WHEN it comes to band back stories, Sweden’s Goat take some trumping.

The anonymous group claim to have existed in various incarnations since the late 19th century, due to the fact that the music comes out of several long-running communes in rural Sweden.

Of course, these generations of music were – presumably – a far cry from the kind of guitar-driven world psychedelia that Goat deal in now, but the narrative clearly adds to the mystique of a band who already veil themselves from audiences.

In the same vein, the group request to do interviews via email to protect their anonymity. Somebody under the title Ringo answers my questions, surely a playful nod to Goat’s classic rock influences. Interviewees in the past have included Mr Goatman and Fuzzmaster Flex.

“The main reason is to protect our individual freedom,” says Ringo of his band’s anonymity. “We haven’t seen any disadvantages of this approach yet.”

Anybody who has seen Goat live could not argue against the idea that they seem liberated on stage; the two female singers barely stop dancing throughout any given set, with the masked men at the back supplying blues guitar licks, African percussion and groove-driven bass lines.

It all makes for an immersive and faintly spiritual experience, although the band have denied that their gigs are intended as “rituals”.

All through this, the group seem to remain serene – although, to be fair, you wouldn’t be able to tell otherwise with no access to their faces.

“We are never nervous,” says Ringo.

The evident kinship between Goat’s members extends to the overriding message of their music; to live at peace with the world and one another. This can be evidenced on Union of Mind and Soul and I Sing In Silence, to name two, from their new and third album Requiem.

The band’s lyrics are never particularly complex but then that’s not really the point. “Brother, I am your sister, you are my brother, we have each other” goes the latter track.

Goat have no reservations about calling a song something like Psychedelic Lover, although it’s difficult to tell how seriously they intend people to take this.

Ringo’s verdict that the band were striving for a “crossing between (Seventies’ prog-rock band) Gentle Giant and (new-wave group) Ultravox” with their latest record seems another instance of them poking fun, this time at the press’s expense. The spiritual message they promote is completely from the heart, however.

Ringo believes that we spend too much time living for ourselves and not enough for others and his answers are instantly more expansive on the topic of the communes in which he and the other members supposedly live. “Some of us have been playing music together since we were very young,” he says. Goat have said before that the two communes host two families but Ringo says the members are only related “spiritually. By blood, no. I hope.”

He adds: “I think nowadays it’s up to four communes and growing all the time. Soon the tribe will move to a new place. A secret place. Where we can continue to live in piece with mother Earth.”

He says “freedom and responsibility” are the cornerstones to any successful shared living situation – and there have been plenty that have failed, historically – and that he has physical evidence of his own commune’s past. “I have loads of cassettes, photos, tapes and runes that speak about it.”

So why don’t more people live communally? “We all do but we are fooled to believe we are not. What is society, if you think about it? A big collective consisting of small collectives.

To function we need to do our best within the collectives we are part of and see the big picture.”

This may sound an overly simplistic solution to the world’s ills but a Goat performance typically spreads enough joy and warmth to keep at least a roomful of people happy for a while.

The challenge is carrying that feeling with you day by day.

Full marks to anybody who manages to “live in peace with mother Earth” in the morning rush hour.

The Brighton Dome Corn Exchange, Mon, Oct 17, 01273 709709