While poking around the interwebs a few months back, I ran across a pretty decent write up on Goose. Its headline made a decidedly bold statement; I was curious to enough to click through. My first question, as it often is whenever I decide whether or not I’ll allow myself to be lured in by a temptingly controversial headline, is where the writer is coming from.
Is this guy a wide-eyed 20-something year old who’s just starting to discover jambands and is eager to stake his generation’s claim on the new kings of the road?
Is he my age, and, like me, has been on the bus for several decades, having seen a procession of hopeful theater circuit bands (with a lot of promise to lay their own claims) come and go?
Is he an old school Deadhead who’s still kicking around the scene, grateful to see the Dead’s legacy continuing to evolve and grow with these new kids stepping up to claim their place in the pantheon?
Once I started reading, I was first struck by the fact that he and I had the same introduction to Goose, with their 2019 Peach Fest set. A friend of ours had seen that set, and after he got home (and got his head on straight), he texted to let us know that out of all the bands there, Goose was absolutely the one we needed to check out. We hopped on YouTube and were surprised to see that the exact set our friend was raving about was up on their channel. We listened to it, and immediately understood why he had been so effusive in his encouragement that we check them out.
We kept an eye on tour dates, and saw that they were coming around on a co-bill with Pigeons Playing Ping Pong. We got tickets, but then couldn’t find a babysitter. My husband went to see them, but I stayed home, having no idea that a pandemic would soon shut down all other possibilities of being able to see them again until two years later, almost to the day. But, I digress... back to the article.
The second thing that struck me was when I got to this section. I had my answer on his perspective:
Not everyone in the jam world loves Goose. When I began delving into this scene about a decade ago, I imagined a utopian alternative to the catty and judgmental indie world, where people love music in a chill, welcoming space.
It’s understandable that the rivalry dynamic at play between different factions of the jam scene might come as a surprise, given the reputation that we're all peace-loving hippies and all (LOL). Those of us who were following Phish around the time that Jerry Garcia died, however, aren’t the least bit surprised by it.
For Goose, comparisons to Phish have been endless and not always favorable. (“I’ve got a lot of people muted, I’ll tell you that,” Weber says.) It’s reminiscent of “what I saw when I was 16 in 1994 and seeing the reactions of older Deadheads to Phish’s music,” said Scott Bernstein, editorial director of the website JamBase and a Goose fan. “‘Goofy songs with no soul’ was a big criticism that I heard a lot. In many cases, the Deadheads didn’t even give them a chance.”
In 1994, I was 19 years old, and had been listening to Phish for about a year, but had yet to see my first show. Similar to Goose, I was introduced to the music through a friend’s recommendation, but then didn’t actually see a concert until two years later. If you read my book, then you know how that all went down (Autumn’s recount of her first show experience is mostly memoir). What I didn’t go into in the book was how nasty that rivalry got in the online chat rooms... especially so after Jerry died. If you're interested, you can get a bit more detail on what that was like from A Touch of Trey, a feature article I wrote for Jambands.com in the lead up to Fare Thee Well, the Dead's 50th Anniversary shows in 2015.
Not long after checking out that Peach Fest set on YouTube, I joined some Goose groups on Facebook and followed some Goose accounts on Twitter. I definitely liked what I heard, and I wanted to keep up with news, tour announcements, etc. Looking over the discussion – I lurk more than I post these days – it didn’t take long before I noticed the same patterns in the established fan base hazing the new kids in town, only now the Phish crowd was the established fan base, and the Goose fans were the targets.
That whole torch argument
Most of the bickering among Phish and Goose fans seems to center on the proverbial "passing of the torch," crowning Band X as the current king of the hill in the jam scene. The same thing happened with the Grateful Dead and Phish back in the mid-90s, and then, as the various incarnations of the post-Jerry GD struggled to find cohesion, it shifted to Phish vs. the current theater-circuit up-and-comer du jour (moe., SCI, Strangefolk, Umphrey's McGee, etc.).
The never-ending apples-to-oranges comparisons were tiresome decades ago, yet they persist. Knowing they will continue, no matter how eye-roll inducing they are, you have to find a way to derive entertainment from them. I find myself laughing not so much at the memes (which are hilarious -- kudos to you creators with senses of humor)...
...but at those who post them unironically, because they're seriously trying to make their case for why their band holds the torch. That's a fool's errand; they'll never "win," because it's not about winning, or losing, or being the best.
It's about love.
If I might quote Mr. Troy Pistachio on this point:
It's love, it's love
It always was
And it is and it always will be love
And we move through stormy weather
We know that our days are few
And we dream and we struggle together
And love will carry us through
Where some Phish phans are focused on trying to tell Goose fans where their place is in the hierarchy, I'll just go ahead and say "Fuck the hierarchy -- it doesn't exist." You all are part of our community, and anyone who makes you feel like a lesser member because your band is newer doesn't get it and they're not worth your time or attention.
We dream and we struggle together, and love will carry us through.
If you have a band that makes you smile, and untangles the knots from the base of your neck, and makes you dance and shake your bones, you found love. What a fucking fantastic thing! Enjoy it, with as many kindred spirits as you can, as often as you can (without putting yourself in serious debt -- it's hard, I know).
It doesn't matter if anyone else feels the same way about your band, it only matters that you do. It's like when you find one of those soulmate-level best friends or even significant others. You immediately want to introduce them to all your existing friends, because if you love this person, of course most of your friends will too, right? That's not always the case though.
Some will vibe with them, some won't. Just enjoy the synergy when it's there, and respect the "no thanks" crowd's decision to pass. They'll either get it, or they won't... react accordingly, whatever that means for you, but don't turn into one of these us vs. them arguments. We can all love what we love, not care for what doesn't work for us, and respect the same for others.
That said, not everyone will feel this way, which brings us to...
Block the O'Bannions, hang with the Randall "Pink" Floyds
Every online group has its trolls, and the jam scene is no exception.
Back in the stone age of the internet, I used to subscribe to Rosemary’s Digest, which was a godsend. Rosemary McIntosh Speno would sift through all the posts on rec.music.phish and distill all the internet discussion down into only the valuable, thought-provoking stuff, filtering out all the trollish bickering, collecting only the gems into her email summary.
Sadly, it seems there are just as many trolls around today as there were back then. The difference now is that their previous posture as defensive Phish fans, fighting off angry Deadheads, has shifted into a disrespectful offensiveness in goading Goose fans onto the ropes.
It’s not much different from the hazing rituals depicted in “Dazed and Confused,” which were banned in most American high schools, decades ago (because some asshole always goes too far).
If you haven't seen the movie, part of the plot has to do with the newly-promoted seniors terrorizing the newly-promoted freshman. The boys are chased by paddle-wielding bullies, the girls are humiliated with food stuffs, dog collars and a car wash.
Some seniors, Fred O'Bannion (Ben Affleck) and Darla Marks (Parker Posey) in particular, take a bit too much pleasure in making the new kids suffer, whereas others, like Randall "Pink" Floyd (Jason London) and Jodi Kramer (Michelle Burke) are sympathetic and take on a mentor role for a couple of the incoming freshmen.
Same as it ever was.
If you're a Goose fan, and you feel like the Phish scene is teeming with O'Bannions, chasing you down, paddle brandished, just know that there are tons of Randall "Pink" Floyds in the crowd too. Yes, we're older, and you're more likely to find us on Facebook than Tik Tok, but what we lack in stamina to dance like a whirling dervish throughout a full show (like we used to), we make up for in hard-won wisdom and valuable perspective.
Strike up a pre-show conversation with those you'd place at 40+ -- you might be pleasantly surprised. Whether it's stories of unexpected (mis)adventures with paper maps and no cell phones, or helpful tips on the cheapest (but not sketchy) hotels closest to tomorrow night's venue, or inside baseball on how you might meet the band (less likely the bigger they get, but very likely for the smaller bands), or how to score free admission to major festivals. You just never know who you're talking to, where they've been, what they've learned, and what knowledge they'd be happy to pass on to you.
Like the original Deadheads you'll still find at all kinds of shows -- Dead & Company, Phish, Goose, Billy Strings, King Gizzard, etc. -- most of us are just happy to see that the legacy is alive and well, and is still being discovered and adopted by younger generations. We've spent decades building, repairing, nurturing, growing and safeguarding our communities within this sub-culture of music geekdom. We can only hope that those who come after us will continue to be stewards to our shared history as fans who found a home among like-minded lovers of music, art, and community.
For those of us who are apprehensively stepping into our middle-age years and are trying to gracefully embrace our newfound status among the community elders (as the Deadheads have always been to us), few things bring us greater joy than seeing our younger selves begin to discover their people, and embark on forming their own communities that will last them lifetimes, just as it has for us.
At the writing of the post, my husband and I are looking forward to the first 3 TAB + Goose shows in the northeast next month. As we both definitely fall into the Randall "Pink" Floyd category of older fans, I hope we'll meet some of you youngsters on the road. We'll be somewhat easy to find... kind of, sort of. Just check the "About Chris Campbell" page on this site and imagine that 20 year old face, smiling at you from the concert field at Clifford Ball, as a 47 year old woman with glasses and graying hair. She'll be with a long-haired, gray + brown, bearded guy in glasses, and they'll be handing out free stickers with the book cover artwork on them. Come say "hi"... we'd love to meet you. :) And keep the memes coming, kids (if you're on Instagram, check out those who made these -- @watermarks are in the images) -- you're cracking us up!
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