Locals Only: : Goose

Jason Arbenz, frontman for soulful, highly-melodic original Rock foursome Goose, has a tradition that has turned into something fun and challenging to his friends and bandmates. While looking through a book about Wilco, Jason saw a photo with a list scribbled on it. The list had several names of bands with cheese brands incorporated into the moniker. Jason took the game further, posted a blog about it, and now friends across the city are coming up with new names to add to the “cheese list.” His dream is to meet Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and show him the list, which includes gems like Camembert Van Beethoven, Fontina Turner and Gouda Charlotte.

Before Goose, Jason, drummer Paul Cavins and guitarist (and Jason’s brother) Jordan Arbenz formed the Oxford, Ohio, band, Liquid Hippos, playing from ’86 until ’88. According to Goose’s bassist Lance Stapleton, he was playing Little League at the time and was beginning to learn the bass.

After the Hippos broke up, Jason and Cavins began their next venture —Throneberry. The band had an eight-year run and scored national attention, touring and releasing albums for Alias Records.

“We scaled heights but didn’t have any future prospects,” Jason says.

Throneberry went through tough times with drummers, losing Michael Horrigan to the Whigs, so Cavins, originally a bassist, started learning how to play.

The end of Throneberry was the beginning of Goose.

In 2002 they began sharing a practice space with The Stapletons, where they met Lance. Jordan (who played with the beloved Love Cowboys after the Hippos) also joined. Live It Up Turn it Goose, which was recorded by Cavins in Roanoke apartments in Clifton, was released last year.

Currently, members have affiliations with other bands: Lance with The Stapletons and Jason with Cari Clara, while Cavins has played with Len’s Lounge. Jordan is a math teacher at Seven Hills High School where his rap skills are used in talent shows. Laughable? Apparently Jordy has skills, including on-the-spot timing. One practice, a guy knocked on their door needing a cell phone and Jordy wouldn’t let him leave until he listened to him rap. Rumor has it that the hostage was pleased.

Pointing out that certain questions aren’t being asked, Jason says he feels that touring should be mentioned.

Are they going to do it?

No.

“Our goals and expectations are drastically lower than when we were younger,” Jason says. “That’s Lance’s job (touring with The Stapletons). He can drive to Iowa City in February if he wants. It used to be that we’d squeeze our lives around music, but now it’s the other way around.”

I ask the boys what they’d take with them if they were forced to stay on an island together. Instruments were the first items mentioned and according to Jason, that counts as one. Lance would bring a helicopter — a remote control toy one. Jason also mentions a graphing calculator and Cavins says he’d choose to bring a seaworthy yacht. The band points out that Cavins is the thinker who gets things done, so when cannibalism comes up (and the brilliancy of his item choice), they realized that they could eat Cavins, but nothing would get done.

Well, they’d still have the yacht, wouldn’t they?

Goose is currently writing a new album and they’re packed with material. “Life’s too short to waste these people’s time,” Jason says after pondering how seriously they take their songwriting and album productions.

Overall, the band loves what they are doing, and they love seeing the select crowds that attend their shows.

“Seeing … other bands at our shows makes us feel great,” Jason says.

This is Goose, and they must have rigged their band name so that cheese-puns could not be involved — even though C.U.R.D. is acceptable for N.E.R.D. as far as Jason is concerned.

This article appears in Feb 14-20, 2007.