Rig Rundown: Goose's Peter Anspach and Rick Mitarotonda

“Are you guys with the band?” A pleasant passerby asked while we were loading out camera gear near the Goose tour bus parked outside Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl.

“No, we’re just here to do an interview.” I responded.

“Oh man, tell the band that last night’s concert was uh-mazing,” exclaimed the joyous fan. “We’ll be talking about it for years to come.”

And with that sort of impassioned, infectious positivity, Goose is following the freeform footsteps of the Grateful Dead, Phish, Dave Matthews Band, and Umphrey’s McGee—where polished, recorded albums are secondary to improvisation-rich, snowflake-unique performances that illicit exchanges like that above. (Adding to their jam-band credit, they livestream most shows, and guitarist Peter Anspach mixes the band’s gigs for release shortly afterwards.)

Formed in 2014, the quintet currently includes: Peter Anspach (guitar, keys, vocals), Jeff Arevalo (percussion, vocals), Ben Atkind (drums), Rick Mitarotonda (guitar, lead vocals), and Trevor Weekz (bass). The Northeast-based crew has released two albums (2016’s Moon Cabin and 2021’s Shenanigans Nite Club), an EP (2020’s Night Lights), and Dripfield is on the horizon, for release on June 24.

However, the recorded songs are just guideposts and mile markers. It is all about the live experience. The band often performs two sets, without an opener, and keeps fans on their toes with natural, symbiotic excursions and unlikely, progressive covers. The first evening of their sold-out, two-night run in Nashville saw them flex their musical adeptness and vocabulary with covers of Wes Montgomery (“Switchin’”) and Steppenwolf (“Magic Carpet Ride”).

Their word-of-mouth growth has elevated them to cross several milestones in 2022. They sold out their first arena (Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut) and followed that with sell-outs at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre and historic Radio City Music Hall. So you can plan on seeing these birds fly high for years to come.

Before Goose’s second sold-out show in Nashville, PG was invited onstage to catalog their current setups. In this Rundown, guitarists Peter Anspach and Rick Mitarotonda show off their all-night 6-string costars, detail the pedals that help them warp space and time for organic odysseys, and Mitarotonda explains how a looper helps him from hitting mental walls and getting cornered in redundant guitar-playing boxes.

00:00 - D’Addario XPND Pedalboard
00:15 - Peter Anspach Intro
00:54 - Peter Anspach's Suhr Mateus Asato Signature Classic
03:32 - Peter Anspach's Fender American Vintage ’62 Stratocaster
05:10 - Peter Anspach's Fender ’64 Custom Deluxe Reverb
06:26 - Peter Anspach's Pedalboard
22:04 - Rick Mitarotonda's Intro & PRS Hollowbody II Piezo
24:50 - Rick Mitarotonda's Mesa/Boogie Express 5:50
26:07 - Rick Mitarotonda's Pedalboard

#rigrundown #goose #guitar

[djspillzmj]

I think we need an updated rundown for 2024

[tonesleuth]

I love the enthusiasm from the members. It’s contagious

[sonsrawk]

Great Rig Rundown! These guys are blowing me away! Great songs and great musicianship!

[colbyfinancialguidance]

Love Goose. Great Rig Rundown. I love even more that people are casually hanging out with their pin-pals and bowling in the background. Fantastic!

[prophetestimate]

I have a funny feeling we will be hearing a lot more about these guys…

[stevensiwinski]

Been searching for a rig rundown of these guys for a while!

[shoobs]

I love their clear commitment to their roles in the band. It definitely shows in their music. Just a great band.

[ericeppensteiner]

23:25 Strike! These guys rule, I got real excited from the teasers. Can't wait to see them sometime.

[LunaWorldcast]

this is what we've needed for a while.... this is IT

[ajleslie]

Strymon is just so damn good! Love the setup and hearing it live!

[mattier]

Wow that first pedal board is like a perfect dream board. So many cool pedals

[nspaceu]

Fantastic as always, I really would have liked to heard about the keyboards too

[edmiglia]

"If I really need to go crazy and you know, send a rocket through the mix, that's the way to do it."
🤘

[jefferywelsh]

Love this inside look. I'm blown away by these guys.

[michaelrogers]

Please do an updated rig rundown! They'll be in Nashville on Oct 24th. I especially want to see Trevor's bass rig. He has the best tone! Thanks

[BradleyRayMilner]

This is awesome, thank you for doing this rundown. I know this is called Premier Guitar and not Premier Bass but I NEED to know more about the Trevor Weekz rig.

[KCroc]

This band is amazing I love getting lost in their music.

[misterros]

23:10 his deadpan delivery is so good 😂

[OG-giku-zbnj]

This was a show about the existence of the shadow self...and the elephantmen hiding inside us all saw his shadow 👀, , and realized....it was not 100% Sold on Goose...

[Abigail-nsfk]

My dad was president of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. He was an orchestra conductor as a side hobby