The Ghostwood Project

Posted on 17th Jan 06 by Contributor | 0

Artist: The Ghostwood Project
Author: Aoife Barry

For most aspiring bands" it"s the first jamming session that"s the important one " the moment when it becomes clear how well the musicians gel together" whether or not ideas flow freely or if the would"be band members are approaching the music from conflicting directions. For Galway"s The Ghostwood Project" it was when they first jammed together as a three piece that fate decreed the trio would find that they worked perfectly as a team. It was guitarist Sean who was responsible for the band getting together" as he explains:

"I had been trying to find people to play music with since I came to college here" and had absolutely no success together" And I was on my last ad to put up around town. I think the first band up "on the ad" was "Trail of Dead" as influences. And I got a phone call that evening from "Tom" and he just kind of went "Ah" "Trail of Dead"" and from there" he knew Conor" himself and Conor had played together for so long "it"s a really boring "guy puts up ad" meets other guys" story"it"s your typical band story."

But it"s hardly typical that when the guys did start making music together" they"d find it"well" so easy.

Tom elaborates:

"It was a ready made band when Conor and I came along" you know. We practised once and that was the setlist right there. Straight away it was just like" you had a grin on your face" like "that was exactly what I was thinking". It just totally melded" after we"d just jammed the songs. And then it was" "ok" we have to remember what we just jammed"" then we"d record it to minidisc" and then we"d learn the stuff off the minidisc" and then that"s pretty much what happened. But now we"re totally comfortable with the stuff" and we can write stuff and remember it now""

Having only played their first gig together about one year ago" the Ghostwood Project "who took their name from cult David Lynch TV Series Twin Peaks" have released two e.ps" the latest of which was released two months ago" established themselves as one of the best and most innovative bands on the Galway live scene" have won a recent national Battle of the Bands gig" and are set to help launch Galway venue Roisin Dubh"s "Strange Brew" club night in Cork on February 4th.

When asked" they describe the band as "loud and noisy" "Sean" and "very energetic" moody"" "Tom" and no doubt drummer Conor " who was absent the evening I interviewed the band in the Roisin Dubh" shouting questions in between the pounding drumbeats of a band sound"checking just metres away from us " would agree when Sean says "it would be kind of stupid to call it punk" but it"s got that kind of energy" where it"s not about playing everything note perfect" it"s more about just going nuts" or whatever." However" instrumental bands of The Ghostwood Project"s ilk often find themselves lumped in with the post"rock movement" something that irks Tom and Sean. "Just because you"re an instrumental band"" elaborates Tom" "it doesn"t mean you"re post"rock " it couldn"t be further from the truth. It"s like this: if we had a singer" it would be more"it could touch on "Trail of Dead" or maybe even some Isis"y stuff as well." "Yeah"" agrees Sean" adding wryly "And I don"t own a delay pedal" too" so we can"t get called post"rock""

For them" post"rock is too often indicative of a "beard stroking" approach to music" with bands approaching live shows with little thought of entertaining the audience. Says Sean" "If you"re not feeling it" if it"s not making you want to fucking move" then you can"t expect anyone else to nod their head or anything. They"re just going to stand there stroking their beard" going back to the post"rock clich" thing. It"s like people standing still playing music for people who are going to stand still. If you want to hear everything note"perfect and proficient" stay at home and listen to the cd. If it"s not rough"as"fuck with strings breaking and things going out of tune" then it"s not a gig."

However you want to categorise their sound" it"s safe to say that there aren"t many "or perhaps any" other bands on the Galway scene making music like The Ghostwood Project do" something that the band are aware of. "At the risk of sounding arrogant"" says Tom" "I don"t think there"s anyone doing what we"re doing "in Galway". We float" we"re under the radar." However" with plans for further recording" a split 7" release and another e.p release "and perhaps more" all before the end of this year" it looks like The Ghostwood Project won"t remain under the radar for much longer.

For more info" visit:
www.theghostwoodproject.com
www.myspace.com/theghostwoodproject

The Ghostwood Project demo is available at:
Zhivago Records" Galway" Ireland.
Redlight Records" Galway" Ireland.
Road Records" Dublin" Ireland.
Plugged Records" Cork" Ireland.
It"s priced at "4.99 and features three brand new tracks and a CDRom video.