The legend

Behold Gooferman, an ever-morphing micro circus of klown-fi and wanton circus performers built on an entirely unique bedrock of breakbeat, funk, drum & bass, reggaeton, rock, hip hop, and whirled beat, all parlayed to the audiences of the world by a new-fangled, super-styled breed of klown.

In August 2001, the gods got stoned and, among other miscues, let loose upon the Earth what would amount to one of the modern age’s most innovative, inexcusable oddities. Based in San Francisco, Gooferman originally materialized as an unsanctioned back-alley experiment in lo-brow, improvisational aural expression. Then things turned electronic; things got carbonated. This led to that, and that to this: A trip to Miami’s Winter Music Conference in 2003 pushed one too many buttons, and the gods of the Red Nose spoke: “Abandon all pretense. Gather the klowns. Fight the power.” So the klowns were gathered. The power was fought. Pretense was shoved off a cliff.

Thus, in August of 2004, Gooferman found themselves out at Burning Man, land of the truly strange and eccentric, tripping just the right amount of balls on a perfectly Technicolored, junkyard stage. The klowns’ instruments – some conventional, some not so – took on a life of their own. Things got hybridized; things got thumpity. And once the dust settled, it became plainly evident that Gooferman had undergone its own Big Bang.

Gooferman’s performed throughout the US — including festival appearances at Outside Lands, Electric Daisy Carnival, Bumbershoot, Symbiosis Gathering, Lightning In A Bottle, New Orleans Jazz Festival, Vegoose, Download Festival, Burning Man, Lagunitas Beer Circus, and the 2008 944 Superbowl VIP Party — while purveying their signature klown-fi through endless locally and regionally slotted high-octane, micro-circus spectacles both above- and underground (including SF’s acclaimed Bohemian Carnival, with co-host and frequent collaborator, the Vau de Vire Society). They’ve opened for 50 Cent and Wyclef Jean, performed with Paul Oakenfold, collaborated with Angelo Moore (of Fishbone), and shared billing with the likes of Primus, Spoon, Ween, Flaming Lips, G Love & Special Sauce, Dave Matthews, Gogol Bordello, Beats Antique, and Devotchka, among others.