Tristan Goodall, founding guitarist and co-songwriter with ARIA Award-winning blues and roots act The Audreys, has died at the age of 48.
His passing was confirmed by the band’s singer, Taasha Coates.
“I am very sad to have to pass on the news that despite our best hopes for his recovery, we lost our dear Tristan on the weekend,” she writes in a social post.
Goodall had been sidelined from touring since 2020 due to ill health.
“I have talked to so many people in the last few days who knew Tristan, and the outpouring of love has been overwhelming,” she continues. “He touched so many of us with his beautiful music, his big heart, his big hugs and his big goofy laugh.”
Goodall and Coates met in 1997 in Adelaide, South Australia and formed the band in 2004. “We were university students, with silly dreams about touring the world with a band.”
Goodall “already played in a rock band, which was so cool to this skinny jazz singer with a breathy voice and crippling stage fright,” she continues. “But Tristan saw something in me, and as we started playing and writing songs together a whole new world opened up. We went on to do so many wonderful things together with our music. We met and worked with amazing and talented people, we walked onto stages big and small together all over the world. It has been the most incredible adventure.”
The dream came true, as The Audreys toured the world on several occasions. During one visit to Europe, in the summer of 2006, the band stopped by at The Borderline in central London, for a performance at the City Showcase event, presented by Billboard.
Those dates were in support of the group’s debut Between Last Night and Us, which went on to win the ARIA Award for best blues and roots album. The Audreys won the same category another two times.
A later incarnation of the band featured the duo of Coates and Goodall, and a fourth studio set, ‘Til My Tears Roll Away, dropped in 2014, peaking at No. 32 of the ARIA Albums Chart.
A quarter century after launching the band, “I have to say goodbye to my dearest friend, my musical soulmate, and my grief is almost unbearable,” writes Coates. “Rest in peace my darling Tristan. We had a dream and we made it happen, can you believe that? Thank you so much for sharing that journey with me. I will miss you everyday.”
