Geese’s Gus Green and Foster Hudson on turning dad rock influences into their urgent NY post-punk guitar sound

New York post-punks Geese made a big splash in 2021 with their debut album Projector – frenetic, full of energy, with two tangled guitars at the centre of every song, via the unorthodox partnership of Gus Green and Foster Hudson.

The band started out as high school friends who were just “screwing around”, according to Gus, who says of Projector: “There’s a lot of youthful energy in the record. We were in high school and just doing our thing. And we’re still babies, we’re still only 19.”

Both Foster and Gus were brought up on a sonic diet of dad rock, with alt-rock stalwarts like Radiohead and Wilco thrown into the mix. Despite this, Gus says: “Foster and I couldn’t really be more different as guitar players.”

Foster agrees: “Usually, we’ll end up playing something wildly different to each other.” The result is what Gus calls “good guitar interplay and driving rhythm instrumentals with some nice abstract melodies on top”.

Foster admits: “I’ve always been envious of Gus’s tone, to be honest.” What Gus says in response is a little more tongue-in-cheek: “With Foster, I really feel like there’s a direct line between what he’s feeling and thinking and then the fingers on the fretboard. But he likes distortion too damn much!”

Foster’s current weapon of choice is a Les Paul Special, equipped with two P-90s. He laughs: “I had another guitar like this that I may or may not have smashed at a show.”

Gus, on the other hand, is a little more attached to a black Reverend Double Agent with a humbucker in the bridge and a P-90 in the neck position. “I was very close to buying a Fender when I was looking for a guitar,” Gus says. “Then I found this in a store and it sounded amazing. It cost about $500 less than a Fender would, so I got it!”

Asked if there is a second album in the works yet, the pair are wary of giving too much away, but Foster – the quieter of the pair – confirms: “It will be different,” adding with a smile, “We like to be mysterious.”

• Projector is out now via Partisan Records.