This Band Is Bringing Back Nu-Metal With Raucous Shows

If you had nu-metal making a trendy comeback on your 2024 bingo card, then you’re a real freak on a leash.

The late 1990s and early 2000s subgenre peaked so hard in pop culture back then that such bands as Limp Bizkit, Korn and Linkin Park were seemingly everywhere. Fred Durst, the flippant Bizkit frontman, even lit up tabloids — the pre-social media equivalent of going viral — for a reported fling with Britney Spears, the pop queen of the new millennium. Seriously, you can look up all the tea, and more, about Durst’s dating drama. It was a short, yet wild, ride for nu-metal, but by the mid-2000s, it had been replaced by a new alternative flavor of the week (emo and metalcore).

Now, decades after its braggadocious beginnings, there is a new wave of nu-metal bands that are loving this it and want to keep rollin’, rollin’, rollin’. One of the top dogs right now is Atlanta’s Silly Goose.
Don’t let the name fool you, though. Vocalist Jackson Foster, drummer Alan Benikhis, guitarist Ian Binion and bassist Yalli Alvarez are serious about bringing nu-metal to a new generation.

“It’s like nu-metal hasn’t been big for a long time. I feel like lately, I’ve noticed that nu-metal and hardcore are trending right now,” Alvarez, the newest goose in the gaggle, says. “I’m noticing a lot of bands are starting to pop off from it. I feel like if we had done this ten years ago, it wouldn’t have been as successful.”

Well, Silly Goose doesn’t just sit around and wait for shit to happen; the members go out and create their own opportunities. The crew has that Atlanta hustle and swagger, building a rep by crashing larger festivals and playing pop-up shows wherever it lands. Just this summer, Silly Goose set up across Chicago during Lollapalooza, landing at gas stations or jumping on the roof of the band van, all four nights. Last year, the group went viral for throwing down in a Subway sandwich shop. What the fuck is up, Subway?

Alvarez and Benikhis are crammed in a car, gear and merch piled up behind them, while they make the mind-numbing drive through Ohio and Pennsylvania Dutch country en route to that night’s gig in Boston.

It’s only about a nine-hour drive, Benikhis shares, as if it’s a leisurely stroll. Silly Goose is currently on a cross-country trek with UnityTX and Mugshot. The tour stops in Denver on Tuesday, October 8, at HQ.

Since first forming five years ago, Silly Goose prefers to cut its teeth (beak?) on the road, even if things don’t always go as planned. Like the start of this run at Louder Than Life Fest in Louisville, Kentucky. Remnants of Hurricane Helene, which devastated the east coast, forced organizers to cancel. That’s when Silly Goose got to work.

“They put us in Code Red for most of the day, then right before gates opened, they canceled the whole day,” Benikhis recalls, adding that a downtown five called Mag Bar had a stage for the taking.

“We drove over there and asked if we could do this, started setting up, then drove back to the festival,” he continues. “As soon as the fest canceled, there were so many people waiting in line at the doors, we immediately ran out there and told everyone, ‘Guys, we’re doing a show here at Mag Bar in Louisville, Kentucky, tonight…for free.’ Then immediately scrambled to get over there. It was like 7:30 p.m. when we left the festival.”

Silly Goose made the 9 p.m. set time, of course, salvaging something from nothing once again.

“We don’t know the exact number, but the capacity of Mag Bar, I believe, is 100 to 150. It was completely packed. Outside in the line, there were about 400 to 500 people. It was insane,” Alvarez adds.

“The bouncers wouldn’t let any more people in. We were telling people to jump over the fence to get in and pack it up even more. I saw some dudes trying to break a glass door trying to get in. It was kind of scary,” he continues. “The people who didn’t get inside stayed just to come and hang out. It was a really cool, insane experience. That room was 100 degrees, or more. It was so hot in there.”

Silly Goose is only heating up, too, particularly after the recent release of EP Bad Behavior last month. The five latest tracks feature everything that make rap-rock and nu-metal endearing, as well as a little hardcore here and there. Foster’s vocal delivery is reminiscent of Durst’s as he punctuates certain syllables and four-letter curse words, while Binion’s more technical guitar work leans more toward metalcore in its polish than traditional nu-metal.

Benikhis, who initially started the band with Foster, considers Limp Bizkit to be Goose’s patron saint of nu-metal, though he digs him some Gojira and Lamb of God, too.

Alvarez is more of the hardcore head out of the four of them.

Before they lose reception in the heartland, the duo gives props to other bands in the new nu-metal movement, including their tourmates.

 “It’s the best time to be a nu-metal band,” Alvarez concludes.

Silly Goose, with UnityTX and Mugshot, 6 p.m. Tuesday, October 8, HQ, 60 South Broadway. Tickets are $20.