First forming in 2014 to play their high school talent show, Kansas City’s The Greeting Committee has come a long way. Now, in 2020, with three EPs and one LP under their belt, the band is riding high. Set to release new music by the end of the year, they recently released a music video for an intimate live performance of “Gold Star,” a moving track from their 2018 release This Is It.
Videos by American Songwriter
“I wrote ‘Gold Star’ in regard to my feelings as an oldest daughter and the pressure that can bring,” vocalist Addie Sartino told American Songwriter. “The pressure I feel as an oldest sibling is to be a good example, be a friend, be ‘cool’ (whatever that means to each individual sibling). It’s important to me to simply show up for them.”
Filmed from the middle of the crowd at a live show, the video for this stripped-back performance captures the visceral magic of The Greeting Committee’s sound and aesthetic. Sartino approaches songwriting with a sense of reverence for the therapeutic qualities the process exudes, and shares her songcraft knowing how meaningful the connections it fosters can be. “I write at my best when I feel some form of struggle or injustice,” Sartino said. “I’m an external processor which means vocalizing my emotions helps me work through them, whether that’s songwriting or venting to friends or a combination of the two. It makes me feel some sort of validation in my feelings.”
Ultimately, The Greeting Committee’s end goal is to lean into the human side of their artistic endeavor. “My ambition is to connect best I can with strangers at shows and to accomplish that by writing from a place of authenticity,” Sartino said. “I want people who listen to ‘Gold Star’ to feel comforted and seen — to feel understood.”
Watch the video for “Gold Star” by The Greeting Committee below:
