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Well, well, our fine feathered friends, what do we have here?
According to The Brown Goose’s own description, the Florida band plays “modern alt-rock with a vintage gleam” and “takes it to 88 mph and transports you back to the moment you discovered you loved live music.”
We think they’re a lot more than that.
The band’s latest album, This Is The Way, is nice blend of metal, rock and emo – and while The Brown Goose dips its toes in the waters of yesteryear, their polished effort takes flight into the future.
If they can replicate the sounds of the album live, we think this band will have gaggles of new fans.
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SIX CRUCIAL QUESTIONS FOR… The Brown Goose
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BAND: The Brown Goose
Bass/Vocals – Barrence Dupree (Anchorage, AK)
Guitar/Vocals – Giovanni Marrero-Baez (Tallahasse, FL)
Guitar/Vocals – Mike Ingram (Tallahassee, FL)
Drums – Jonathan McLaughlin (Bainbridge, GA)
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1. What is your earliest musical memory?
Barrence Dupree (Bass/Vocals): Being at ice hockey games when I was maybe 2 or 3-years-old and hearing Dire Straits songs playing between periods and before face-offs. I’d later hear those songs and identify them with those memories and feel nostalgic and happy. So I began to associate music with those feelings and later wanted to pay that feeling forward.
Giovanni Marrero-Baez (Guitar/Vocals): My earliest musical memory is my dad playing his classical guitar. The song that he was playing was called “Ninths” by Joe Pass.
Jonathan McLaughlin (Drums): Listening to hard rock music in the car with my mom at an age that is too young to remember for me.
Mike Ingram (Guitar/Vocals): Being obsessed with rock bands as a child and pre-teen. I literally tried to dress exactly like Tom Delonge from Blink 182 every day.
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2. What has been your most embarrassing musical moment?
Barrence Dupree: Hard one…maybe listening back to live recordings and hearing vocals out of the magic of the live setting context and vibe so feeling like you whiffed it.
Giovanni Marrero-Baez: I think it was my second show I have ever played on stage and I was super nervous so I indulged in a little too much liquid courage… hearing back to the things we were saying on stage on the microphone were just horribly embarrassing.
Jonathan McLaughlin: Trying something in the studio in uncharted territory and it not working out the way I planned it.
Mike Ingram: I tried to jump off of the drum riser and knocked over a lighting rig on a pretty big stage in front of a lot of people once. I then doubled down and spent a good portion of the rest of the song trying to set it back up, only to have it fall back off immediately.
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3. What do you like and dislike about touring?
Barrence Dupree: I love seeing new places and meeting new people and feeding off the audience. I dislike being away from my home and family so often.
Giovanni Marrero-Baez: What I like about touring is all the new places and new people we get to meet and I’m with my best buds so it’s always a great time! What I dislike about touring is having to leave my family, my significant other, and my bed (lol).
Jonathan McLaughlin: I like playing, making new friends, and of course, hanging with my boys in the band. I don’t like missing home life with family and friends and the ability to stay on a regular routine like sleep schedule and diet. It definitely takes a little sacrifice and balance (as close to balance as you can accomplish anyways).
Mike Ingram: I love spending time with my friends playing music as well as getting to see the world more. Least favorite would be missing my girlfriend and family.
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4. What is your favorite record store, anywhere in the world?
Barrence Dupree: The original Amoeba Music on Sunset was my favorite record store. I haven’t seen the new one on Hollywood but I’m sure it too is a monster!
Giovanni Marrero-Baez: I haven’t been to many record stores but there was a really cool one in Memphis that we got to go to but I can’t remember the name of it!
Mike Ingram: Probably the other side vintage in Tallahassee. It’s like a thrift/vintage store and has the cheapest records and a solid selection!
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5. Other than your own music, what is your favorite song or album of all-time? Why?
Barrence Dupree: Make Yourself by Incubus; it was the first CD I bought myself and was sort of on a whim. I listened to it on repeat for months and I think the tones and melodies had a profound influence on my musical path even though I didn’t realize it until several years later.
Stadium Arcadium by Red Hot Chili Peppers; I feel this album showed me that it was definitely possible and perhaps appropriate to throw caution to the wind and not box an album inside a single genre. It’s bold and beautiful, elating and painful, and tells all of the stories of life.
Giovanni Marrero-Baez: I would say right now my favorite album is New Levels New Devils by Polyphia. I love how they mix the trap with metal and the guitar is just beautifully done!
Jonathan McLaughlin: They’re Only Chasing Safety by Underoath because it reminds me of my childhood, and no matter how many times I’ve listened to it over the years, it still has yet to get boring to me.
Mike Ingram: Okay so you know you’re getting more than one right? Feeling Strangely Fine by Semisonic is a hidden gem. Like everyone knows the first track because it’s “Closing Time” but the rest of that album I feel like was the shit and no one even knows about it. Another one that I’ve come back to time and time again is A Lesson in Romantics by Mayday Parade because they are from Tallahassee and that album was everywhere in our little college town when I was growing up so there was a lot of nostalgia in that one. Third, I’m sure someone else is gonna say this too but Make Yourself by Incubus is rock n’ roll gold and has stood the test of time.
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6. You wake up in a seedy Berlin hotel room with no recollection of the past 96 hours. Who is your first call?
Barrence Dupree: 96 hours is a scary specific amount of time to not recall (lol). I’m guessing after that amount of unknown time I’d be missing my own phone. Which part of Berlin are we talking? That would probably make a big difference as to my ability to find a phone to use. I don’t speak any German and also not sure how to even dial America from a German phone. At 96 hours of absence I’d figure most people worried about me would assume the worst so it might not hurt to do some investigation into the blackout and have something to report when I finally figure out how to make a call happen. All that being said I’d call my wife and let her know I’m alive and very confused.
Giovanni Marrero-Baez: Well if I have my phone I would call my woman because she is probably pissed lol.
Jonathan McLaughlin: Barry, because if I’m in Berlin, it’s likely I’m on tour, and he keeps track of the road more than anyone else does (lol).
Mike Ingram: Honestly, probably Barry because he has probably had to deal with situations not too far off from this doing his day job operating logistics for Parliament Funkadelic. That’s probably for another story though.
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Images Courtesy of The Brown Goose and Isotopia Records; Photos by Daniel Shippey
