James Bookert is trying not to get jaded with age. “Especially being from Austin, there are a lot of older, jaded musicians,” he says on a recent video call. “I was really at risk of becoming one of those people. Maybe, in some ways, I can be and I have to actively fight not to be.”
That tension found its way into Adult Onset Goth, the EP that Bookert released in September under his alias, San Gabriel. “The older I get, the more serious I get,” he says. So Bookert imagined a medical infomercial tackling grown up teen angst. The title, though, isn’t a description of the EP’s sound. San Gabriel’s brand of synth-heavy melancholy is tempered with a touch of sweetness, a style that’s closer to Air’s soundtrack for The Virgin Suicides or Tame Impala on The Slow Rush. There’s a dose of rebellion on the EP too, in the form of the song “Fuck the Money,” where Bookert sings, “I was so tired of 9-5/Working for the weekend.”
Bookert, who previously played banjo with the group Whiskey Shivers, launched San Gabriel while working nights, weekends and holidays in an Austin liquor store. “Every day, I would take my guitar in and my laptop and work on music and then, somedays, after I would close the shop, I would go in the back and record vocals or I had my guitar and I would record there,” he recalls. “Shout out to the owner for being super cool and letting me do that. He had zero problem with it.”
The customers seemed to be into it too. “It was probably, at the time, the last diverse neighborhood in Austin,” says Bookert. Sometimes, people would hang out with him for a couple hours and talk music. “Everybody knew that I was going to be playing guitar,” says Bookert.
An irony is that, while San Gabriel could be labeled as bedroom pop, it’s music that comes out of interacting with other people and being part of a community. “I think [working at a liquor store] did affect my writing only insofar as I do really, really well when I’m around other people and talking to other people,” he says. “If I’m kind of by myself, it’s a lot harder to write. I think I just thrive off of stimulus and interaction from other people.”
That all led to Nights and Weekends, Bookert’s 2025 debut full-length as San Gabriel. Since then, he moved to Ashland, Oregon, which is where the bulk of Adult Onset Goth was written. A portion of the proceeds from the EP, though, will be going back to his former homebase via Health Alliance for Austin Musicians. “It’s a cause that’s near and dear to my heart. I lived in Austin for 20 years,” says Bookert. “Probably 90 percent of my friends are musicians, who, otherwise wouldn’t have health insurance. It was a no-brainer for me.”
When we caught up for this video call, Bookert, who also tours with Goth Babe, was in Bakersfield for the singer’s tour supporting Foster the People. He says that the touring gig has helped him keep the “jaded” musician at bay too. “I’ve met a lot of young people who are really sweet and filled with hope,” he says. “It’s really refreshing.”
Bookert mentions that he often heads out into the crowd after the shows to talk to people and pass out Goth Babe guitar picks. “People are really kind to each other,” he says. “I think if you’re looking at your phone, which I am 100% guilty of, we are broadcasting the worst of what’s happening, which is often fake.” He uses the misrepresentation of Portland as a “war zone” as an example. “Portland is a great city. We’re shown that everything is terrible and, if you don’t go into the world and actually meet people, that is going to be your outlook and you’re going to be afraid of everything. I am definitely guilty of that. Part of the album title is that I’m trying to fight that.”
Being on the road has helped counter online doom and ward off a case of Adult Onset Goth. “I have to go into the world and experience it. The internet is so fake and we’re so susceptible,” he says, noting that both of us are old enough to remember the promise that online life held in its early years. “Now we’re realizing, that was a lie. At best, it was wrong. But we’re still old enough to be susceptible. We still think that. I think kids are figuring out, this is kind of bullshit.”
Adult Onset Goth by San Gabriel is out now.
Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Follow on Instagram or sign up for the weekly, Beatique newsletter for updates on new stories and gigs.
Listen to the September, 2026 edition of Beatique, which also features music from Olivia Rodrigo, ear, Purity Ring, Brigette Calls Me Baby, Slayyyter and more.
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