22-12-2009Album reviews - The Ghost Of A Thousand
New Hopes New Demontrations
The UK hardcore scene looks bright in 2009. Last month saw Gallow release the superb 'Grey Britain' affirming their place amongst the rest of the worlds elite and now its time for The Ghost Of A Thousand to rise up and join the cockney punks as a tremendous representation of the UK alternative industry.
Opening with 'Moved as Mountains, Dreamt of by the Sea' shows the technical mastery that is displayed throughout New Hopes, New Demonstrations both in terms of musicianship and production value. It is crushingly heavy rolling the album into the station with the force of a freight train. The vocals as spat with rapid furore and the guitars provide a resounding presence alongside the crisply punctuated drum sounds. It is in the songs uniquely laden clean and harsh vocals sitting on top of one another and works with pleasing consequence. As an opener its worthy of its placement, ferral and uncompromising but eloquent enough for its medium gives the polish to accompany the raw intensity the band have been gaining so much praise for.
Bright Lights continues in similar vein, nothing resolutely outstanding but by no means to be considered filler. The rumbling bass builds up the typical momentary calm to swamping cruscendo that is intense in its delivery and seems destined to be a live favourite. The punk element is alive in 'Knees, Toes, Teeth' with its catchy chorus hook making up for the padded verse sections.
'Canyon of Static'is a powerhouse of a song which displays enough linear persuasion to flow casually with the blastbeat of the kick drum and Lacey's lyrical inclusions. Using the bridge as a tool for building the song to its grand finale it makes 'Canyon of Static' stand as one of the albums best crown jewels sat on a bed of polished gems.
The album swiftly moves in and out of quality song each one displaying enough of The Ghost of A Thousands' raw form but with enough maturity and reflection to try out new tacts and explore the grey areas of the popular genre. Nobody like a hero has a brooding dark meoldic rock undercurrent and 'Running on Empty' shows the bands punk roots in all their youthful exuberance. It's in 'Fed To The Ocean' that the albility of vocalist Lacey shines through even more so than had already been comfortably offered and the vocal hook sits above the emphatic riffery.
This is an album that is set to be talked about in the Hardcore circles for ages to come, wether they can take it to a mainstream market like compatriots Gallows depends upon how the general public takes to their version of a fastly rising sound. The songs have the ability and to watch the band live confirms that they can do it on all fronts. It's looking like it could be a busy year for the guys in The Ghost Of A Thousand.
08-07-2009Live review - The Ghost Of A Thousand
Sharks step to the mic and look out for the highly risen stage in the small room of Sheffield's The Corporation. Taking view over a small but generally enthusiatic crowd they start with their brand of punk rock which bears far more emphasis on the punk than the rock. The music is good and it sounds collectively appealing however for the first couple of songs the vocals sound too monotone and not being the biggest fan of old school punk in its purest form I find it to the bands detrement. Towards the latter half of their set they manage to pull it together for a powerful finish and with their punk swagger they depart to a luke warm reception.
As The Computers walk past to take the stage I notice one thing, being in this band must require a years supply of Daz to keep the uniform white shirt white jeans combo adorned by every member looking so brilliantly white. Not the biggest fan of gimmick's or uniforms it passes me by as to the meaning but from their opening note I'm thinking of nothing else other than, 'These guys are possibly the best and freshest thing in a long, long time' They play a unique mix of brash punk rock, without a three pronged hellish screaming vocal combo, in which each one has their own unique sound and they display a good knowledge of structure and arrangements. Sounding like the brashest mix of Cancer Bats, Alexisonfire, Billy Talent and numerous other punk upstarts they compose themseleves as a totally original sounding band. Their a likeable bunch of chaps and the guys from Devon communicate well with good banter, the lead vocalist and guitarist coming down to join the crowd for a good headbang and some of the best faux metal gurns that all add to make for one of the most exciting sets I've seen in a while. Not usually being one for these kind of statements, these guys could be the future in terms of direction for brash aggressive British punk rock.
Then it is time for tonights main attraction, the north/south culmination that is The Ghost Of A Thousand. A room that moments before seemed rather sparsely filled fills in the moments that they take to the stage and the confined surroundings of the dingy looking Corporation begin to swelter in the heat. Coming out with 'Moved As' the band whip up a frenzied and fevered response and the sound looks as though it is playing ball. The thunderous chugs and razor wire strumming all keep the intensity rising.
It's with new single 'Bright Lights' that the room suddenly errupts and the tiny area infront of the stage becomes what is essentially a room filled pit, the band respond in equal measure and vocalist Tom dives down to join the crowd, gripping on to fans, jumping in to people and looking like he's having a pretty damn good time doing it. The band look like they have felt the benefit of numerous tours and although this is only the fourth date on the current outing The Ghost Of A Thousand are a tight, well oiled machine able to operate as five individuals each playing their part in the culminating sounds of visceral punk rock. Vocalist Tom seems like a decent chap and interacts well, providing comedy by instructing the fans to replace the 'Wall Of Death' with a walk and a handshake and pat on the pack, as he states 'Punk Rocks all about community you know, and this is where it all starts' as effective and true the words he says it fails miserably and on the count of 4 the aggression that the band extort upon their instruments is matched by the fans as two sides of the room dive into each other.
Each member controls their own area of the stage, the snare roll of the drums appearing to command the beat and stab through the wall of noise from the guitars provided by the well positioned long haired Jag Jago's posturing looking even cooler in the windswept motions of rocking the shit out of his guitar. Other highlights include 'Nobody Likes You' and 'Bored Of Math' although its hard to pick out any songs that stand out as bad when there all that good! Closing on the classics of 'Running on Empty' and 'Black Art' and Tom has now stationed himself, mic stand and all, firmly in the crowd. It's close and intensely personal just as you expect punk rock to be made all the better in the knowledge that the band share the exact same ethos I begin the drive back home envigorated and highly charged considering it's 11pm on a Sunday evening.
Set List: Moved As, Bright Lights, New Toy, Nobody Likes You, Left For, Up To You, Knees Toes Elbows, One For The Road, Bored of Math, Fed To The Ocean, Running On Empty, Black Art
15-12-2008Interview - The Ghost Of A Thousand
The first thing to note as I take my seat in the dressing room next to the frontman is his seeming unease, not with myself or the interview process instead it appears more of a want to remain as the punk rock spirit he rages about later that night, part of the community. Perhaps it's the questions being posed but Tom is happy to talk on a number of subjects and is also smart and educated although it seems he is determined to be just another person in the punk rock movement, no raised plateaus or heightened sense of self importance and in today's industry where so many kids are in it for the fame it's a hugely refreshing notion.
Just how good are The Ghost Of A Thousand and how relevant are they you may ask? The question to both is massively. The musicianship on New Hopes matches the passion that is poured into the live performance of each of the songs and the lyrical content and themes are all real to the people that they intend to perform for. If the band all share the same mentality as their amiable vocalist then they will do themselves no harm as they meet industry insiders and fans and treat them all exactly the same.
The tour, how's it going? How many dates are you into it so far now?
We've done four, so this is number five. We've got another eleven to go...
So it's quite a long stint?
Yeh it's cool, we're all warmed up now...we all know each other pretty well
And you guys are all pretty used to long touring jaunts?
Yeh it's nothing new for us
How does it feel to say be going out on this on your own headline tour?
It's kinda scary sometimes just because we're still a very new band. We've only just had our second record out and we're playing a lot of places we've never been to before, so we're kinda testing the water a little bit and we're playing places we haven't been to for years like Sheffield.
How have the vibes been going? How has the reception been?
Yeh it's been really cool actually, I think people have been really up for it
Has the new album been going down well on tour even though it's just come out?
Yeh people are still getting used to it...
You guys have toured obviously with a lot of the big British bands that are really making waves at the moment. How much do you think that's helped you get to where you are now and how much has it changed the way you maybe look at touring?
Well obviously it's helped with playing in front of loads of different people, which is cool and I think we've always just stuck to what we do. It's cool playing with big bands and see how they approach a situation but I think what marks us out is that we just try and do it our own way anyway and that's kinda what people respond to best rather than try and copy other people's styles
So what would you say has changed going from the touring? Have you got a van now or have you stepped up?
Yeh well we've always been in a van so nothing fancy, it's just a load of seats and a stereo...I don't think we have particularly complex touring needs it's just bottles of water and shit
So next thing is the Epitaph...how was it signing to those guys?
Yeh it was incredible! I mean it's a bit daunting because you look at their roster of stuff they've put out over the years but it's cool they're taking chances on bands occasionally so it's cool.
It seemed like it was in the works for a while. How did it all just come about?
We just got an email for Peter who's the guy who runs the label and he just emailed us and said “I like your stuff...what's the deal”...and he came down to the show and he really liked us. We weren't really ready to sign until we'd finished the record anyway so it worked out okay.
What changes have been brought about since having the backing of a record label of that stature behind you?
Well it means we can go out to Europe, which is cool.
I read somewhere you guys are looking forward to pushing Europe after this tour?
Yeh I think that's the plan really. We've been in the UK for so long now, two or three years now just touring round and round and round and it's just really fun for us to go out and play in Europe.
Have you got any plans in the pipeline for Europe? Is anything solid?
Yeh we've got a two month tour coming up with Anti-Flag, Alexis in October November and then yeh we'll probably try and go out and do some shows in the New Year, kinda head out there on our own.
Cool, so if we move onto “New Hopes and Demonstrations”, how do you guys feel about that now that it's been out there a couple of weeks? Have you had a bit of time to let the dust settle on it?
We're thrilled, I mean we worked so fucking hard to get it right and to get it good in the studio and took time off for a year really. It all seems so long ago now so it's really nice that people get to hear it properly and to play it live and we're not kind of confusing people by playing new stuff too early...I think people want to hear the new stuff now which is wicked.
You've had a lot of time to get through the old stuff and they're eager to hear the new stuff?
Yeh that's the thing
You recorded in Stockholm. What was different about doing that for the process apart from obviously being in a different country?
It's just nice to be left alone for a bit, I think we were really glad we didn't have loads of people dropping in and out all the time. We could just concentrate on it for five months and spend the time pulling the songs apart and putting them back together with different instruments...It's just great having someone like Pele; well Pele and Yohan were the two guys who did it and it really just allowed us to relax with it and there was no rushing at any point, it was just like, let it happen and it will be okay. We did lots of live takes, lots of kind of sitting and listening days when we just sort of listened to the songs and talked about them and worked out what we wanted to do with them.
How long of a process was it in the end?
It was five weeks out there
One thing I've noticed is that lyrically it's a darker kind of concept on the album. Has that come about because of the state of the country or just because you got older and it's time to grow up?
It's just the year we had whilst writing it. It was a lot of family shit that happened, I think it affected the whole mood of the album anyway. It was inevitable that it was going to be darker because of what was happening around us.
Any particular themes?
Well the whole record is all about things that define you when you're a youngster...you think you're folks are invincible, you think you're going to grow up to be a doctor or a spaceman or a fireman or something and then that never happens. It's just that realisation that you're getting older and it's not going to stop.
And that's going to be what a lot of your fans are going to be able to get into now-a-days. With the age they're going to be coming up to, I suppose it's going to be problems everyone is going to face. It seems like a pretty good concept. I remember reading something about the family problems of why you had to pull out, without going into too much detail, of why you had to pull out of Download?
Yeh it was just family shit
That must have been really disappointing for you guys!
Yeh I mean it was tough but real life gets in the way sometimes. You can't just play at being in a band all the time, you kinda just have to step back and realise family comes first.
You're making up for it with a few other festival performances?
Yeh we are playing a lot of shows this year so I think we're making up for it.
I know you guys are playing Guilfest amongst other, have you ever been to there before?
Yeh we played it last year in fact
It's going to be my first time going this year...what can someone expect?
It's really nice, it's got a nice country feel to it, it's not too big, you can walk around it in about ten, fifteen minutes, its cool.
What would you say over the last year and with where you're at now, are the main highs of being in The Ghost of a Thousand ?
I think releasing the record and getting the reaction. I think its cool that people are finally starting to get that we were trying to do something a bit different with it and that was really exciting that people didn't just abandon us because we didn't just do a straight up hardcore record. We're having a blast on this tour, we're out with two amazing bands. We chose them and we wanted them to come out with us and it's just been great fun, at the moment this is the best thing we've done all year so we're really pleased.
Can you remember the point where you thought maybe this could be a full time thing or are you still working towards that?
Well I kinda like having a job because it means that you have something to write about when you get home. I think a common problem with bands is they get a record out the way and they write about their lives as they are and they get given all this money and they just sit on their arses playing X-Box all day and that's not going to be good for creating something. I think you need to live a normal life to write about it, otherwise you just end up writing, like I love Mastodon, but you end up just writing about Wizards and Dragons....I love Mastodon but you can't relate to the lyrics because they're just crazy lyrics and if we started to do that it wouldn't fit our kind of music at all. You've got to have you're feet on the floor in some way.
How to keep in tune with your fan base and vice versa!
Its interesting for us...I don't mean I only write lyrics for me because that's bullshit, you don't specifically think this song is going to be one that kids are really going to get lyrically...you try and come up with stuff that expresses something in an accessible way.
And for anyone who maybe hasn't heard of The Ghost of a Thousand before, just to close it up, how would you describe yourself, to someone who totally has never heard of you?
We're just a black-hearted rock and roll band, that's what we do.
Well thank you very much!
That's okay, no worries!
