 You
might not be familiar with Ghosts yet, but in 2007 their harmony-drenched
guitar-pop anthems will be impossible to avoid. Ghosts first met at school and
have been together, in one guise or another, ever since. Newly signed to
Atlantic Records, Ghosts release 'Stay The Night' 19th March. The band have
just put the finishing touches to their debut album, set for release in Spring
2007 which is a must for your CD collection.
So
why the name Ghosts?
“We didn’t call ourselves Ghosts
because we felt invisible it’s because we’ve gone very pale with all the time
spent in windowless studios,” explains keyboardist Mark Treasure. “We failed to get signed with our previous
names so decided to change the name. Ghosts is also one of the oldest songs we
recorded.”
Ghosts’
CDs and downloads are selling like hotcakes. They’re also tipped to be the
biggest band of 2007. When asked how he felt things were going he simply
replied: “We’ve been so busy, nobody lets
me sleep anymore! It’s insane.”
He’s
definitely not complaining though, the band have been on tour at many venues up
and down the UK and Scotland including Barfly in London. Mark gushes about his love for
performing to their fans:
“I like performing because it’s such an
adrenaline rush when people start singing along with us. I also like the fact
that if you made a tiny mistake the moment passes and it’s forgotten. With
recording, you have to make sure it’s perfect and improve after ever take which
can get tedious.”
Mariah
Carey’s backstage requests include honeyed tea and Beyonce prays with her
entourage before entering the stage. Ghosts appear to be less high maintenance.
“During the last ten minutes before we go on
[stage] I tend to generate an obscene amount of saliva. I never need to spit
though, I just cough a lot.”
When
you’re a singer and musician performing many shows, you’re bound to make a
mistake or two and Mark is no different:
“In Brighton
I broke a guitar string, I was given another one that didn’t work so I just
gave up with the guitar and sang with just the mic which I had never done
before but quite enjoyed. Having a guitar is like a barrier and it makes you
feel more secure.”
Ghosts
are four men that have to be in close proximity every day when they’re on tour
and maybe slightly less when not touring. Are there smelly socks left around
the tour bus you ask? Nothing as bad as all that he assures us.
“I bite my nails a lot and we’re quite messy
because I’d rather live in a lull of disorder. My mum used to paint my nails
with that gel stuff to stop me biting them but I ended up liking it! Other than
that I think we’re quite civilised human beings.”
He
adds: “Being together for so long as a
group has definitely been an advantage. A lot of bands get signed very quickly
and are sometimes put together and find out they don’t get on. If we were going
to hate each other I think it would have happened by now. We’ve spent a lot of
time together and nobody’s dead yet!”
Recording
their debut album was an amazing experience for the group and they upped and
left their jobs as soon as they secured a publishing deal. They took the cash
they had and went off to Sweden.
“It was the best thing we ever did. We got
away from the distractions in London.
It’s so easy to procrastinate in London
even though we had our own rehearsal room,” recalls Mark.” We stayed in our drummer’s uncle’s
cottage which was in the middle of nowhere. We wrote ten songs in eight weeks
and half of them made the album.”
Every
artist has a track that’s closest to their hearts and when asked about which
that was for Mark, he clams up for a moment. He then reveals that Something
Hilarious is the most personal track on their album.
“It’s a bit weepy. I don’t want to get into
specifics but it’s about the breakdown of a relationship I was in.”
The
UK
has many new artists releasing music and a good measure of the talent we now
have is the BBC Sound Of 2007 List which includes artists like Mika, Just Jack,
Sadie Ama and Enter Shikari. We asked Mark what his thoughts were about making
the list.
“That was wicked. I always used to read that
list when I was in an office list thinking ‘why aren’t we on that?’ I think
we’re the lowest profile band to blag it on there. It’s very flattering to
think that in the public vote we came third. Enter Shikari aren’t really my
thing but I think their music is well put together and interesting. I really
like Mika though.”
According
to Mark: “our goal for this year is to
sell sh*tloads of records”.
If
Ghosts keep banging out the hits like they have begun to, they won’t have a
problem.
The new single ‘Stay The Night’ is
released 19th March 2007
For more info: www.ghostsmusic.com
or www.myspace.com/ghostsuk
Words: Rashmi
Shastri
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