Smash Mouth brings new lead singer to Tucson fundraising concert

Smash Mouth marked its 30th anniversary this year, but when the band takes the Tucson Convention Center stage on Saturday, May 4, some in the audience might scratch their heads wondering how that can be.

“I think people will be most surprised at how high energy and fun the shows are,” said lead singer Zach Goode, who joined the band in 2021 after founding lead singer Steve Harwell retired for medical reasons. “It’s a high-energy 90-minute, fun show.”

Smash Mouth is headlining “May the Fourth Be With You — The Great Death Star Infiltration Celebration,” the Centurions’ 2024 fundraising celebration. Doors to the TCC, 260 S. Church Ave., open at 6 p.m.

This will be the first time Goode has performed with the band in Tucson. Smash Mouth’s last Tucson concert was at the AVA at Casino del Sol in 2013, on a bill that included Gin Blossoms and Sugar Ray.

Goode was no stranger to Smash Mouth when he answered an ad for lead singer in 2021 and landed the job. He spent 17 years fronting his San Diego band Ghoulspoon, which later became Divided By Zero.

“It was kind of an eclectic band that didn’t really get anywhere,” said Goode, whose Ghoulspoon bandmate was Jeremy Ronstadt, Linda Ronstadt’s first cousin. “Basically all of our friends became famous. We were the only ones that didn’t make it. Everyone from Sublime to Incubus to Korn to Sugar Ray, Deftones. Those were all our buddies for 30 years. ... We kind of plugged away and never had that kind of hit single like Smash Mouth did. They got ‘Walkin’ on the Sun,’ which went to No. 1 so they had this incredible trajectory.”

In the months after joining the band, Goode was supposed to do a couple of dry runs to find his rhythm. Instead, his debut as lead singer came before 30,000 at a show in Guadalajara, Mexico, with The Strokes and Kings of Leon.

“We went out there and rocked it,” he recalled with a laugh. “It was amazing. We just clicked.”

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“People say I sound a lot like Steve. I don’t hear it exactly, but it’s definitely truth to the original band, but it has a little bit of a twist on it,” he added, noting that his voice is a little more in the tenor range than Harwell.

In addition to early Smash Mouth hits, including “All Star” and “I’m A Believer” — which were prominent in the 2001 animated blockbuster “Shrek” — the band will slip in its newer singles that they have released since Goode came on board: “4th of July,” “Underground Sun,” “Right On” and their recent cover of the addicting Rick Astley hit “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

Tickets for the fundraiser, which features several “Star Wars” themed raffles, are $125 ($60 tax-deductible), $250 for VIP, which includes special hors d’oeuvres and premium cocktails, are available through thecenturions.com.

The Centurions, comprised of Tucson businessmen and business owners, hosted its first fundraiser in 1969, a bowling tournament that benefitted St. Mary’s Hospital. Over the years the event “grew exponentially,” said Executive Director Chris Hanson.

Last year’s event, featuring headliners 38 Special, raised $350,000 for local charities, he said.

This year’s beneficiaries are the Assistance League of Tucson, Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation of Southern Arizona, Courtney’s Courage and TMC for Children.