Year: 2024

Northlands Festival returns

Goose has played Northlands in Swanzey before. The Connecticut-based progressive jam band did a drive-in show during the pandemic and returned a year later to perform for people in pods. In 2023 they appeared at the Northlands Festival as Orebolo, an acoustic trio. It’s an event the full band will headline this year.

For its third edition, the Northlands lineup is packed. Over two days, Goose and Greensky Bluegrass will play a pair of sets, on a bill rounded out by Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Andy Frasco & the UN, Eric Krasno & Friends, Mihali, Sierra Hull, Dopapod, Spafford, Big Something, Tauk, Super Sonic Shorties, Cool Cool Cool and Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad. An undercard of 20 more acts includes special guests Jennifer Hartswick, Natalie Cressman and Nikki Glaspie.

In a phone interview from a tour stop in Denver, Goose keyboard player and guitarist Peter Anspach talked about looking forward to catching up with their friends from the circuit at the bucolic gathering.

“I’m really excited to see the Pigeons guys. They were such a big part in us learning how to tour,” he said, noting that the two bands were on the road just before Covid hit.

“We’re so grateful to share musical history…. I can’t wait to see them and some other of the bands. Spafford’s going to be there; those guys are awesome. We went on tour with them, too. It’s going to be cool to see old friends — I always love that about festivals.”

Their current tour is the first with new drummer Cotter Ellis. Though a few Redditors lost it when founding member Ben Atkind departed in December and his replacement was announced, reviews since have been uniformly positive.

On The Chateau Sessions, a live album recorded in March, Ellis played with ferocity, rhythmically synched with bassist Trevor Weekz.

“I’m super, super stoked on how they’re locking in together and have been since the beginning,” Anspach said. “When we first started playing with Cotter, it was like, whoa, all right! Trevor has totally been unlocked, we feel.”

The band took the comments section madness that greeted Ellis’s arrival in stride. It reminded him of “Skinny,” a song on the new Billie Eilish album. “The internet is hungry for the meanest kind of funny and somebody’s gotta feed it,” she sang. Anspach observed, “There’s always got to be something going out to appease the masses who want to talk crap.”

If that kind of attention is the cost of success, Anspach is still grateful that Goose has flown this high — and that its rise is continuing.

“I was always looking for a lifetime original project where we could really explore what it means to be a band,” he said. “Be silly and fun but also serious and address topics in our lives that are important in our writing and share them with people…. It’s really a dream come true [and] I’m so grateful to everybody who supports us out there, makes it all happen.”

The new chapter with Ellis has the band re-visiting old material and finding new contours; artistically, it’s exciting.

“We’re feeling good. Energy is high, and there’s a lot of camaraderie happening right now,” he said. “We had a great off day in Hayes, Kansas, which is kind of like the dead middle of the state of Kansas. We all went to Applebee’s, and it was pretty funny. There was a bar in the center, and we took up every chair around the entire bar … the entire band and crew.”

Savoring the memory of that moment in middle America as his emergent band continues to conquer the country, Anspach is in a buoyant mood.

“I feel like I don’t know what’s going to happen, and that’s a really good feeling,” he said. “We’ll see what’s next as we dive deeper into the music with Cotter. It’s feeling special; I hope people are as excited as I am.”

Northlands Festival
When: Friday, June 14, and Saturday, June 15, 11 a.m.
Where: Cheshire Fairgrounds, 247 Monadnock Hwy., Swanzey
Tickets: Starting at $109 for one day, $199 for two days, with camping, parking and special children’s pricing available.

Featured photo: Goose. Courtesy photo.