TMS Spotlight: A Look Back at Ryan Gosling's Spooky Side Band

(Dustin Drew)

The end of the 2000s was an interesting time for film actor Ryan Gosling. If you’re a millennial like me, you grew up thinking of Ryan as one of the kids on Disney Channel’s “The All-New Mickey Mouse Club” (1993-95), the dorky teammate in Boaz Yakin’s Remember the Titans (2000), the neo-Nazi in Harry Bean’s The Believer (2001), the dreamy male lead in Nick Cassavetes’ The Notebook (2004). He even received his first Oscar nomination [for Best Actor] with Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden’s acclaimed independent drama Half Nelson (2006). But despite all this, I think a lot of movie fans would agree his breakthrough year as a leading man was in 2011, when he starred in the trifecta of Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, Glenn Ficarra & John Requa’s Crazy, Stupid, Love and George Clooney’s The Ides of March. In between 2006 and 2010 though, Gosling chose to channel the musical training from his Disney days and form a band with an indie musician named Zach Shields. Ryan and Zach initially met through their then girlfriends, sisters Rachel and Kayleen McAdams, in 2005. Amusingly, the first thing the two young men learned they had in common was The Haunted Mansion being their favorite ride at Disneyland. Because Ryan wasn’t a superstar yet and Zach has always been a lowkey figure in music, not many people were expecting a self-titled, goth-rock, Halloween themed LP called ‘Dead Man’s Bones’ to drop during October 2009.

(via wvau.org)

I was in the middle of film school when Dead Man’s Bones released their record. Since I was already aware of who Ryan was, it didn’t take long for me to realize the frontman of the new power duo was the same guy from MMC, The Notebook and Remember the Titans. What impressed me was just how good the songs were. I remember devoted alt/indie music fans hoping for years Ryan would actually make a second career out of music if he was serious about it. Every instrument on the 12-track album is played by either Ryan or Zach, with Ryan as lead singer along with a children’s choir for harmony and background vocals. To try to not stick out too much and have the spooky songs and stage performances sell themselves, Ryan usually wore sunglasses in concert and promos along with the cheeky alias ‘Baby Goose.’ ‘Dead Man’s Bones’ was released and promoted traditionally with singles, music videos and even a brief US tour. My favorite songs from the project are ‘In the Room Where You Sleep,’ ‘Pa Pa Power’ and the title track. Though Dead Man’s Bones got decent reception from listeners and reviewers, Ryan started picking up acting gigs again once the press for the release was finished. The duo officially parted ways professionally in 2012, but not without disappointment from fans. Since then, Ryan performed musical numbers in Damien Chazelle’s La La Land (2016) and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (2023), but has yet to revisit his rock band period. Maybe next time Ryan will deliver a Christmas LP? Or a set of romantic ballads appropriate for Valentine’s Day? Whatever the multi-talented dude chooses to do in the future regarding music, I’ll be seated and interested.