The Ghosts… Spirited bunch
Interview: The Ghosts
Published on September 28th, 2012 | Jonny Abrams
For The Ghosts, The End is only the beginning: that’s the title of their warmly received debut album, a satisfying and richly melodic halfway point between New Order and Hot Chip, and an arresting show of optimism given the tragic circumstances that ultimately led to their formation. Rocksucker spoke to Ian Palmer, founder member of the group along with former Ou Est Le Swimming Pool keyboardist Alex Starling, ahead of the release of their latest single “Underrated” on 15th October…
Congratulations on a splendid debut album. Did you chip in with backing vocals or is Alex doubling up on himself?
Alex did pretty much all the vocals but we did have a female vocalist friend of ours who did some as well. Alex has such a strong voice though, and when we formed the band we had more of a direction in mind than much in the way of material so it’s been brilliant to see how it’s grown from there.
As far as I’m aware, you’re actually the second good new band to result from two drummers coming together: have you heard of Hyde & Beast?
I have actually, yeah. I wasn’t sure how the two drummers thing was going to work for us, but the producer managed to get that big John Bonham/Led Zeppelin sound, and Jon Brookes from The Charlatans came and played some drums for us as well which was brilliant.
Have you given much thought yet to the next album, or is it way too early to be asking that?
We’ve got so many songs floating around at the moment that there is going to be a second album. We may release a fourth single from this album first – we’ll see how we get on with “Underrated” – but it is the plan to make a second The Ghosts album, and it’ll be good to learn from what we’ve done so far and build on it. We’ve done so many gigs together promoting this album that we’re really comfortable playing together now.
Which festivals did you play this summer?
We played at Strawberry Fields, which was great, especially as that was with The Charlatans as well. We also played at Chazzstock as of course Alex is a former member of Ou Est Le Swimming Pool. We also played a festival in Norway only last week, so the word is getting out there.
Are you going to be putting out the work of other artists on Pocket Records, or is it just for The Ghosts?
It’s been like a full-time job making The Ghosts album and setting up a record company to put it out there, so while that’s something we may look at eventually, at the moment we’re just concentrating on The Ghosts.
Have you heard any of the remixes yet for the competition? If so, have any stood out for you?
I’ve heard a couple and they’re absolutely amazing! Making a competition out of music is difficult as it’s all very subjective, so there’s sure to be some debate over who the winner will be.
Finally, if you had to spend the rest of your days with the back catalogues of just five different musical artists, whose would you choose?
I come from a jazz background so definitely Miles Davis. For songwriting, The Beatles. I’m a great Led Zeppelin fan. I’d probably go for Radiohead too, and in terms of now one of the bands we really love is M83.
Ian Palmer, thank you.
“Underrated”, the third single to be taken from The Ghosts’ critically acclaimed debut album The End, will be released on October 15th through Pocket Records. The band will also play the following live dates over the next month…
Sep 28 Grog Shop Cleveland, OH
Oct 20 Stealth Nottingham, United Kingdom
Oct 22 Hoxton Bar & Kitchen London, United Kingdom
Oct 24 The Castle Hotel Manchester, United Kingdom
Oct 25 The End Birmingham, United Kingdom
For more information, please visit facebook.com/wearetheghosts
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.
