“Do you guys like really soft music?”
The crowd cheers in anticipation for a slow song to counteract the lively sound they’ve been hearing. The band then proceeds to scream into their microphones. The crowd jumps in surprise, but laughs at the lighthearted prank.
Lucas O’Donnell is on stage as “Goo Man,” the name he and his parents came up with when he decided his given name didn’t roll off the tongue.
His only requirement for himself and for his shows is to keep it silly.
“I feel like I can’t be serious, I can’t be like, ‘Guys listen to this cool ass, heart wrenching ass song’ and my name is … Goo Man,” O’Donnell said, laughing at the thought of him being earnest. “And I like that it’s Goo Man! I don’t want to change it. I think it’s hilarious.”
As O’Donnell walks down the halls of Sverdrup, passers-by call out “Goo Man!” to get his attention. But he’s quick to deny any level of fame.
Still, with over 1,300 followers on Instagram and approximately 25 live shows under his belt, O’Donnell’s voice is being heard. He played his most recent live show at The Record Space in South St. Louis County.
“Goo Man uses his platform in a very similar way that he talks to people in everyday life,” fan and friend Deven Yeary said. “He’s not fake. Lucas is just a good guy. I don’t know how he’ll use his platform for good in the future, but I can guarantee you he wouldn’t use it for anything bad.”
On top of music-making as Goo Man, O’Donnell is majoring in Sound Recording and Engineering. He also juggles teaching music at the School of Rock and MAP St. Louis, and serves as involvement chair for Webster’s Audio Engineering Society.
As involvement chair, his task is clear: to get people involved. Originally, he wanted the title because it meant he got a gavel.
“People get pissed when I use the gavel, even though, as far as I’m concerned, it’s part of the job,” O’Donnell said.
He has grown into other parts of the role, but still uses the gavel, with a goal of engaging students who are not studying audio.
“Dude, we have free pizza every month. We have a whole meeting where it’s just free pizza that has nothing to do with music, or audio or anything,” O’Donnell said. “So many people will walk by and they’ll be like, ‘I’m not an audio student.’ You don’t need to be! I was going and getting people walking up and down the hallway. I feel like my entire job description, as far as I’m concerned, is to go get people. I’m gonna go around and tell people about it. That’s getting people involved.”
When it comes to teaching, O’Donnell returns to his previous schools to teach sixth to 12th graders music. Ironically, he hated school growing up. His teachers seemed to single him out in grade school, he said, causing him to mentally check out and strain his relationships with them. He wishes to make his students’ experience better.
“In that period of my life, I didn’t really have anything to do except play music … I didn’t have anything that brought me joy, except music,” O’Donnell said. “I would like to use my platform to tell my students who are having possibly similar experiences as me to utilize music, not take themselves so seriously and not take music so seriously. For me, when I would take music so seriously, that one thing that brought me joy would become the thing I did not enjoy and I would become burned out.”
O’Donnell is the busiest he’s ever been. His days are filled, leaving no time for breaks. Despite his struggles, he doesn’t let his music become something else to worry about.
“I feel like my music isn’t overtly serious, even when I write about things that are,” O’Donnell said. “I don’t feel like I need to take it as seriously. I don’t feel like I should … I’m gonna disappoint myself if I throw in all of this effort and exhaust myself for the sake of a song that’s about petting my dog … depress myself over something that brings me joy.”
Sometimes, O’Donnell’s lessons are just to be a place for his students to talk.
“I want to convey to them that there are people around and there are so many things they can do to be passionate about and they can really do something with them rather than just coasting along as a child like I feel I did,” O’Donnell said. “I try to treat all of my students the same way, little things like that to me seem really fundamental that I never received as a child in school … I hated school, and now – ironically – one of my biggest passions is to be a teacher. School doesn’t have to suck. Life doesn’t have to suck.”
To draw in a bigger audience, O’Donnell hung posters across campus that read: Do you like silliness? Do you enjoy music? Yes?!?! Try Goo Man on for size!
O’Donnell has essentially made “silly” his brand, promoting his music in a light-hearted manner, simply because he doesn’t see the point in taking it so seriously.
“The entire time I’ve known Lucas, he has been a largely unserious person – not in a bad way, he’s just very goofy,” Xander Mahfood, friend and former high school classmate, said. “I think he’s branded himself this way because he wants to be as genuine as possible and make people laugh and feel good.”
O’Donnell’s not sure what his future will bring, or what he wants from it. No matter, he doesn’t see an end to spreading “vague positivity,” what he describes as “taking things seriously and sill-ily when you need to – if you need to.”
“There’s so much sadness and tragedy in the world and when I talk to Lucas or listen to his music it’s a breath of fresh air,” Yeary said.
O’Donnell has one album and multiple singles available to listen to on streaming services, including his latest release, “Take in The Noise.” His next live show on Oct. 27 will be held at Moshmellow near Gravois Park in St. Louis.
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