GOOSE have always managed to unite people. Rockers and ravers. Pill-heads and piss-heads. Minimalists and maximalists. Technojunkies and indie-dance kids. They bring together two polar worlds and make them seem like they were always meant to be together. And they did this the hard way. It’s much easier to go down the well trodden path, but bands like GOOSE know that although the journey is more treacherous, the view from the path less traveled is always better, the people who take that path are braver and the journey more interesting. We spoke to frontman Mickael Karkousse about this very route and just what exactly are the band up to today.
KALTBLUT: What has it been like being back on the road for the new album?
Mickael: Absolutely wonderful. We really enjoy playing the new songs. I remember the moment when we were ready for the tour after a period of rehearsing the songs. We were so excited to share it with our fans.
KALTBLUT: What place has stood out to you the most during the tour, and why?
Mickael: Playing the Main Stage at Rock Werchter was special. It was more than just a concert. It felt like both a celebration for all the hard work from over the years and at the same time an enormous challenge to play for 60k people who are also waiting for the Red Hot Chili Peppers to start their show right after us.
KALTBLUT: Could you tell us a little more about your new work? What was the production process, and how was it working with Jason Falkner? Did you find working together very natural? How did you initially meet?
Mickael: We just finished a project called “De/ReConstruction”. A one off performance where we played a 30 minute song while we were physically separated from each other divided over 4 floors. Very intense. A month later we flew to Los Angeles to start forming the album. The most important step was to get our 4 heads in the same direction. Being away from everything we knew and just be with the 4 of us was exactly what we needed. This new environment inspired us to challenge ourselves. By choosing to perfect the songs first before we started to work on the sound. In that process, Jason Falkner was a good help. He is a great arranger and musician, it was a dream come true really to spend all that time together in a small (hot) room working on music together. Once we perfected the songs and recorded lots of live instruments, which most of them were piano’s, guitars and percussion we returned home with a disc full of data. That’s when we started to tweak the sound and really felt that we were making an album.
KALTBLUT: Do you feel like the 4 year break was much needed, creatively speaking? And did the production process start naturally on this new album after this time?
Mickael: We don’t call those 4 years break, because next to touring, we were involved in so many different projects like DeReContruction, but also in the production of other acts. To be honest we didn’t realize that our last album dated from 2012. We promise not to wait that long again to make a new album.
KALTBLUT: How do you feel your music has been received by current fans and/or new listeners? And how do you feel your music fits into today’s society after witnessing over a decade of musical changes?
Mickael: You know, we like to see our self as musical explorers. We like to try new things and explore new possibilities. We think that our fans appreciate that and that is probably one of the reasons they listen to GOOSE and not something more bubble gum like. In a way we are confused about what has happened with how we consume music. Sometimes I’m wondering if people actually listen to music or if it has become some kind of white noise in the background that you hardly notice. That’s way we need to keep challenging each other and keep it fresh for us and our audience. Where has the rock’n roll gone?
KALTBLUT: Your “What You Need” short film is beautifully shot, and the artwork/design to accompany your music is clearly important. Could you tell us a little more about this?
Mickael: Artwork has always been very important to us because it stands in direct relation with the music. Director Willy Vanderperre came in the process at a very early stage. He was one of the first persons to hear our demo’s and to fully understand the album we were making. We started talking about our favorite music video’s of all time, about the evolution we made as musicians and most importantly we wanted to create a visual world around the album that was personal. The result is a timeless portrait of the band and the studio where we worked over the last couple of years. Willy’s choice to put 4 portraits on the album cover was pure genius. We would never have thought of this because it’s so confronting. Are we really ready to put our face on the cover? But it more than about our faces on the cover. You see 4 persons, very rough and natural. No filters, nothing fake about it. It stands for the album we tied to make: a personal album without wanting to please anybody else but us. Not fashionable or trendy, but rough and straight from the heart.
KALTBLUT: How do you transfer your music into a live performance with this design aspect?
Mickael: It’s all about the gut feeling. Live there is no room for grey. It’s either black or white. Meaning that we translate the songs to it’s purest form. As we play everything live we need to make choices and play the arrangements that matter everything else is just creating a blur that stands in the way of us and our audience. In contrary we seek for a direct connection with our crowd.
KALTBLUT: I love the Soulwax remix of “Synrise” that appeared on GTA, are you working with anyone else for remixes or collaborations at the moment?
Mickael: Yes we just received a remix from Mumbai Science and we are expecting one, that should come in any moment now, from our buddies from Digitalism.
KALTBLUT: What is next?
Mickael: We are ready to promote the album in the fall and tour all around Europe. The 26th of October we’ll play our first arena show in Antwerp and to be honest we are really looking forward to that. This year we are celebrating the 10th Y anniversary of our debut album ‘Bring It On’. For that occasion we will re release the vinyl later this year.
‘What You Need’ is out now via Safari Records
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Photography by Willy Vanderperre
