“What works live at the shows doesn’t always translate into repeated listening on an album or single,” says Dominic Peters of the South African duo GoldFish. “It’s definitely a double-edged sword sometimes.”
Since Peters met David Poole while both were studying jazz at the University of Cape Town over two decades ago, GoldFish has relocated to San Diego, while growing into a unique fusion of dance beats and live instrumentation. “When we started jamming ideas that eventually became GoldFish, it was the natural progression to take those ideas out of the studio and perform what we created with live instruments,” says Poole. “This is what we actually trained to do.”
When SPIN reached the members of GoldFish via email this month, they were traveling in between shows in their home country and in America amidst a flurry of activity. In addition to the release of their new single “Little Wonder,” featuring South African vocalist Zolani Mahola, GoldFish have announced a performance at Toulouse Theatre in New Orleans on April 24 on the first night of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
“We were lucky enough to have Zolani visit us in San Diego and we all wrote and recorded the track together,” says Poole about the development of “Little Wonder.” “We had been trying to get together with her for ages as we absolutely love her energy and enormous talent.”
With the integration of their jazz chops into house beats and pop hooks, Poole’s saxophone has become a signature of some of GoldFish’s most popular songs including “Washing Over Me,” a No. 1 hit on South African radio in 2012. “The collision of analogue and digital is the X factor for a good sounding record. We don’t want it sounding too sterile and clean,” says Peters. And the group’s most recent album, 2025’s Live in Amsterdam, showcases the kind of spontaneous improvised moments, including Peters’ bass solos, that set GoldFish apart from many dance acts with more strictly electronic sounds.
“Many of our songs have actually been sparked from these live improvised moments where a small idea enters one of our minds and spills out on stage. The main challenge is remembering those nuggets to turn them into a full track later on in the studio,” says Poole, giving an example with 2009’s “Soundtracks & Comebacks,” which is driven by an upright bass riff that Peters played during a concert. “That one came and went…and luckily a few gigs later Dom remembered the riff and the rest is GoldFish history.”
With three South African Music Awards and an MTV Africa Music Award, and some of their biggest commercial successes in the Netherlands, GoldFish have many fans in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Euphoric warm weather vibes have always come naturally to Peters and Poole, who named their 2023 album If Summer Was a Sound, and they’ve been able to enjoy summers on different continents over the years.
“We always aspired to being able to have summer all year round and we luckily managed this living between Cape Town and Ibiza for 8 years before moving to San Diego,” Poole says. “We also named our record label 33 Degrees, which is a play on this North / South duality of Cape Town and San Diego both being on 33rd parallel in their respective hemispheres.”
GoldFish has occasionally brought in darker textures and rock influences, including an interpolation of the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” on the Live in Amsterdam version of “If I Could Find,” and a 2015 cover of Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” featuring frequent collaborator Julia Church.
“We grew up huge Nirvana fans and both played in various rock bands before GoldFish. We were on tour and playing a show at one of our favourite spots, The Belly Up in Aspen, Colorado and the techs are awesome there. They had kindly brought out a vintage Fender Rhodes out for us to jam on in soundcheck,” says Peters. “It was one of those weird subliminal moments where that iconic guitar riff just came through for me on the keyboard and we both just looked at each other as said ‘we need to do a rework.’”
GoldFish’s first two 33 Degrees releases were the 2025 tracks “Body Language” and “Born A Miracle.” “We are releasing singles towards a bigger project focused on the return to our roots of Cape Town, South Africa,” says Poole. “Born A Miracle” featured Zakes Bantwini, one of South Africa’s biggest international stars, who won a Grammy in 2022.
“When Zakes won his Grammy, we pinged him with massive congratulations and said let’s hook up while he was in LA, as it’s so close to us in San Diego,” says Peters. “He was naturally on such a high and it was great to channel that momentum and feeling into this track. South African artists are always really supportive of each other and it’s great to see the world sit up and take notice of the insane talent that’s always been there.”
“Little Wonder” marks the beginning of a “new creative philosophy” for GoldFish that the group is calling Get Busy Living Vintage, and it’s something broader and more immersive than just an album or a concert. “But along the way we will always be touring,” notes Poole. “We love performing and still can’t get enough of it.”
Tickets are now on sale for the late night April 23 show. Click here to purchase.
