Holland: Goose is life

No, I don’t mean a goose like the animal, I mean the band. Goose is a jam band or a rock band that play songs with long improvised instrumental sections. I heard my first jam band in person at the Rives on the Road Dangermuffin show and I liked it, but didn’t go home thinking I would listen to it frequently.

Next thing I know, one of my friends is requesting to put a couple of Goose songs on the Spotify queue for the long drive up to Floyd with a group to see The Jared Stout Band play at Dogtown Roadhouse. I’m thinking they’ll just go real quick through the queue and then it’ll be done with.

But, as I look up the band to find the specific songs she asked for, I see a bunch of song names that catch my eye. I look them over to get to the songs she wanted, “Borne” and “Arcadia,” but “Wysteria Lane” and “Hot Tea” are still present in the back of my mind.

The next day, and at this point I still haven’t listened to any of their other songs, I was having my watercolor painting awakening when my same friend asks to put them on again. I pick the songs that I was curious about the night before, and I have had the album on repeat ever since.

The jam band style of music has a way of blending into itself from song to song without the listener being able to tell if they aren’t paying attention, at least in my case. So, without even realizing it while I’m at it I have listened to the same album “Dripfield” I don’t know how many times over a few weeks.

And Goose just recently released a new EP (extended play) album which I have just added to my playlist of all Goose music; I call it “Goose is life.” As I said … this is definitely an obsession, and I will be listening to it on repeat for all of the near future.

And at this point, I wouldn’t say I know all the lyrics (there aren’t that many of them anyway because of the style of music) but I know a substantial amount of them. This is probably because I have them playing every time I get in the car, go for a walk, start painting, do the dishes, cook, bake, while I’m cleaning and I’m even listening to it as I write this.

Goose was even playing all day on my second fly fishing trip and so I caught my first fish with a Goose soundtrack playing. Basically, I now live and breathe Goose music.

I’ve been collecting vinyls to create a decorative music wall at home over the past few months and normally I just pick ones that I think are pretty. One of them isn’t even for the band, but came from a flea market and has peaches painted on it — although the vinyl cover does have a cool flamingo picture on it.

But since I’ve been seeing more live music I’ve found that it means more when the records are from bands that I’ve seen in person or actually listen to. I have one from Violet Bell, who I saw at the resurgence of Music In the Box here in Martinsville, I’m hoping to get one from some other bands I’ve seen in person soon, and now I’ve purchased a Goose record.

I originally intended to just hang them up with command strips, but now that I’m getting ones from bands I actually listen to, I’m planning on ordering some special clips online so I can hang them up and display them without damaging the packaging or the vinyl album itself depending on how I decide to arrange them up on the wall.

That way I can actually listen to the vinyls instead of just using them to create an aesthetic — but I guess I also need to get a record player first.