History of the Band
Goodness Gracious is a glam metal band that formed in the spring of 2009 in Grand Rapids Michigan. Klay Fennema got a group of musicians together to participate in his high school talent show. They just started playing cover songs and practicing non-stop together. For the talent show, they were going to do a cover of Bryan Adam’s “Heaven.” After they mastered this cover, they found out that the talent show had been cancelled. After Klay had received this information, the band was devastated that they couldn’t get a chance to perform the song in front of a large crowd.
As the days went on, Klay Fennema talked to his former talent show band mates and asked them if they would be interested in keeping the band going. The guys thought it would be fun, so the band was officially formed.
The initial lineup consisted of Klay Fennema on vocals, Tyler Coeling on drums, Tim Veldkamp on lead guitar, and Tyler Wiersma on bass. After just jamming together on the weekends, the band had been playing covers from the 1980’s hard rock era like Judas Priest, Motley Crue, Twisted Sister, Beastie Boys, Steve Miller Band, REO Speedwagon, etc. The band really started to make a name for themselves with close friends when they had heard how well done and performed their cover songs were. At this point, lead singer Klay Fennema knew they were on to something big. After some time, and some discussing between Klay and Tyler, they had decided to get rid of bass guitarist Tyler Wiersma and pick up Isaac Vandam. With the new lineup change, the band was on their way to getting their first gig. Their first gig was self hosted with a couple local openers. It was a successful first show and the fans were starting to love the band’s loud and aggressive glam style. The band went on to perform a local high school Battle of the Bands at a nearby church. Goodness Gracious blew the crowd and the other bands away and won the $1500 prize. At this point, the obnoxious and rude teenage band was flying high in their local scene and was ready to take the next step. A month or so after the battle of the bands, it was rumor that the bands lead guitarist Tim Velkamp was going to quit. The others were fed up and begged Tim to stay. He agreed, but wanted a second guitarist. The band agreed and asked former member Tyler Wiersma to play rhythm guitar. Wiersma agreed and the glam metal band was now a 5 piece. The band worked hard on playing new cover songs and finally worked their way into the Grand Rapids music scene with a big break of a show at a local venue, the Intersection. The show was played without their rhythm guitarist Tyler Wiersma, but the band grabbed a local friend Trace Deemter to fill in. After the show’s success with the fans, the band asked Deemter to be permanent. He declined but agreed to play more shows until they found a permanent guitarist.
The band was disgusted and tired of not having a solid lineup, and only more frustration would follow. Nearing the end of the summer of the bands senior year in high school, it finally occurred to some of the guys that college was right around the corner. The guys realized they would now be losing their bassist Isaac Vandam when he went off to the University of Michigan. But things were looking better when Klay got a phone call to open for a popular local band Chasing the Sky at the Intersection. Klay and the guys had less than a month to find and audition a new bassist and lead guitarist. After some bad auditions, the guys were fearing that they had to cancel a big show for themselves, until one day, Klay got a call from a guitarist by the name of Ryan “Rip Shredder” Gramza. The band got together with the possible new guitarist to hear him jam. As he did, the band was basically blown away with Ryan’s capability to shred and they grabbed him. But the band still failed to find a bass guitarist, so they asked Isaac to come back for one final show. The band played the show at the Intersection and the fans were going crazy with the sound that the band could produce and the high energy that they felt when the setlist was played. However, this would be the last show Tim Veldkamp and Isaac Vandam would play with the band. Tim left the band to pursue other music and projects, but Klay, Tyler and Ryan were not ready to give up. Klay went on to find a new bass player and did just that. The band now resides in Grand Rapids Michigan, and continues to make new music, record and play more shows. Goodness Gracious hopes to make their debut album and release it sometime in 2011.