Good Kid
Good Kid performing at The Bell House in Brooklyn in 2023
Background information
Origin	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Indie rock
Years active	2015–present
Spinoff of	Streets Ahead
Members	Nick Frosst Jon Kereliuk Michael Kozakov David Wood Jacob Tsafatinos
Website	goodkidofficial.com

Good Kid is a Canadian indie rock band from Toronto, Ontario. It consists of five members: lead vocalist Nick Frosst, drummer Jon Kereliuk, bassist Michael Kozakov, and guitarists David Wood and Jacob Tsafatinos. The band's mascot, known as Nomu Kid, is primarily featured in their marketing and social media. The band released their first single in 2015, their first EP in 2018, and their first album in 2026. In late 2020, the band gained popularity through the use of their music on the internet, particularly on Fortnite streams. The band has chosen not to issue DMCA strikes so that their music could be used in streams. Good Kid primarily releases music in the form of singles, later bundled into self-titled, sequentially numbered EPs with additional tracks.

Good Kid was formed in 2015 as a hobby while all of its members were studying primarily computer science at the University of Toronto.^[1][2] Prior to forming Good Kid, Wood and Tsafatinos played together in a band called Streets Ahead, titled after a reference to Community. Frosst had played in a prior band, which featured "weird" music featuring a glockenspiel.^[3] Good Kid's first song, "Nomu", was released on October 13, 2015^[1][2] and garnered initial attention from users of Reddit.^[4] It introduced the band's mascot, Nomu Kid, who was named after the song. Nomu Kid was created by artist Gabriel Altrows, who has continued to work with the band since.^[2] Their first EP, titled Good Kid, released on June 15, 2018.^[1]

In 2020, the band released their second EP, Good Kid 2.^[2] Its lead track, "Down With the King", was based on Donkey Kong Country; the lyrics describe the singer being stuck on the game and calling their friend for help.^[2][5] Following the release of Good Kid 2, Good Kid launched an alternate reality game on social media to promote a tie-in browser game called Ghost King's Revenge. The premise was that their mascot, Nomu Kid, had gone missing, and was captured by the antagonist of the game.^[5] Ghost King's Revenge featured a soundtrack consisting of both original music and chiptune arrangements of every Good Kid song featured on Good Kid and Good Kid 2.^[2]

By mid-2021, Good Kid had experienced a surge of popularity with the Fortnite community. Fortnite streamers would often play Good Kid music in their streams, introducing it to their viewers. This extended to high-profile players such as Bugha and members of the esports organization FaZe Clan. The band members began participating in these streams by promoting Fortnite gameplay montages that included their music on social media.^[5] Fortnite players campaigned for Good Kid music to be added to the in-game radio.^[2][5] In response, Epic Games asked Good Kid to submit two of their songs for inclusion. Epic Games settled on "Witches", which was added that June, to positive reception by the band. Their song "Orbit" would also be added in late October of that same year.^[5] "No Time to Explain" would also be added in late 2022.^{[6][non-primary source needed]} By September 2022, Good Kid was selling out shows across the United States and had over 425,000 monthly Spotify listeners.^[7]

In response to controversy over DMCA claims, and the number of people including their music in streams, Good Kid said it would not issue takedowns against streamers.^[5][8] According to Tsafatinos, this reaction came from the band's observation that most streamers were young people who "just wanna play the music that they like on stream", and likely did not know about the DMCA system.^[5] A separate interview in 2024 with Tsafatinos later clarified that data showed that it was more financially viable for Good Kid to allow others to freely use their music on YouTube than if they were to monetize it through YouTube's Content ID system.^[9]

In 2023, the band performed a sold-out tour across the UK and Europe alongside Lovejoy.^[10] On June 20, 2023, Portugal. The Man announced Good Kid as a special guest for their Canadian tour running from November 6 to November 18.^[11]

In 2024, Good Kid was nominated for Breakthrough Group of the Year at the 2024 Juno Awards.^[1][12] On March 27, the band released Good Kid 4, releasing singles for the EP including "Bubbly", "Break", "Summer", and a cover of "From the Start" by Laufey.^[13][14] The cover of "From The Start" would go on to become their most popular song.^[4] In August, the band also played at Lollapalooza.^[1][4] Following Lollapalooza, the band went on another tour in the UK and Europe.^[10][4]

In 2025, the artwork for the band's EP Good Kid 4 by Gabriel Altrows was nominated at the 2025 Juno Awards for Album Artwork of the Year.^[15][13]

In 2025, Good Kid released singles "Wall" and "Rift" before announcing their debut album, Can We Hang Out Sometime?, which would incorporate these two songs. The album was given a release date of April 3, 2026, followed by a subsequent tour of North America and Europe.^[16] On December 6, 2025, Good Kid performed at The Streamer Awards.^[17] In 2026, the singles "Eastside"^[18] and "Cicada"^[19] would be released as part of the album prior to the release. A profile by Dork on the release date of the album described them at that point as being numerically "not far off" from the largest indie band in the world.^[20] Good Kid followed the album with a tour across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe.^[21]

The band has taken influence from Bloc Party, Two Door Cinema Club, Gorillaz, and Twenty One Pilots.^[1][3] Bassist Michael Kozakov has stated in an interview that the band pairs their indie rock with influences from other rock genres, namely punk rock and J-rock. He also described the band as "incredibly open to anything new".^[10] The band has also taken influence from video games, internet culture, geek culture, anime, and manga as sources of inspiration for their songs.^[9][10]

Ben Rayner of the Toronto Star has described the band's music as "hyperactive, Tokyo Police Club-esque power pop."^[2] Individual songs have also been compared to the work of Panic! at the Disco and The Strokes.^[4] Frosst's vocals have been compared to that of Kele Okereke.^[1]

The band's music contains elements of storytelling and has developed a complex lore with a large set of characters. This originated from the artwork created by Gabriel Altrows in tandem with the band's music.^[2][10][3] The lore they have created is based around a group of friends who deliver pizzas as a day job and play music at night in the city of Neo-TO, described as a utopian version of Toronto which highly values friendship and art.^[3] Rayner also noted that the band de-emphasizes personal stories in their work,^[2] though Tsafatinos has stated that the song "Mimi's Delivery Service" was based on his girlfriend.^[a][9]

All members of the band are employed as programmers outside of the band, continuing work remotely while on tour. Frosst is a co-founder of Cohere, an artificial intelligence company oriented towards businesses which also employs Kozakov.^[1][4] In July 2024, Tsaftinos was reported by The Canadian Press to be a software engineer for Uber^[4], though he had resigned by April 2026.^[3]

• Nick Frosst – lead vocals
• Jonathon Kereliuk – drums
• Michael Kozakov – bass
• David Wood – guitar
• Jacob Tsafatinos – guitar

Headlining

• Speedrun USA Tour (2022)
• Good Kid Goes West (2022)
• The Return of Good Kid (2023)
• This Can't Be The End Tour (2024)^[30]
• Chaos Kid Tour (2025)
• Can We Hang Out Tour (2026)^[31]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Good Kid.

• Official website