Goat (band)

Formation

Goat, though currently based in Gothenburg, claims to hail from Korpilombolo in Sweden which, according to the band's own publicity, has a history of voodoo worship after a witch doctor came and lived there. Supposedly, when Christian crusaders came and destroyed the village the surviving people fled and placed a curse on the town. This has been described as "a lovely story, if possibly not entirely rooted in reality."

The band started playing music when they were children, as part of a local community tradition, and there have been many incarnations of Goat who have recorded over the last "30 or 40 years". There are now three original "core" members of the band, from Korpilombolo, but in live concerts they are augmented by four other performers from Gothenburg.

Recording career

The group signed to Rocket Recordings, a UK-based record label formed in 1998. In 2012 they released their debut single "Goatman" on limited edition vinyl, and began recording their first album. Commenting on the writing process, band member said:

"The songwriting process is strange. Normally, when we play together we don't play songs – we make music – and every time we play is a new time. When we had the possibility to record, we have made songs for the album. It started with the song 'Goatman', and that song was recorded just for us. Then Rocket [Recordings] asked us to write some more and we continued. Our songs are never really finished and we never know how they will end up when we start recording."

World Music was released on 20 August 2012 and has won good responses and international attention. The title of the album comes from the different styles of music on the album. Goat commented:

"We've been taught since we were small to have an understanding of not only western bands, but of music from other parts of the world. The title World Music was chosen because we believe we play 'world music', and that's what we think everyone plays".

Performances

The band performs wearing masks and costumes.

After touring the United States in early 2013 the band played at that year's Glastonbury Festival and the final holiday camp edition of All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Camber Sands, England. In 2014, they played at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California and the Latitude Festival in Southwold, Suffolk, UK. In 2015, they played again at Glastonbury Festival, at Roskilde Festival in Denmark and Pukkelpop in Belgium. In 2016 the band is set to play, amongst others, at Primavera Sound in Barcelona, Cactusfestival in Bruges, and End of the Road festival in Wiltshire, UK.

EPs and singles