Silly Goose, courtesy.

The humble beginnings of rising rap-rock stars Silly Goose seem long ago. Coming up outside of Atlanta, the band got creative, leaning on guerrilla-style performances in parking lots and trailers to find new listeners.

“We started off doing a lot of this crazy stuff in the street because we’re just some kids from the suburbs,” frontman Jackson Foster said. “No one knew us, no one would come to our shows and we needed to reach new people. So we thought, ‘Why don’t we just go to where the fans are?'”

Foster and drummer Alan Benikhis, who played in a high school band up until the pandemic in 2020, formed Silly Goose with guitarist Ian Binion and bassist Yalli Alvarez. The band’s surprise DIY shows weren’t random. The musicians strategized before deciding to set up shop in the parking lot at Ohio’s Inkcarceration Festival, produced by Danny Wimmer Presents. A frustrated Wimmer came out to confront the band and was instead impressed. Then he invited Silly Goose to come back to play at the festival the next day.

It’s been an upward trajectory since, with the band playing larger and larger stages to people familiar with their songs. The band has built confidence and a personality.

“You learn what to say and what not to say on stage,” Foster said.

But Silly Goose hasn’t abandoned its propensity for chaos on stage and performances in unexpected places. For the video for “Bad Behavior,” the quartet and its fans took over a commuter train car to film a raucous performance.

While many bands have increasingly relied on backing tracks at shows, Foster said Silly Goose’s mission also looks to reignite an old-school sound.

“We like to get up there, plug in and play. There’s no samples, no bullshit,” he said, before throwing in a joke: “One day we’ll start using that, and this interview will be referenced!”

While he promised the band will “continue to do crazy shit out in the street,” he acknowledged that the new reality as a legit touring operation is a welcome change.

“There’s definitely more of a business behind it now, which is something I had to learn,” he said. “Every night there’s a venue: There’s a time we got to be there; we gotta promote the shows. It’s all a good change, though.”

The band’s influences aren’t difficult to pin down. Silly Goose is bombastic fusion of rap and hard rock, recalling the nu-metal glory days of Limp Bizkit and Rage Against the Machine. Their music has a youthful energy—the members are in their early 20s—and a punk ethos that’s uniquely Gen Z.

“Our whole mission is to bring that sound back because no one really does that anymore, but to do it in a way that’s new and current,” Foster said. “I want kids … to be able to listen to the band and not have it be a ‘90s novelty thing. We want everybody.”

The writing is straightforward. Foster said it can start with a riff by Binion or one of his own lyrics. The members will then flesh out a demo on a computer.

“I’ll write some crazy lyrics, and the band will veto about a third of them. They’ll tell me, ‘Nah, you can’t say that,’” Foster said, smiling.

Silly Goose is touring its latest EP, Bad Behavior.

“I feel like it’s the best thing we’ve ever done, and it’s definitely streaming better than anything we’ve ever done,” Foster said.

The band is also working toward a full-length album that Foster said is written but needs to be recorded. The band hopes to release it sometime next year.

The band will finish off its next tour with a ShipRocked Cruise. A cruise concert might not be entirely conducive to the band’s explosive MO, but Foster said he’s already trying to figure out how to make a scene.

“I think there’s a no-moshing rule on the boat,” he said. “I’ll find a way to cause to some chaos.”

Follow writer Mike DeWald at mikedewald.bsky.social.