GHOST
Questions asked by Jon Wilde, added to Rock Realms 29th July 2010.
Ghost is a Norwegian melodic hard rock band inspired by the great acts of the 1980s. Their debut album "The Engraving" is this year.
Bassist Magnus Liseter answers questions on the band's behalf.
Hi Guys, thanks for taking a moment to answer these questions. Hope you are well?
Magnus: Hi! We're fine! Mid-summer and even the temperature in Norway starts climbing above 20 degrees Celsius!
Can you give us a brief history of Ghost - who you are, how you formed > etc...?
Magnus: Ghost started out in 2002 with Kim (vocals) and Øystein (guitars) getting tired of just listening to their huge collection of 80s heavy metal / hard rock and wanting to make music of their own. Øystein's brother Asbjørn joined on bass and after trying out a couple of drummers, Petter filled the missing spot. The first years went by making lots of music, ending up as a four track demo recorded in 2005 "Time Will Tell". Soon after, Asbjørn quit the band and he was replaced by me in 2006.
The first Ghost show was in early 2007, followed by a bunch of shows in the Oslo area. Missing something in our music, we started looking for an extra guitar player which resulted in André joining the band in 2008 completing the five piece Ghost is today. André joining the band really marks a new beginning for Ghost as we have had lots more progression in the last two years compared to the six before.
So the last two years have resulted in a EP – "Days Undercover" released in 2009, and now our debut album – "The Engraving", and we are now trying to get out to play live as much as possible. The highlight so far has to be our support gig warming up for Jorn in May of this year.
I assume from the above you knew what sort of music the band was going to play right from the start...
Magnus: With an above average interest in heavy metal music from the hard rocking 80s, the sort of music we want to play was kind of settled from the start so that hasn't changed much over the years. But we feel that our sound has changed slightly over time, both adding an extra guitarist and also getting new members in have contributed to this.
How would you describe the sound of the band to someone who hadn't heard you before?
Magnus: Genre-wise we play a cross between 80s heavy metal and newer melodic hard rock, influenced mainly by our heroes from the 80s. Still we think we have our own thing going on and people tend to have difficulties comparing us to specific bands. The music is guitar based with heavy riffs, strong lead and backing vocals, catchy melody lines and a steady bottom-end groove.
Who or what would you list as your main influences?
Magnus: As we are 5 individuals we have different influences, but if we should mention some huge sources of inspiration we'll have to go for: Iron Maiden, Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Kiss and Savatage. The list could go on and on... The 80s have been mentioned quite a lot here, but we have no boundaries when it comes to rock/metal so both the 70s and the newer metal are parts of our inspiration. We feel that helps us define our own music and not just rip of the 80s heavy metal, as we're not just a band trying to give you some kind of 80s flash back... ;)
How has the rock/metal scene in your part of Norway influenced and affected the way you approach your music?
Magnus: Not much at all really. We're not that connected to any rock/metal scene in our local area and have always done our thing – making music we love listening to ourselves.
When did you start work on new album "The Engraving"?
Magnus: Hehe, hard question to answer... We recorded our previous release (the EP "Days Undercover") early 2009 and planned to push this out to everyone wanting to listen. But we ended up using more time writing new music than promoting this EP, and decided to record 8 new tracks early 2010. To get a full album and also keep the EP as a separate release we choose the two best fitting songs from the EP and included these on "The Engraving". So to answer the question, work with a full album in mind started in mid 2009, but some of the songs are rather old. The song "Alive" is actually one of the first songs Kim and Øystein wrote back in 2002, and with slight adjustments such as adding some guitar doubles etc it's still mainly as it was and really kicks ass! :)
Stupid question, but is it good to finally have an album out after all these years of being together?
Magnus: It's an awesome feeling when you get the album in your hands for the first time with cover art and the whole package. As a band, we felt it was the next step to take. So we did it and are now ready to move on promoting the album and showing it off by playing live.
How was the writing and recording of the album...pleasure, pain, or a bit of both?
Magnus: The writing part was a bit of both we would say. New songs tend to come quite easy, but there are lots of arguments when trying to get all the pieces together. We're still friends and even if the discussions can get really hot at rehearsals it shows commitment and a strong wish from all parties to get the best result possible. When it comes to the recording part, its all pleasure. Since we have limited budgets when financing our releases ourselves, we have most of the songs ready in advance. So it’s more about getting the job done in the studio than arguing about drum fills, vocal lines and so on.
How does the writing process in Ghost work? How would a typical song be created?
Magnus: A song usually starts with some guitar riffs that are jammed on. Our guitarists are usually involved from the start, at least with the newer material, and it grows from there. Some songs are nailed quite quickly while others go through different versions, sometimes over a long period of time before we get satisfied. We still have a lot of older material that we might use later on.
Do you do anything special in the studio to get your sound, or are you quite a 'traditional' band?
Magnus: Nah, think we're quite traditional in getting our sound. Guitars, amps, some distortion pedals, drums and vocals and we're ready. Old fashion, no bullshit. :)
Do you have any favourite songs on the album?
Magnus: Hard to say really... One of the things we're really satisfied with on this album is that it contains no fill songs as they are all great tunes with their own thing going on. If we are to pick one "Agent Down" is rated high by us all.
Do you enjoy the whole studio/creative experience, or do you prefer getting up on the live stage?
Magnus: We have to say we love both. We've had great times both making the music in our rehearsal space and in the studio, but nothing really beats playing live!
What is one of your live shows like? What should fans expect from one of your performances?
Magnus: A Ghost show is all about the music! Not covering anything up with props and other stuff. We try to give the audience a full show filled with energy, passion and hard hitting heavy metal! And we might add a cover song or two if we're in the mood... :)
What was the last album you bought, and what would you list as your top 5 of all time?
Magnus: Right now we're all waiting for the new Maiden album - “The Final Frontier”. As for the top 5 there are 5 of us in the band, so we'd probably end up with a top 25 list, too long to mention here...
What is your view of the current music industry, and how do you think your band would have done if it had existed in the 'hair metal' days?
Magnus: It's finally acceptable to play music inspired by the 80s again! 7-8 years ago and then back to the grunge era in the early 90s, saying you were inspired by the 80s was like committing suicide for a band or an artist. But then everything seems to be allowed these days as no genre is the leading one and none are out in the cold, which is great! And once again heavy metal seems to outlive other short lived stuff!
As for the industry it will be interesting to follow the digital distribution vs physical CD sales to see where that battle is heading. The digital world gives unsigned bands like us an easier way out to promoting our band, but then again its easier for all other bands in our situation. Not sure if things would have changed much if we had existed back in the hair metal days. Our main problem would probably have been our too short hair and too little make up... ;)
Any question you love being asked that I've missed? If so, what's the answer?
Magnus: The question would be: "Who should buy your album?" And the answer would be: "Every hard rocking maniac out there that enjoys headbanging to some good old heavy metal!"
What are you up to once you've finished answering these questions?
Magnus: It's back to promoting Ghost and starting up some rehearsing after a summer vacation! We have some shows coming up this summer/autumn, so better start getting a set ready for that.
Anything else you would like to mention?
Magnus: We have to get our homepage and myspace mentioned, so here goes: http://www.ghosttheband.com/ and http://www.myspace.com/ghostrocks. And then we'd like to finish of by thanking you for taking the time to do this interview with us as we're still a rather unknown unsigned band. But we'll do our best to change that!
Thanks and rock on! Ghost!
Thanks again to Magnus for his time. Make sure you check out the sound samples from their new album on their MySpace site!
