Both Sides of Goose, Americas Premier Jam Band

Both Sides of Goose, Americas Premier Jam Band On a new Sounds of Berklee: Goose's live act attracts a devoted following-and the bands studio work highlights the sharp songs that spark their legendary jams.

By

John Mirisola

July 20, 2023

Goose guitarist and vocalist Rick Mitarotonda B.M. 16 performed with the band at a sold-out Portland, Maine, show on July 6, 2023.

Image by Adam Berta

Its not easy to put Goose in a box. The band, which includes three Berklee alumni (Rick Mitarotonda B.M. '16, Ben Atkind '11, and Jeff Arevalo B.M. '13) doesnt exactly straddle the boundaries between indie, folk, and jam-it floats freely above all those categories.

On their latest full-length, Dripfield, the bands songcraft is as dialed-in and richly textured as any of the indie acts its members cite as influences-Fleet Foxes, Vampire Weekend, Father John Misty. But catch one of Gooses often sold-out live shows, chat with some fans about what brings them out, and its impossible to dispute the groups status as the next best jam band, if they arent already-as one fan told Sounds of Berklee.

So on this summer edition of the podcast, were exploring both sides of the Goose experience, from the studio to the stage, and hearing from the band as well as their fans along the way. Listen to the episode, and read excerpts from the conversations with Goose and with the fans who saw the band at a recent sold-out show in Portland, Maine.

Find us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, or listen on SoundCloud:

Percussionist Jeff Arevalo at Gooses show in Portland, Maine

Image by Adam Berta

Goose, on the making of Dripfield: Rick Mitarotonda: I think the intention was to stray from [jam fusion] quite a bit with Dripfield and focus on other pursuits and other textures and things like that. I mean, there are improvisational passages and things like that, but it's really not the emphasis of the record, obviously. It was really refreshing to stray from that at that point. I don't know, it just felt like a proper change up. And I think D. James Goodwin-Dan-who produced the record was really the perfect master of ceremonies to guide us in that journey to open up new doors, texturally, for us.

Ben Atkind: It's such a different energy in the studio than it is live. And often times we'll get into the studio, and we're trying to track a song that we played live hundreds of times, and you realize very quickly that what works live does not necessarily translate the same way we work in the studio. So automatically, right there, you kind of have to shift your mindset. But then working with Dan-D. James Goodwin-he was just kind of getting us to think in different ways and it kind of just opened up these new territories and headspaces, and that studio energy, it's just calmer-I don't know. I think it's easier to kind of relax and let go. . . . and just being in a studio with all these cool instruments and, like, old wooden things and everything, I don't know. It's a space that's really opens up a lot of creative energy.

On what keeps fans coming back to Goose shows: Shane (Goose fan): The band's ability to just take off in a new direction with a song that we've heard a handful of times already is super organic . . . and that's what keeps me coming back. Cause it's always fresh, and a nice heaping of jam, really. . . . What they do in the studio and then how it transfers to where we stand today is amazing-their ability to almost have two sides to the band Goose.

Episode Credits Produced, engineered, and edited by John Mirisola

Coproduced by Bryan Parys

Theme music by Sleeping Lion

Media excerpted (all songs by Goose):

The Whales and Feel It Now from 2023 / 07 / 06 Thompsons Point, Portland, ME

Hungersite from Live at the Salt Shed

Dripfield, Arrow, Honeybee, and Hot Tea from Dripfield

Enjoy the show? Have thoughts or questions for the Sounds of Berklee team? Let us know at soundspodcast@berklee.edu.

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