Goat Motor

It's only a couple hours ride to Chicago any time you want to check out Goatmotor's live chops, but why not just cruise down to Bell's Kalamazoo Brewing Company Eccentric Café & Beergarden on Saturday?
Goatmotor brings its own "hard-driven, heavy, jam-oriented Southern rock jam blues" to Kalamazoo, explained lead guitarist/vocalist and Columbia College Music major graduate Nate Wolverton, who specialized in jazz studies and performance.
WMU students don't have to brave 5 p.m. Lake Shore Drive traffic to visit the Windy City's Elbow Room, Beat Kitchen, or Abbey Pub -- normal stopovers for the Chicago band.
Goatmotor is coming through Michigan playing Bell's as part of a mini-tour where they are traveling through Grand Rapids, the Lake Shore Tavern in Muskegon, and Toledo, which is their drummer's old stomping grounds. This is the group's second appearance in Kalamazoo, having played here previously in September.
"Last time, it was awesome," Wolverton said. "We had a blast in Kalamazoo. It's a really friendly town."
That "we" includes drummer/lead vocalist Dan McMurray, a recent second place finisher in a Guitar Center Drum-Off competition, and bassist/vocalist Dustin Fillion, both Chicago north-side residents along with Wolverton.
Wolverton has lived there for almost 10 years now, with no plans to move. That's because the city has gone through a recent explosion in its music scene. Wolverton explained that live music "has really kicked in" there in the last year and a half. He didn't explain why the occurrence has happened, but is highly appreciative that the previous dry spell of lack of support for live music has seemed to have ended -- curiously post-Smashing Pumpkins and Wilco peaking.
Live music is central in importance to Goatmotor. Some groups, such as fellow Chicago band Slow News Day, another Beat Kitchen frequenter, play minimalist 45-minute sets and call it a night, but Goatmotor regularly cranks out four-hour gigs like Energizer Bunnies with Modulus five-string basses and standard 1991 Les Paul guitars. These are the preferred stringed instruments of Fillion and Wolverton, respectively, although Wolverton's dream axe is a Gibson Firebird.
The Bell's set will be no different with the show kicking off at 9:30 p.m., the band playing two hours with no opening act, taking a half-hour break, and then doing another hour-and-a-half set. Wolverton said it usually depends on the crowd whether or not that last set gets stretched out even longer.
Live material is available at www.goatmotor.com for aficionados wishing to hear the band's earlier Bell's gig, but Wolverton encouraged folks to put down the $3 door cover to hear the real thing. In hopes of encouraging a good turnout, Wolverton added, "We'll be handing out free acid. No, I'm kidding."
- Ron Riekki, Western Times, Kalamazoo

From city to city, do the people really change? Are sites just mirror images from the city before?

If this is your mentality then you have been in a band for way too long, and chances are, you play your set every night only to end your set every night.

Goat Motor, a blues and hard-rock band from Chicago, try to bring a new atmosphere to every venue with new faces every night.

Goat Motor is comprised of Dustin Fillion, bass and vocals, Dan McMurray, drums and vocals, and Nate Wolverton, guitars and vocals.

Fillion is a 2002 UT alumnus and graduated with a degree in music.

Fillion said that after he graduated, he moved to Chicago where he met his current bandmates through an online music forum.

Now they compromise Goat Motor, and Fillion said his band tries to be unlike other bands who go from song to song every night.

"We like to build the music," he said, describing the building as improvising at the beginning of their set and seeing where it takes them.

For one, it will take them on an endurance test.

Fillion said he recognizes how a lot of bands will focus on playing their 45-mintue or hour set and just be done with it.

Goat Motor has a tendency to see what other bands do and feels the need to multiply that by about four.

"We will play two sets of like an hour and 45 minutes each," he said. "Our style is intense."

Fillion said Goat Motor is able to fill more than three hours because they have released two live albums, an EP and they are working on a new album, which could be released before the year ends.

Before Goat Motor played their first of more than 100 shows, Fillion was a part of two bands at UT.

He said he started getting involved with music in the seventh grade, but when he came to UT, he was a part of Urth, a jam and fusion band, and Poe Ditch, which is more like Goat Motor - more hard rock and blues.

Fillion even played at Headliner's when he was at UT, and he said he is looking forward to coming back to the area when Goat Motor comes to The Village Idiot at 309 Conant St. in Maumee on Sept. 16.

When Goat Motor does come to The Village Idiot, someone shouldn't expect one person in the group to be the center of attention.

All three members of the band have lead vocals from track to track, Fillion said.

He said this allows for the band not to be driven by any other motivation but making music and enjoying life on the road.

"We are trying to better than a sum of it's parts," Fillion said about the three-piece band.

With no one pulling the reigns of being the lead song writer, a variety of ideas come through their songs; from people who upset them, to what's going on in the world, to love and war subjects, he said.

Fillion has not forgotten the university that has helped to get him to where he is.

"[The music program] was great," he said. "I loved learning music theory and I remember Norm Damschroder, he taught jazz history and gave private lessons."

Now Fillion and Goat Motor are located out of Chicago, which Fillion said gives him access to so many other opportunities.

"There is so much to offer a musician, so many gigs to play," he said.
- John Malich, Independent Collegian, University of Toledo

Newly formed yet apparently extensively rehearsed power trio Goat Motor played their first official gig at Chicago’s Elbo Room on May 11, 2004. Comprised of the standard power trio setup of drums, guitar, and bass; the similarities with other power trios seem to end there, other than maybe jazz trios. In their abbreviated six song set, Goat Motor transgressed a number of styles and genres, including some ‘standard’ power trio-esque material. These transgressions so prominent and seamless that an aural observer in an adjacent room could easily mistake Goat Motor for having four or even five members. And at the same time one could be somewhat confused, pleasantly, from one song to the next as they seamlessly segued from rock to funk to soul, etc. This is clearly a testament to their outstanding musicianship and boundless creativity, and their communicated desire to avoid being pigeonholed. Well selected covers as well as some surprisingly developed and crafted originals for a new band made their set a pleasure for all in attendance to behold, the majority of which had actually showed to see Goat Motor specifically. Apparently they’ve gotten started on the right hoof with a few friends to spread the word in Chicago. There will undoubtedly be more to come from this trio, and it’ll likely be vastly different and improved (they were great, but there’s always room for improvement, and their standards seem to be pretty high). Listen up! And to download free MP3’s and find out a little more about them, check out www.goatmotor.com - Naked Sunfish Written By Patrick O'Malley

The music from this next band was quite evident of their taste in blues/country rock throughout their set. It was the type of music you would probably hear at a juke joint tucked away somewhere in the bayou. Featured before on the New Music Binge, Goat Motor impressed SouthSide with an awesome buildup to their opening song which immediately grabbed her attention. What this reviewer liked about this band was the duties of lead vocalist were shared by everyone. Each song Goat Motor performed completely presented different vocal styling from Dusty on bass, Dan on drums and Nate on guitar. Whew! This 3-member band can really sing. For example while performing Settle Down, Dan wowed SouthSide with his raspy Joe Cocker-like vocals during the blues rock song. On Fire Water, Nate had that country rock vocal styling which was cool and enjoyable to hear. The audience thoroughly enjoyed their jammin’ song instrumentals that were hot. Check out the song instrumental to Fire Water. You had to be there, Fearless fans, to hear it which the entire band was rockin’ from beginning to end with this amazing southern rock sound. This band had wicked guitar and bass riffs as well as a good drum performance during most of their songs. It was funtastic rockin’ blues/ country rock with Goat Motor especially when Dusty was feeling the rock vibes at the start of one song. Their last song of the set, How Could I Be So Blind, had one hot bass-drum duet during the instrumental until the guitar joined in the mix. This band closed the song and set with a rockin’ buildup that blew away SouthSide’s ears. Goat Motor has a new LP coming out 6th February however, Fearless fans, you can hear a sneak preview on their MySpace page. This is one band you will really have a fun time listening. Visit their websites at www.goatmotor.com or www.myspace.com/goatmotor.
- SouthSide On The Town, Fearless Radio

The 10-song debut from heavy blues rock power trio Goat Motor amply displays the solid chops they’ve honed during three years together. Pedestrian lyrics and rote percussion that brings to mind a second coming of Grand Funk Railroad aside, there are times when the serviceable vocals and solid fretwork/interplay of guitar and bass in some of the cuts brought forward more pleasurable images of Cream. In short, loosening things up could make pretty good chops even better. - David C. Eldridge, Illinois Enertainer

"Goat Motor begins the bio on its web site with the Wikipedia definition of "power trio," and within the first 30 seconds of "Law Man" the opening track on its self-titled 10-song album, It pretty much covers all the bases of what a hard-driving, vintage 70's power trio ought to do, giving us the massive rhythms (complete with cowbell), deliriously fuzz-drenched, Marshall-amplified guitars, and rip-roarin' whiskey-tinged vocal expressing bad-boy disdain for officers of the law. Good stuff, and the group brags that it's eeven better onstage; find out when it plays a record release party at 9PM, Feb. 3 at the Kinetic Playground, 1113 W. Lawrence." - Jim DeRogatis, Chicago Sun-Times