5 Questions for a Comedian: Atom and his Package
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This is where I post things about me and my life.
I’ll be opening for Mark Gagnon at Sherman Theater on Fri 5/9 | TICKETS
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Me like, I dunno, a decade ago. (Mindy Tucker) 
Adam Goren, 1999 (Wiki Commons)
For those of you were were doing your thing in the 90s, you’re surely familiar with Atom and his Package. Though born in the Bronx, Adam Goren was probably more noted for his ties to Pennsylvania, which is where he grew up. Though he hasn’t performed as Atom and his Package for some time, he came out of ‘retirement’ to do a set as Atom and his Package on the Chris Gethard Show, and Comedy Musician’s Coalition regulars may be familiar with the Atom and his Package tribute album.
While he’s been performing as of late as Dead Best with his long time friend and collaborator Brian Sokel, this short, thoughtful and very fun interview touches on his time as Atom and his Package and extends up to now. Enjoy!
What was the best / coolest / most bizarre thing that came out of performing as Atom and his Package for you?
I'm inclined to give a sentimental response to this prompt because doing "Atom and His Package"** enabled me to meet some truly wonderful people, many of whom have ended up being dear friends of mine for the last couple and a half decades. I also got to travel to all sorts of places I wouldn't have been able to otherwise - and it was also really great to tour while embedded in a DIY subculture, not just because of the aforementioned reasons, but also because I got to stay and hang out with kids around my age and see their towns through the lens of someone who would probably doing/into the same facets of their town as I would if I lived there. I mean seriously, imagine seeing WOLFENBUTTEL GERMANY NOT AS A TOURIST?!
Do you ever get recognized for the music that you made during that time?
I mean, not THAT often, but much more than I would have anticipated for sure. I'm so flattered by an occasional email from someone who still thinks about/likes/listens to the songs, or from someone who is just finding them.
Did it feel at the time and/or now, looking back, that you were on the cusp of something different and special?
Nope! I felt (and feel) incredibly lucky to have been able to do the stuff I got to do. I wrote a bunch of songs and loved doing it and had a fun time jumping around and yelling with other weirdos in basements all over the place. Even though I generally didn't play with too many bands that were as lazy as I was to make sure I didn't have carry anything heavy, ever, sounded too much like the songs I was writing at the time, it didn't feel like it was much different than when I played in other bands except for it was probably less annoying when people would be saddled with putting us up because it was usually just me. I think my friends and I getting turned on to the DIY punk scene was pretty transformational to a lot of us. Yes, it was awesome to get to ride around the country in crummy vehicles in an adventure with one's best friends, but it also played a part in teaching us as kids that if you wanted to do something (be in a band, set up a show, put a wall ball dispenser in your band's van etc.), there was/is a role that one can play in trying to make that happen. This was pretty empowering for a late teenager-aged me, I think. Of course, now I don't really want to do anything!
Did your current musical project, Dead Best, come out of the work that you did as Atom and hisPackage, or do you think you had that in you all along, and it would have come out eventually?
Aside from friends and family, there is nothing that has been as omnipresent in my life as music. I love it. I still love finding new things to love and hear. I guess I just feel like there's nothing like it. I think part of it is that having it on all the time can help to mute some of my brain-noise, but is there much that's better than an awesome song?*** I've played in bands with humans since early high school - with a huge gap of about a decade because I think playing the songs so often as Atomand His Package broke my brain so that it didn't want to make any music - so despite that, Dead Best to me doesn't feel so outside normal stuff for me. Though it doesn't really sound like Atom and His Package, I still am attracted to writing songs that (at least to me, for at least a fleeting moment) seems like it has a hook. The Dead Best stuff is pretty anxiety driven I think. I have always liked catchy pop and super heavy stuff (Did I share the "ree ree ree ree" song with you?!) - and I think the through line is, even if it's noisy stuff, there's something that I find catchy. My brain may be unusual because it somehow finds stuff like Napalm Death but also The Beths to end up under the umbrella of catchy-ness. Dead Best is noisy but somehow has some pop stuff in there somehow. It started as a project with my ol' friend Brian (he and I have been friends since first grade and........... we live next door to each other now - share a lawn mower and everything - it's very adorable). We played a few shows when the second record came out, but since we had actually never played any of the songs the entire way through (even when recording) up until after the second record, we had to conscript a bunch of old friends to play with us and also forced my two biological children and their friends to play with us too. We ended up being an 8 person band with lots of guitars, two drummers and sometimes two bass players - it made/makes very little sense and kind of looks like two different bands - one of old people and one of people who should be playing in bands - and for some reason, there was a mix up so both bands are playing at the same time and... JUST HAPPEN TO BE PLAYING THE SAME SONGS?!
Do you plan to make music for the rest of your life?
Dunno! It's MUCH easier to find other better people who write/record/play music and listen to them, but it can be really fun to do, and if there's a vehicle for friend and kid hanging out-ness, why not?
**(I think) I have already paid for the dopiness of this name, which was decided upon over the course of about 3 minutes just before making photocopies of an insert that would come with a demo tape I had recorded, because the discomfort I have on the occasions when colleagues, students (I'm a teacher) and parents of students ask me about this (usually during the first month or two of each school year) has made it so I will definitely be more thoughtful next time around.
***This song has a real name, but in my household, it's called the "ree ree ree ree" song and it makes me happy every time I hear it for some reason.
Daily Musings:
(This is where I post links about things that relate to this post, comedy, and things I think may be of interest to the readers of The Museletter.)
A Look Back on Atom and his Package | VICE
Atom and his Package: Attention! Bla Bla Bla Review | Pitchfork
Atom and his Package | Website
Bye bye, friend. We’ll see you again next time.
OMG I MISS Atom so much!