Goose is an American

rock band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

from

Wilton, Connecticut Wilton is a New England town, town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the town population was 18,503. The town is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, Wester ...

, formed in 2014. The band consists of Rick Mitarotonda, Trevor Weeks, Peter Anspach, and Cotter Ellis. Goose has gained popularity since early 2020, in large part due to live performances with larger acts like

Dead & Company Dead & Company is an American rock band that formed in 2015 with a lineup of former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir (guitar and vocals), Mickey Hart (drums), and Bill Kreutzmann (drums), along with John Mayer (guitar and vocals), Oteil Burbridge ...

Trey Anastasio Ernest Joseph "Trey" Anastasio III (born September 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, composer, and singer-songwriter best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983. He is credited by name as composer of 152 ...

, and

Bob Weir Robert Hall Weir ( ; né Parber, born October 16, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the group disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with the Other Ones, later known as the Dead ...

History

Goose was formed in 2014 by singer and guitarist Rick Mitarotonda, bassist Trevor Weeks, and drummer Ben Atkind. Mitarotonda, Weeks, and Atkind had previously played together in the band Vasudo along with Goose lyricist Matt Campbell. Multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach joined the band in 2017, followed by percussionist Jeff Arevalo in 2020, with Cotter Ellis joining the band in 2024. 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 420,000 times on YouTube/Facebook as of March 2023. In January 2020 the band played two well received late night performances at

's Playing in the Sand event in Mexico. The band's rise in popularity resulted in booking larger venues for their 2020 tour, such as the

Bowery Ballroom The Bowery Ballroom is a New York City live music venue located at 6 Delancey Street in Manhattan's Bowery neighborhood. The venue has enjoyed a fabled reputation among musicians as well as audiences. In 2013, industry insiders polled by ''Roll ...

in New York City, but they canceled the tour after the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

shut down live music performances worldwide. Instead, the band livestreamed eight concerts without an audience from a barn in Connecticut 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 Vampire Weekend are an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 2006 and currently signed to Columbia Records. The band was formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chr ...

song "2021" in February 2021 at the request of

singer

Ezra Koenig Ezra Michael Koenig ( ; born April 8, 1984) is an American musician, record producer, and radio personality. He is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of indie rock band Vampire Weekend. Additionally, Koenig is the creator of the ...

, 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 Radio City Music Hall (also known as Radio City) is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York C ...

in New York,

Red Rocks Amphitheatre Red Rocks Amphitheatre (also known colloquially as simply Red Rocks) is an open-air amphitheater in the Western United States, western United States near Morrison, Colorado, approximately southwest of Denver. It is owned and operated by the c ...

Morrison, Colorado Morrison is a home rule municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The population was 396 at the 2020 census. History This small foothills settlement is named after George Morrison (April 16, 1822 – June 11, 1895), a builde ...

, and their first-ever arena concerts at the

Mohegan Sun Arena The Mohegan Sun Arena is a 10,000 seat multi-purpose arena in the Uncasville, Connecticut, Uncasville area of Montville, Connecticut, Montville, Connecticut located inside the Mohegan Sun casino resort. The arena facility features of configurab ...

in their native Connecticut. On June 24 and 25, 2022, Goose played two shows at Radio City Music Hall. The June 25 concert featured appearances by

Father John Misty Joshua Michael Tillman (born May 3, 1981), better known by his stage name Father John Misty, is an American musician. He is known for his satirical lyrics and eccentric performance style. Tillman began his career in Seattle in the early 2000s. O ...

, and

Phish Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, drummer Jon Fishman, and keyboardist Page McConnell, all of whom perform vocals, with Anastasio being the ...

guitarist and lead singer

, the latter of whom played with Goose for their entire third set. Goose and the Trey Anastasio Band performed together in an eight-date co-headlining tour in November 2022. In January 2023, Goose was the top billed special guest at

's Playing in the Sand festival in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, headlining on the main stage on the second night. During their January 15 performance, the band was joined by

for three songs at the end of the first set. Atkind and Arevalo went on to play with the

Rhythm Devils The Rhythm Devils is a percussion-based rock band led by former Grateful Dead drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart. Grateful Dead The Rhythm Devils had their origins as an informal but frequent fixture in the Grateful Dead concert repertoire ...

during "Drums" at Dead & Company's next shows. In July 2023, at Resonance Festival in Ohio, Goose was joined on stage during the second set by Jake Cinninger and Joel Cummins of

Umphrey's McGee Umphrey's McGee, sometimes stylized as UM, is an American rock band originally from South Bend, Indiana. The band experiments with many musical styles, including rock, metal, funk, jazz, blues, reggae, electronic, bluegrass, country, and ...

to perform "Empress of Organos". That same month, at the

Newport Folk Festival The Newport Folk Festival is an annual American folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the Newport Jazz Festival. The festival was founded by music promoter and Jazz Festival founder Geor ...

, the band were joined on-stage by

Animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...

from Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem for their performance of "Animal". Anspach personally mixes the band's live performances for release shortly after the band finishes their concerts. On December 22, 2023, the band released a statement that founding member and original drummer Ben Atkind would be departing the band. On February 5, 2024, the band announced that Cotter Ellis would be joining the band as the new drummer. On November 24, 2024, Goose played at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

as part of the Soulshine relief concert, for major hurricanes Helene and Milton. They played with

Dave Matthews David John Matthews (born January 9, 1967) is an American musician and the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band (DMB). Matthews was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and moved frequently between South Africa, ...

, performing the

Bruce Hornsby Bruce Randall Hornsby (born November 23, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, folk music, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock music, rock, heartland r ...

song "The Way It Is". On January 27, 2025, the band announced their upcoming fourth studio album, ''Everything Must Go,'' and released its debut single, "Give It Time". On February 3, 2025, the band posted announcement to social media that percussionist Jeff Arevalo was taking a hiatus from touring to prioritize his health. On March 23 that same year, the band announced that he had been fired from the band permanently due to "behavior in Jeff's personal life that does not align with the band's core values."

Musical style and influences

Goose has been regularly compared to jam bands such as

and

, both of which the band's members count as influences. Goose describes itself as an "indie groove" band, but does acknowledge its jam band influences; speaking to

Uproxx Uproxx Studios (stylized as ''UPROXX'') is an American music, entertainment and popular culture website and content studio. It was founded in 2008 by Jarret Myer and Brian Brater. The website was acquired in 2014 by Woven Digital (which later ...

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 Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

and

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

influences contrast the funk and

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

influences of

and the folk, jazz, and blues influences of the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

Personnel

Band members

Current members * Rick Mitarotonda – guitar, vocals * Trevor Weeks – bass, vocals, poetry * Peter Anspach – keyboards, guitar, vocals * Cotter Ellis – drums, vocals Former members * Ben Teeters – drums * Isaac Slutzky – keyboards * Ben Atkind – drums * Peter Castaldi – guitar * Chris "Doc" Enright – keyboards * Patrick "Butters" Carr – keyboards, guitar * Kris Yunker – keyboards * Aaron Hagele – percussion * Jeff Arevalo – percussion, drums, vocals, guitar Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Moon Cabin'' (2016) * ''Shenanigans Nite Club'' (2021) * '' Dripfield'' (2022) * ''Everything Must Go'' (2025)

Extended plays

* ''Night Lights'' (2020) * ''Undecided'' (2022) * ''Autumn Crossing'' (2023)

Live albums

* ''Alive and Well'' (2020) * ''Bingo Tour'' (2020) * ''2019.11.16 Buffalo, NY'' (2021) * ''2020.10.03 Swanzey, NH'' (2021) * ''Ted Tapes 2021'' (2021) * ''2021.11.21 Denver, CO'' (2021) * ''2022.03.12 Philadelphia, PA'' (2022) * ''2022.12.16 Broomfield, CO'' (2023) * ''2022.12.31 Cincinnati, OH'' (2023) * ''Live At The Salt Shed 2023.04.14–15 Chicago, IL'' (2023) * '' Live at Radio City Music Hall ''(2023) * ''Ted Tapes 2024'' (2024) * ''Live at the Capitol Theatre'' (2024) * ''Live at the Fox Theatre'' (2024) * ''Live at the Greek Theatre'' (2024) * ''Rehearsal Recordings 2024'' (2024)

Singles

References

External links

* {{Authority control Jam bands Wilton, Connecticut Rock music groups from Connecticut 2014 establishments in Connecticut Musical groups established in 2014