The BAND

Lead Vocals / Guitar / Clarinet: Aidan Ward

Lead Vocals / Trombone: Lindsay Alexis

Keyboards / Pineapples / Vocals: Ben Einstein

Bass / Vocals: Derek Burle

Drums: Taylor Moxon

Contact email: vangoatband@gmail.com

Press contact: alex@publicdisplaypr.com

European Booking: kurt.de.bont@telenet.be

Label: Prize Fighter Records
Genre: Swing Punk
Hometown: Oakland, CA
Influences: Devo, Shannon & the Clams, Man Man
Sounds like: Squirrel Nut Zippers, Gogol Bordello, The Clash

Van Goat's Stage Plot: Here

ONLINE

“raw and so energetic that you’ll want to upstage your granddaddy on the dance floor.” - good Times Santa Cruz

"LIKE A SKELETON BAND IN HELL- JAZZ ART PUNK ON HIGH." - AMERICAN PANCAKE

"Spectacularly catchy and exciting and addictive" - The Bay Bridged

"Masterfully mixing Swing, Surf, Punk, and Pineapples into a magical Concoction." - Balanced breakfast

BIOgraphy

“Back in the ’30s and ’40s, swing was a high-energy dance music that people would dance to ’til they passed out. These days, if a band starts up with the clarinets and the ride cymbals, you’ll probably start picturing your great grandpa doing the jitterbug. Oakland’s Van Goat wants to breath a healthy dose of punk rock into swing by making it stripped down, raw and so energetic that you’ll want to upstage your granddaddy on the dance floor.” - Good Times Santa Cruz

Harnessing the diverse DIY aesthetic of their native Oakland, Van Goat (featuring Aidan Ward, Ben Einstein, Derek Burle, Lindsay Alexis, and Taylor Moxon) is in the business of writing not only songs that you can dance to, but entire albums that you can enjoy front to back without pausing or skipping: a musical experience wherein each successive song’s mottled riffs and bewildering charisma is pleasantly startling.

Follow Me Under, the five-piece’s debut full-length LP, pits thick bass lines against rhythmic trombone; pointed lyrics against verdant harmonies: bursts of liveliness in the first half against bursts of contemplation in the second. Side A, so to speak, is the dancing side, and Side B is the meditative side, but the entire LP creates a shindig all its own, plucking together influences both local and global and mashing them together in a cohesive and sophisticated exertion.

Punk. Swing. Ragtime. Southern jazz. Surf. Van Goat is a band to which you could apply many labels, but none would quite prepare you for what you’re about to hear.

Notable Performances:

Shared the stage wit with: Dengue Fever, Agent Orange, Legendary Shack Shakers, The Phenomenauts, Igor & Red Elvises
Festivals played: Noise Pop, Henhouse Freshtival, Lagunitas Skunk Train, Sugartown Festival, East Lake Music Festival, Wild Rooster Festival, Old Cars Rockin’ People, Belgian Classic Trophy, The Festival of August 15
Nineeteen date European tour 2019