The Ghoul Goes West – The Ear to the Ground Interview
Ear to the Ground “sat” down with The Ghoul Goes West guitarist and vocalist Chris S. to find out a little more about the band.
The band bio via Facebook: The Ghoul Goes West was born and raised in a bottle of aged rye whiskey. After traveling the world and elsewhere as a circus performer and freelance doctor of parapsychology, The Ghoul Goes West settled down in a dusty, cavernous castle just outside Transylvania, USA. It is here that The Ghoul spends a lot of time watching a VHS copy of the immortal classic Teen Wolf and feasting on passers by.
I thought the bio summed things up pretty well, but I thought I wouldn’t be a good interviewer if I failed to dig deeper.
Ear to the Ground: Who exactly is or are The Ghoul Goes West?
The Ghoul Goes West: The current line up of The Ghoul Goes West consists of myself, Christopher Smith on guitar and vocals. Steven “Muggie” Amos on guitar. Matt Siliakus on drums and my wife Heather Smith on bass and vocals. On our most recent release, Ghosts and Bones and Blood and Things, the bass duties were handled by Aaron Tinnin who played in the band for about two years until recently when he bowed out to put all of his energies into his own band, Flight Machine.
E2TG: What can you tell my readers about The Ghoul Goes West?
TGGW: The Ghoul Goes West started really because of another band. About three years ago my good friend and fellow musician Aaron Tinnin asked me to come play a solo set opening up for his band Flight Machine at their EP release party. I agreed to play but I was a little worried that playing a solo acoustic set of original music in a loud bar just before a rock band wouldn’t go over very well. So I contacted Matt Siliakus and asked him if he’d be interested in putting something together for a one off live show. Matt and I had worked together a couple of years previous to this when I recruited him to play drums on four original songs I was recording for a independent film called Dinosaur World. Previous to meeting Matt I hadn’t really played with a drummer before let alone a full band. When we did the recording project my engineer and producer time stretched my scratch tracks and then Matt laid down the drums in over dubbing sessions. So we had quite a bit of work to do in order to get ourselves ready to actually play a live set. When I say “we” I really mean me. Because I had such limited experience playing with a drummer my sense of rhythm while singing was all over the place. Matt and I practiced quite a bit in my garage and when I got a little more comfortable I brought in Muggie to fill in some gaps with some lead guitar. That first show went over pretty well. I sort of split the set list, half of the songs I played solo, half of the set was the three piece. I really had no intentions of starting a band but we had so much fun that we decided to keep playing.
E2TG: How long have you been making music? How did you start? and What are some of your earliest or most important musical influences?
TGGW: I started playing guitar, like most people, when I was about 14 or 15. Back then it was a lot of JimI Hendrix and Guns N Roses tab books. I never really wrote anything just riffed around and took it half serious like a lot of high school guitar players. Eventually I even sold my electric guitar and all I had was an old 1971 Alvarez Acoustic my grandmother had given me and it pretty much lived in the closet of my first apartment. By the time I turned 19 or 20 I had mostly pushed guitar playing to the side as an old hobby. It was around this time that I started branching out and discovering much more interesting music. One of the first things I heard that really blew me away was The Pixies. I hadn’t heard anything quite like them. Frank Black’s voice sounded like it was being beamed in from a different dimension and his lyrics were some of the strangest things I’d ever read. Before the Pixies I never really paid attention to lyrics. I’d also never heard a loud rock band led by an acoustic guitar. This kind of got me back into music and I got my old acoustic out. I learned how to play where is my mind but then I started to get curious about the songwriting process. It never occurred to me before that you could just write your own songs and not have to play other people’s music. So I started experimenting, writing a lot of really bad songs on an acoustic guitar. Then I discovered Elliott Smith and Conor Oberst, right around the same time. Both of them blew me away. Such great songwriters, wonderful lyrics and mostly very simply acoustic guitar work. I kind of became determined to figure out how to write that kind of music. Over the next few years I just kept writing songs and discovering more music. I went through a period of drama, drug use, and broken relationships like most people in their early 20’s and throughout all of that I just kept practicing writing songs. I bought a Tascam four track recorder on Ebay and started recording and experimenting with overdubs, really trying my best to imitate Elliott Smith. I figured out that writing songs came pretty naturally to me. I finally got the nerve to try playing in front of people. Because I’d spent years playing by myself and being influenced by a lot of strange music I could change my style mid song, or play way off rhythm or stop and start at any point in a song I wanted because no one was accompanying me. It was a fun way to play and it went over very well at coffee shops and open mics. Eventually I met heather and we had our daughter, Lyric, when we were both 25. I had moved out west hoping to make a go of some kind of music career but of course once a baby is in the picture things sort of change. I had to get a job and playing live pretty went away. However I never stopped writing songs. Once our daughter got a little older and the opportunity was presented to me I jumped at the chance to play live again. After a decade of writing songs pretty consistently I had well over 200 songs so material wasn’t going to be a problem. And once the ghoul started to find its feet I really got inspired and my songwriting output continued to increase. At this point my music has taken a lot more influences, like Neutral Milk Hotel, but the Pixies and that Frank Black sound are still in there.
E2TG: Is it fair to say that there was a healthy dose of horror films in your past?
TGGW: Ha. Yes! I will say that I’m not as obsessed with horror movies as you might imagine and it’s probably worth it to note that I may not be into the kind of horror movies most people would assume. I like the 70s/80s slasher movies well enough, and even some of the strange B horror movies are great but what I really love are the old Universal Monster Horror Movies. As I kid I was a huge fan Wolfman, and as a grown up I got really into all of the universal monsters. I spent some time collecting the films and toys. In addition to being a unpaid musician I’ve also spent a fair amount of time (and money) making short films and even a couple of feature films like the one I mentioned before, Dinosaur World. I work with a filmmaking partner and every couple of years we churn out a little short horror film. Really I just like the imagery of horror films and stories. Especially for song writing, using ghosts, or bones and things like that, it instantly evokes certain feelings from the listener.
The Feeding Box (2013) Short Film.
E2TG: Your debut album is called Ghosts and Bones and Blood and Things – Tell me about the title, the recording, anything else about the album in general.
TGGW: The title of the album: The title is actually kind of an inside joke. For years now my wife and my friends have a long running joke about my songs. Any time I write a new song they always ask “Is it about ghosts or bones or blood?” As I’m sure you’ve noticed a lot of these songs using repeating themes. I’ve got a lot of songs that don’t have ghosts or bones or blood, but when I started putting this album together I thought it would be good to have a loose theme tying all the songs to one another. It’s not a concept album or anything but I think having reoccurring themes throughout an album can help it to feel like a complete piece. That was especially important for me on this because so many of the songs were written at different times in my life. The recording process was a bit of a challenge. Obviously we didn’t have the funds or the time really to go into a studio proper. A good friend of mine happens to be a talented engineer and producer with some small amount of equipment so we recorded the album ourselves in various locations. Some of the drums, rhythm guitar and vocals were done in a studio, like Flicker and Flame and Time Machine. All of the bass lines on the album were done in the bass player’s living room in a one evening session. Most of the lead guitar was completed in my garage over the course of a very long, wine filled day. A lot of the lead vocals I recorded by myself in my home office using a variety of ridiculous methods. The two slower songs, Huesos Solos and The Mermaid song, were done by my wife and I in one quick session at our house. All of the trumpet was recorded in my garage with the door wide open on a sunny Saturday afternoon last summer. It took over a year really to get it all together. Most of the album was recorded digitally but often ran through analog equipment. Tom Knox, my engineer/producer did a lot of the initial mixes. Then I did a pass at the mix. Then when I couldn’t tell up from down anymore I finally ponied up some money and had the final mix and master done at East Hall Studios by Chris Moore. Chris mixed the final down to analog tape, and completed a full tape master, which I’m convinced is what gave the album the sound it has. It’s a mixture of digital recording means and old fashion warm analog tape.
For the next part of the interview, I offered a brief summary of each song from the album, and asked Chris to respond.
Dancing Dead Men: Morbidly danceable graveyard party music….
Graveyard party music is pretty close. In reality I wrote this songs specifically to open the film Dinosaur World and it’s one of the “newer” songs on the album having been written in 2011 during a pretty fruitful songwriting month in which I wrote a ton of new music. I was trying to find a sound that reminded me of old 60’s Bowie rock and roll. I didn’t quite get there but in the end I was still really happy with the results.
Chorus of Zombies: Kind of like The Pogues meets George Romero if Shane MacGowan were a necrophiliac
This song is so old. It’s been around it various forms for about 11 years now. It’s been titled about three different times. I used to play this during my folky coffee shop days quite a lot. Obviously it’s changed a lot since then. I think this is the proper version of the song that I wasn’t able to find until The Ghoul Goes West made it work.
Huesos Solos: A campfire song for the end of the world…
This is another really old one. I wrote this when I first met my wife back in 2005. At the time I had been listening to a lot of Simon and Garfunkel and Devendra Banhart. I always liked songs that employ the use of multiple languages in a song. Frank Black does it, Devendra, it’s great stuff. So I wanted to write a song with Spanish lyrics in it. I wrote the phrases then had my wife translate them to Spanish. I wrote it specifically for her and I to sing together. Since then it’s been a staple at any get together in which the guitar comes out and it’s usually a favorite at shows. Here again more bones and blood and things.
Ships and Canons: Ghost Ship Sea Shanty…
This is the first song I ever wrote with a full band in mind. Back in 2008 I had a go at starting another band that never came together. The phrase “ships and cannons” came out of a conversational joke I was having with my friend Aaron. It basically is a shanty song.
The Immortals: Living forever is hard on friendships…
Another one I wrote for the Dinosaur World soundtrack. Written at the same time as Dancing Dead Men.
A Time Machine Built for Two: What good is time travel if you can’t share it with someone…
Also written for Dinosaur world but never used. The main riff was so much fun that I just kept the song around. the time signature changes were a lot of fun for the band to play during live shows. There’s some nice Superman the Movie references in here too. I guess ultimately the song is just about the future and the past and why both of those thing bother me so much.
The Mermaid Song: A lovely song with elements of incestuous bloodlust amongst creatures who dwell beneath the waves..
This was basically a lost song. I had written and recorded to four track cassette sometime in 2006. I only ever played it that one time, at the time of the recording. One of my friends had an old tape of mine that he’d liked to listen to and the off hand mentioned it one day. I had forgotten all about it and I couldn’t find the original recording and the lyrics were not in any of my old notebooks. My friend dug the tape out and my wife and I listened to it and she urged me to resurrect it. I’m glad I did. It is a lovely, creepy song. That mandolin part was played by our former bass player Aaron and it adds a lot of the tune. I love Heather’s voice on it. I think it’s about love you’re not supposed harbor.
Flicker and Flame: It’s better to burn out than to fade away…. a great sing-a-long in the middle.
Another Dinosaur World tune. If you pay attention to the lyrics of the song, it’s basically a song about Frankenstein’s monster. I didn’t mean for that to happen but the words match up pretty well. “scared to death, led neck, need some bride affections. New born baby monster can’t survive another resurrection.” and there’s a whole bit about town’s people with torches and finding a body at the end of a twisted up rope. Kind of dark. Fun to sing though.
Leavin’ Sound: A barrel house rave up… we all know that leaving sound… or at least I do…
Exactly what it sounds like. The sound of someone leaving. This is one of the newer songs. I wrote this after The Ghoul formed.
Feed it Back to Us: For some reason this makes me think of a carnival band…
This is another one I wrote after The Ghoul already came together. This might be one of my favorites on the album. Its an opportunity for me to wax punk rocky and to scream about the state of society and all the bull shit that gets shoved down our throats. It’s really about the meaninglessness of everyday life. That e-bow sounds pretty great too.
Kara Takes Drugs: A trippy, twangy cautionary tale… maybe?
This is a cautionary tale. And a personal song about an actual ghost from my past. The title is accurate and I didn’t even bother to change the names to protect the innocent
Family Flesh Garden: It’s all in the family… garden of earthly frights…
This is the newest song on the album. Probably the darkest song too. It’s all true. I guess that’s all I want to say about it. We don’t play it at shows.
Walk: A plaintive refrain about being choked?
Another super old song and my favorite to play to a room of people who aren’t paying attention. The lyrics are pretty dark. It’s all about the sadness of someone prostituting themselves but written from the perspective of a sadist. My friend Mardock The Sun god recently did an amazing cover of this tune on his latest album which I’m really quite in love with.
E2TG: What is next for The Ghoul Goes West?
TGGW: Right now I’ve got two albums written and ready to be recorded. One I wrote between July and December of 2013 and it is a concept album based on some time my wife and I spent at a farming community that year. I think it’s some of the best stuff I’ve written and I can’t wait to record it. But I am going to wait because I want to do it right. When I record music I always start with scratch tracks that I do at home by myself and then bring to the band as a reference. I hope to some day give it the treatment it deserves because it will be a great album.
Since I’m not ready to tackle that album yet The Ghoul is pushing forward with a different album. We start recording this summer, I guess what will be our second full length record. Right now we are in the rehearsal and experiment phase. This one is going to be a lot different than the last one. There will be a number of rocking songs but there’s also gonna be a lot of atmospheric, swimmy stuff on there. The problem is I write so much material it’s hard for me to settle on 14 songs to put on an album. I thought our second album was ready to go but then while we’ve been rehearsing I ended up writing 4 more songs that have to be on our second album. I think I’ve finally decided on the track list and we should start tracking by the end of July. We’re all excited to move forward and make something that sounds different.
E2TG: What is currently on your turntable, in your CD player, or emanating from your MP3 musical device?
TGGW: Like a lot of people right now my turn table is consistently rocking Sound and Color by Alabama Shakes. Oh man what a fantastic album. I’m just so in love with it. It’s obviously one of the best album of the year. On my MP3 I’ve been listening to my favorite album this year, the new Elvis Perkins record “I Aubade” I’m really sad that it hasn’t gotten much press or word of mouth because I think it’s a genius record. I’m also listening to a lot of Tame Impala. And I never go a full month without listening Neutral Milk Hotel and Paul Simon’s first solo record which I consider to be one of the finest records ever made.
E2TG: If you could either see or share a bill with any band/artist from any era, who would it be and from what era?
TGGW: This changes all time. I used to say Neutral Milk Hotel. But then they came back and I’ve had the opportunity to see them twice. So fortunate. I think the answer is going to have to be The New York Dolls from the early 70s. I would love to go back in time and get The Ghoul Goes West on the same bill with that crazy band. I love their music, they were doing something so simplistic but completely original for the time period. The song “Trash” is one of my favorite songs of all time.