Interview: Ghosting Season

Published on June 15th, 2011 | Jonny Abrams

Clearly not content with being the finest exponents of popping, fizzing, guitar-infused electronica in all the land, worriedaboutsatan duo Gavin Miller and Tom Ragsdale decided to rebrand themselves as Ghosting Season in order to emphasise the new direction of their latest output.

However, this is not a case of “worriedaboutsatan is dead, long live Ghosting Season!” – the two identities shall coexist in technicolour harmony, to be alternately presented to the world as and when their masters see fit. Right now it’s Ghosting Season’s turn, starting with their lush and masterful ‘debut’ single – Far End Of The Graveyard.

Rocksucker turned to Messrs Miller and Ragdale and calmly requested that we speak to Ghosting Season now, please; and they cheerfully obliged…

What are the advantages of having two separate identities in worriedaboutsatan and Ghosting Season? Was the dancier/clubbier nature of the latter the only reason behind your decision to distinguish between the two?

Tom: It’s not the only reason I don’t think. The music is a lot more influenced by dance music but the aesthetic is different too. The way we look at how the music is represented and how we play live: everything has got more brutal! The advantages are that we can change personalities at will…

You’ve gone on record as saying you love Nine Inch Nails. Does the name Ghosting Season then derive from this?

Gavin: Haha, no, that was just a funny coincidence. The name Ghosting Season came from a friend of ours, David. He suggested it when we were jokingly asking our Twitter followers if we were to start a label, what we would call it.

How do you interpret the video for Far End of the Graveyard?

Tom: Good question! When we saw the video for the first time it was the version that ended up online and we were completely blown away. We didn’t give Greg (the director) any guidance, so he could do whatever he wanted. I think it’s more of a short movie than a music video.

There’s a ‘teaser’ video which appears to show you playing a guitar with a violin bow. Was this an idea informed by Sigur Ros? Were there suitably epic-sounding results?

Gavin: Yeah, I guess so. I was a total Sigur Ros über-fan, so I think it seeped into my consciousness through osmosis or something. I can’t remember why or how we tried it out first but it takes a lot of practice to get right. Plus a lot of delay and distortion too!

When can we expect an album? What can you tell us about it?

Tom: We’ve already finished an album and we hope to release this in autumn/winter. It’s very deep and atmospheric but it’s pretty pounding too. There’s tons of guitar, vocals, and strings on there, so it’s really organic-sounding.

Which of you takes guitar duty for Ghosting Season live shows? Or is it two laptops?

Gavin: We both play guitars but I do the majority as Tom tends to look after the main laptop. We both have laptops too but we run our guitars through them using Guitar Rig, so we can completely mess with the sound of them using Ableton’s effects and Guitar Rig’s amp modellers.

Who or what would you consider to be your main influences? They don’t have to be musical…

Tom: We never really get asked about our non-musical influences, so this is really nice! We’re definitely into our surroundings, being in Yorkshire. It’s lovely to look at and be around. Shane Meadows’ films gave us a lot of early inspiration.

Do you ever experience moments of synaesthesia? If Ghosting Season’s music had a particular colour or colours, what would it/they be?

Gavin: Haha, probably. I like to think so anyway. If Ghosting Season was a colour, I’d say it was something like a deep, dark orangey yellow.

Is it true that worriedaboutsatan were played on Coronation Street? How did that come about and what was happening while it was played?

Tom: worriedaboutsatan have been on quite a few TV programmes! Corrie is just one of them. It was funny watching it for the first time as one scene was in the chippy. We LOVE chippy.

Any hot tips for up-and-coming musical talent?

Gavin: Well, we always like to give a shout out to our friends, so why not check out Nedry, Her Name is Calla, Cloud Boat, Umber and Her Eyes Like Static: all use guitars, but in very, very different ways.

Finally, could you name – as of this very moment – your top three albums of all time?

Tom: Easy – 1) Deftones – White Pony, 2) Nine Inch Nails – The Fragile, 3) Massive Attack – Mezzanine.

Far End of the Graveyard is out now. For more information, please visit ghostingseason.co.uk

Artists: ghosting season

About the Author

Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.