Goose (American band)
Goose is an American jam band from Norwalk, Connecticut. The band consists of Peter Anspach, Jeff Arevalo, Ben Atkind, Rick Mitarotonda, and Trevor Weekz. History. Goose was formed in 2014 by singer and guitarist Rick Mitarotonda, drummer Ben Atkind and bassist Trevor Weekz, who had played together in the band Vasudo. Keyboardist, guitarist and singer Peter Anspach, a friend of the founding members, was added to the lineup in 2017. The band garnered praise for their performance at the 2019 edition of The Peach Music Festival, which gained them popularity in the jam band scene and has  been viewed over 341,000 times on Youtube as of March 2021. The band's rise in popularity resulted in their booking of larger venues for their 2020 tour, such as the Bowery Ballroom in New York City, but they canceled the tour after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down live music performances worldwide. Instead, the band livestreamed eight concerts without an audience from a barn in Virginia in June 2020, called the Bingo Tour. The Bingo Tour grossed more than $100,000 for the band. Goose released a 20-minute jam version of the Vampire Weekend song "2021" in February 2021  at the request of Vampire Weekend singer Ezra Koenig, who is a fan of the group. Following the pandemic, Goose booked a series of performances at large venues in 2021 and 2022, such as Radio City Music Hall in New York, Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver, and their first-ever arena concerts at the Mohegan Sun Arena in their native Connecticut. Anspach personally mixes the band's live performances for release shortly after the band finishes their concerts. Musical style and influences. Goose have been regularly compared to jam bands such as Phish and Umphrey's McGee, both of which  the band's members count as influences. Goose describes themselves as an "indie groove" band, but does acknowledge their jam band influences; speaking to Uproxx music critic Steven Hyden, guitarist Rick Mitarotonda said "Frankly there are a lot of cheesy and not great jam bands that have existed over time. Obviously, we’ve strayed away from that for obvious reasons, or tried to at least. But, I mean, we are a jam band. We jam, and we improvise a lot." Hyden wrote that Goose's indie rock and trance influences contrast the funk and progressive rock influences of Phish and  the folk, jazz, and blues influences of the Grateful Dead.