FARMINGTON — In a derelict garage near downtown Farmington, three teenagers battle the cold with loud, heavy rhythms as they practice their setlist for an upcoming performance. Known as Goblins, the heavy metal trio are preparing for a series of performances throughout the summer in an effort to bring more alternative music to the Farmington area.

Goblins will be hosting a show at the West Farmington Grange on Saturday, Feb. 3, with doors opening at 5:30 p.m. They will be joined by Dragged by Chains of Portland, Mordhau of Scarborough, and Cortisol.wav of Portland. The show will have a $10 admission fee.

Featuring Gabe Mealey on guitar, Evan Phillips on bass and Colton Powers on drums, Goblins started in November, 2022, after Mealey invited Phillips and Powers to his place to play some music. The trio attended Mt. Blue High School together and met through a chemistry class, which led to them practicing together.

All three musicians shared their backgrounds on what led them to playing music, with Mealey accrediting Nirvana as the big inspiration for him to pick up guitar. Mealey had some experience with music in school, but wasn’t interested in what the music programs had to offer, and instead found inspiration in Kurt Cobain.

“I was like, ‘Alright, sick. I’m gonna start learning how to play guitar,’ and then I just haven’t stopped,” Mealey shared.

For Phillips, his background in music stems from his father, who was the music teacher at Cascade Brook School. Phillips grew up surrounded by instruments, and eventually took up cello in the fourth grade before moving to upright bass the next year. He shared that he had played guitar here and there, but mostly stuck with bass.

“When I was in eighth grade, and the pandemic hit, my mom gave me this book called ‘Gone’ by Michael Grant,” Phillips shared. “There is a quote from a band called Agent Orange in there and I was like ‘wow, that’s a really cool lyric,’ and so I looked up the album.”

Phillips is referring to “Living In Darkness”, a punk record by the 1980s group Agent Orange, who blended elements of punk with surf rock. Phillips said the record, as well as front man Mike Palms, had a profound impact on his songwriting style.

Over on the drums, Powers credits their father for getting them interested in drums.

“My dad was a drummer in high school band, so he taps on stuff,” Powers shared. “So basically, I’ve been playing drums all my life. Not drums exactly, but I’ve just been hitting things.”

Powers got their first drum set in the seventh grade, but has been off and on with the drum sets until this last year.

“I played [drums] for a while, on and off, but there was no reason for me to practice because there was nobody around who’s going to play with me,” Powers said. “Basically, I say I’ve been playing drums for five years, but really, I’ve only been playing seriously for like a year and a half with [Phillips and Mealey].

Mealey currently is enrolled in college in Portland while Phillips and Powers are finishing up their final year of high school. Mealey said their hopes are to continue with monthly performances in Farmington throughout the summer until August.

Afterwards, their schedules will get a little more complicated with Powers and Phillips attending college in Massachusetts, but the trio are still committed to bringing more alternative music to Farmington.

“Knowing all these other groups, I’ve kind of had my eyes open to the Maine alternative music scene, which gives me like a little bit of hope for new music,” Phillips said. “I think the Maine music scene is really going to blow up here soon.”

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