shares her work and reposts her favorite Bob Dylan memes.