Golden Girls inspired 'Bea Arthurs' pride themselves on being a 'good old-fashioned rock & roll band'

On WABE’s series “Speaking of Music,” we hear stories from local musicians in their own words. For this edition, we hear from Atlanta rock trio The Bea Arthurs. Members Patrick Reynolds (guitar and vocals), Charlie Yood (bass and vocals) and John Giordano (drums and vocals) weighed in on their project, which they call a “good old-fashioned rock band, and possibly the greatest band of all time.”

Their classic alternative rock sound prioritizes catchy melody and singable hooks over a stripped-down, driving drum kit and crunchy guitar. Reynolds said, “What motivates us are Golden Girls episodes, Maude, Captain N: The Game Master.” He also enthusiastically cited the 1988 fantasy film “Willow,” a George Lucas deep cut starring a youthful Val Kilmer as a dashing swordsman, as “probably the motivation behind, like, 90% of our music.”

According to Reynolds, the featured track “College Days” is a song that emerged from “going to a friend’s wedding recently, and talking to a bunch of people who were telling me stories they remembered of me in college that I had no memory of.” The ode to fried synapses and lost memories presents as a tongue-in-cheek but sweetly affecting pop ballad, lamenting, “I don’t know your name, girl / I don’t know your face / Seems we had some good times.”