Interview: Early Ghost
Contributed by James!
Early Ghost are an experimental folk-rock band from the South of England. Since forming in 2009 they have released two EPs and are actively touring across London and the South playing a variety of headline and support slots.
Their latest EP ‘We Crossed The waves’ shows a band that enthusiastically draws from a wide range of influences, combining them to create an exciting and stirring sound which is truly unique to them. Definitely one to watch!
Hi there, Would you like to introduce yourselves? Who does what in the band?
Sure, we’re a six-piece based in the South of the UK that go by the name of Early Ghost. The bands members are Karl Fitzgerald, Hugh Aynsley, Sam Allan, Zoe Brownrigg, Sam Watson and Mike O’Malley. We all swap instruments between songs so there is no real set roles in the band…but in our live sets we use acoustic and electric guitars, banjo, mandolin, bass, keyboards, drums, melodica and saxophone. Sometimes, if Zoe is feeling really adventurous, she uses a tambourine too.
What’s the story behind the band. How did you all meet and come together?
When we began college, a few of us who had already played a bit together in the past decided to actually start writing together. We were just a three-piece, but we kind of just kept adding members in as more instruments ended up on the recordings! We’ve since become a six-piece.
Prior to the band, what musical backgrounds did you all have?
We’ve all just always enjoyed music for as long as we can remember really. None of us have any classical training or anything like that, and i think only one or two of us can read music. Being truthful there’s no really interesting musical background for any of us!
How would you describe your music?
Our sound is kind of hard to describe, because we all have different influences that effect how our own music turns out. We are a bit of a mix of folk and rock really, but we take influence from so many different types of music such as Ennio Morricone’s soundtracks and, at the moment, alot of gypsy jazz.
Can you tell us about your latest EP ‘We Crossed The Waves’. Was there a concept behind it? When and where was it recorded?
There wasn’t really a running concept or anything behind We Crossed The Waves. We had written a couple of songs in a different style to our first EP, and were really enjoying the direction we were moving in, so decided to write a few more and record and EP out of it. We’d been playing the songs live so knew how we wanted it to sound when we started recording, except for ‘The Bonfire’ which we wrote as a closer track for the EP. It was all recorded in Mikes bedroom, apart from the drums which we did at a friend (Owen Lewis)’s studio. It was nice being able to do it ourselves as it cost us nothing and meant we were free to work on it when we wanted to, without having to book studio time. Production began at the start of September and we finished it mid-October.
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How do you approach the writing and recording process? Where do you find inspiration from lyrically and musically?
The writing process usually starts with one or two people creating a riff together which we then go and work on as a band and create a song from it. Usually Mike will take the ideas and demo out a structure while working with Zoe on the lyrics. Recording wise, we would love to able to all come into a studio and work on it together but due to a lack of space when recording, Mike and Sam W will be doing the production on it and everyone will come by one by one to lay down their part. Our musical inspiration simply comes from music that we enjoy listening to, and lyrically we seem to end up writing alot about dreams one of us has had…some of the songs are about life experiences too though.
Do you enjoy playing live? And how does it compare to writing and recording? Do you have a preference?
Playing live is essentially the funnest part, but we’re still kind of new to it. At the moment we’re completely comfortable writing and recording, but not so much when we are on stage. It’s a strange feeling, because we don’t really get nervous at all, so it isn’t that. We just haven’t really found our comfort zone playing to audience yet i guess. At the same time, we enjoy it loads, and the more we do it, the more comfortable it will become.
You’ve already played some impressive support slots including opening for Beirut, and next month you’ll be supporting Freelance Whales and Broken Records. Are these shows important to you for finding a new audience?
Absolutely, it’s the best way to gather new fans, and most people discover us through support slots. The internet seems to be in limbo at the moment. While MySpace is breathing it’s last few breaths Facebook isn’t quite giving bands the platform it needs for it to take over as the main site that all bands use, so it’s kind of hard to promote bands in that way now. Playing with Beirut was such a fun show, and it was definitely a big boost for us. We’re also really looking forward to playing with Freelance Whales and Broken Records, it should be some great exposure for us. I think the best part about playing with these bands is being able to open for a band that we are genuine fans of. We also opening for a band called Or, The Whale in March who are really great and who i think will gain alot of popularity in the coming months.
Witch In The Cherry Tree (live)
What are your plans for 2011 and beyond? Will there eventually be an album release?
2011 is going to be a very busy year. We will playing lots and lots of shows around London and Brighton, and hopefully we will be doing a few festivals in the summer too. It would be nice to get further out into the UK by the end of the year too so we’ll see how that goes. During that time we’ll also be writing loads too. An album release will definitely happen but it won’t necessarily be this year. We’ve been talking about possibly doing a 3-track release, really intensely writing and re-writing so that we have 3 songs that we spent alot of time on to make the best they could be. Nothing is certain yet though so, only time will tell.
Finally, what are you currently listening to on the tour bus/car stereo?
We are currently enjoying listening to Beirut, The Doors, and a brilliant Australian band called The Middle East. We’re also still even listening to Fleet Foxes self-titled!
Many thanks and all best wishes!
Thanks alot! We appreciate the questions.
Early Ghost’s latest EP ‘We Crossed The Waves’ is out now and available from their Web Store, iTunes and Spotify.
Links: Myspace, Soundcloud, Facebook
Upcoming live dates:
Jan 26 – The Good Ship, London
Jan 28 – Proud Camden, London
Feb 5 – Audio, Brighton (supp Freelance Whales)
Feb 22 – Barfly, London
Feb 23 – Hope & Anchor, London
Feb 26 – Union Music Store, Lewes
Mar 1 – Bull & Gate, London (supp Or, The Whale)
Mar 4 – The Prince Albert, Brighton (supp The Lucky Strikes)
Mar 29 – Catch, London
Apr 1 – Elephant and Castle, Lewes (supp Larkin Poe)
Apr 19 – Ronnie Scott’s, London
May 5 – Ginglik, London
May 10 – The Bedford, London
May 24 – Favela Chic, London
